Gender-based Violence

Violence against girls and women throughout the world causes more death and disability among women in the 15 to 44 age group than cancer, malaria, traffic accidents and even war, according to The World Bank.

In the United States, a woman is assaulted – usually by her husband – every 15 seconds. In India, one study suggested that between 18 per cent and 45 per cent of married men acknowledge abusing their wives.

Violence and discrimination increase women’s risk of HIV infection. Last year, 2.2 million women were newly infected with HIV. Fear of violence may prevent women from negotiating condom use with their husbands and boyfriends.

Discrimination in the form of son-preference can result in active and passive neglect, and even in sex-selective abortion, such that the number of females in the population is lower than it would be naturally.

Cross-cultural studies of wife abuse have found that nearly a fifth of peasant and small-scale societies are essentially free of family violence. This suggests that societies can learn to eliminate gender-based violence.

Inequities

Either by law or by custom, women in many countries still lack rights to:

• Own land and to inherit property



• Obtain access to credit



• Attend and stay in school



• Earn income and move up in their work, free from job discrimination



• Have access to services that meet their sexual and reproductive health needs

Education offers the best chance for a better life, yet two thirds of the 960 million illiterate adults in the world are female. Of the 130 million children not enrolled in primary school, two thirds are girls.

In armed conflicts and natural disasters, women and children account for the vast majority of those at risk – often more than 70 per cent and up to 90 per cent.

Female Genital Cutting

Female genital cutting is now on the international agenda, and is condemned by most governments. Yet it is still common in 28 countries, and it is sanctioned unofficially in many communities despite what the law may say.

Each year, 2 million girls are at risk of FGC. An estimated 130 million women worldwide have undergone some form of the procedure.

The procedure, usually performed on young girls or adolescents approaching marriage age, is typically conducted outside the medical system, without anaesthesia, using unclean instruments.

FGC has serious psychological and health consequences, including death from infection or haemorrhage.

Eighty per cent of all cases involve excision of the clitoris and the labia minora. Fifteen per cent involve infibulation, the most extreme form of the practice.

Male Involvement in Reproductive and Sexual Health

The only effective methods of preventing the spread of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV, require the participation and/or consent of men.

Though men represent half the world's population, they account for less than one-third of contraceptive use.

For a couple seeking permanent contraception, vasectomy is a simpler procedure, with fewer side effects and health risks, than female sterilization. However, vasectomy rates consistently lag far behind those of female sterilization in all parts of the world.

Human Trafficking

Obtaining reliable data on human trafficking is not possible because of a lack of clear definition for what it entails and the clandestine nature of the activity.

At a global level, rough estimates suggest that between 700,000 to 2 million women are trafficked across international borders annually. Adding domestic trafficking would bring the total much higher, to perhaps 4 million persons per year.

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