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Ending Widespread Violence Against Women
Around the world, at least one in every three women has been beaten, coerced into sex, or abused in some other way — most often by someone she knows, including by her husband or another male family member; one woman in four has been abused during pregnancy.
"In all societies, to a greater or lesser degree, women and girls
are subjected to physical, sexual and psychological abuse
that cuts across lines of income, class and culture…
Violence against women both violates and impairs or nullifies
the enjoyment by women of their human rights and fundamental freedoms. "
--Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, paragraph 112
Violence against women has been called "the most pervasive yet least recognized human rights abuse in the world." Accordingly, the Vienna Human Rights Conference and the Fourth World Conference on Women gave priority to this issue, which jeopardizes women’s lives, bodies, psychological integrity and freedom. Violence may have profound effects -- direct and indirect -- on a woman’s reproductive health, including:
- Unwanted pregnancies and restricted access to family planning information and contraceptives
- Unsafe abortion or injuries sustained during a legal abortion after an unwanted pregnancy
- Complications from frequent, high-risk pregnancies and lack of follow-up care
- Sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS
- Persistent gynaecological problems
- Psychological problems, including fear of sex and loss of pleasure
Gender-based violence also serves -- by intention or effect -- to perpetuate male power and control. It is sustained by a culture of silence and denial of the seriousness of the health consequences of abuse. In addition to the harm they exact on the individual level, these consequences also exact a social toll and place a heavy and unnecessary burden on health services.
UNFPA puts every effort into breaking the silence and ensuring that the voices of women are heard. At the same time, the Fund works to change the paradigm of masculinity that allows for the resolution of conflict through violence. One strategy is to engage men – policy makers, parents and young boys -- in discourse about the dynamics and consequences of violence.
As the chart below shows, women
may face different forms of violence at different stages
of their lives.
| Sex-selective abortions, battering during pregnancy, coerced pregnancy (rape during war) |
| Female infanticide, emotional and physical abuse, differential access to food and medical care |
| Genital cutting; incest and sexual abuse; differential access to food, medical care, and education; child prostitution |
| Dating and courtship violence, economically coerced sex, sexual abuse in the workplace, rape, sexual harassment, forced prostitution |
| Abuse of women by intimate partners, marital rape, dowry abuse and murders, partner homicide, psychological abuse, sexual abuse in the workplace, sexual harassment, rape, abuse of women with disabilities |
| Abuse of widows, elder abuse (which affects mostly women) |
Source: Heise, L. 1994. Violence
Against Women: The Hidden Health Burden. World Bank
Discussion Paper. Washington. D.C. The World Bank
Most domestic violence involves
male anger directed against their women partners. This
gender difference appears to be rooted in the way boys
and men are socialized -- biological factors do not
seem to account for the dramatic differences in behaviour
in this regard between men and women.
Pregnant women are particularly
vulnerable to gender-based violence. Some husbands become
more violent during the wife's pregnancy, even kicking
or hitting their wives in the belly. These women run
twice the risk of miscarriage and four times the risk
of having a low birth-weight baby.
Cross-cultural studies of wife abuse
have found that nearly a fifth of peasant and small-scale
societies are essentially free of family violence. The
existence of such cultures proves that male violence
against women is not the inevitable result of male biology
or sexuality, but more a matter of how society views
masculinity.
Studies of very young boys and girls
show only that although boys may have a lower tolerance
for frustration, and a tendency towards rough-and-tumble
play, these tendencies are dwarfed by the importance
of male socialization and peer pressure into gender
roles.
The prevalence of domestic violence
in a given society, therefore, is the result of tacit
acceptance by that society. The way men view themselves
as men, and the way they view women, will determine
whether they use violence or coercion against women.
UNFPA recognizes that ending gender-based
violence will mean changing cultural concepts about
masculinity, and that process must actively engage men,
whether they be policy-makers, parents, spouses or young
boys.
The majority of sexual assault victims
are young. Women in positions of abject dependence on
male authorities are also particularly subject to unwanted
sexual coercion. Rape in time of war is still common.
It has been extensively documented in recent civil conflicts,
and has been used systematically as an instrument of
torture or ethnic domination.
Now, with precedents set at the
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Tanzania
and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former
Yugoslavia at The Hague, for mass rape, other acts such
as sexual assault, sexual slavery, forced prostitution,
forced sterilization, forced abortion, and forced pregnancy
may qualify as crimes of torture, crimes against humanity,
and even some as crimes of genocide.
Because gender-based violence is
sustained by silence, women’s voices must be heard.
UNFPA puts every effort into enabling women to speak
out against gender-based violence, and to get help when
they are victims of it. The Fund is also committed to
keeping gender-based violence in the spotlight as a
major health and human rights concern. Some of the specific
strategies for addressing gender-based violence include:
- Training of health care providers as well as training and services to assist women and children who have suffered sexual violence
- Making emergency contraception available for victims of sexual violence
- Strengthening advocacy on gender-based violence in all country programmes, in conjunction with other UN partners and NGOs
- Advocating for women with parliamentarians and women's national networks
- Mainstreaming messages on the prevention of gender-based violence in information, education and communication projects
- Conducting more research on gender-based violence
Several UNFPA publications provide
additional details about the pervasiveness and the nature
of gender-based violence and the specific effects it
has on reproductive health, including:
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