Gender violence includes rape, sexual assault, intimate partner violence in heterosexual and same sex partnerships, sexual harassment, stalking, prostitution and sex trafficking. Gender-based violence disproportionately affects girls and women, particularly through certain forms of violence such as child marriage, intimate partner violence, female genital mutilation , ‘honour’ killings or trafficking. Violence against women is a persistent and universal problem occurring in every culture and social group. Around the world, at least one in every three women has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime most often by someone she knows, including a member of her own family, an employer or a co-worker. Violence against women has been called “the most pervasive yet least recognized human rights abuse in the world”
Gender-based violence is not exclusively a woman’s concern. It is both a cause and consequence of gender perceptions. The use of the term ‘gender-based violence’ provides a new context in which to examine and understand the phenomenon of violence against women. It shifts the focus from women as victims to gender and the unequal power relationships between women and men created and maintained by gender stereotypes as the basic underlying cause of violence against women.
Types of gender based violence
- Overt physical abuse (includes battering, sexual assault, at home or in the workplace
- Psychological abuse (includes deprivation of liberty, forced marriage, sexual harassment, at home or in the workplace)
- Deprivation of resources needed for physical and psychological well-being (including health care, nutrition, education, means of livelihood)
- Treatment of women as commodities (includes trafficking in women and girls for sexual exploitation)
Four key facts about gender-based violence
- Globally, 1 in 3 women have been beaten, coerced into sex, or abused in some other way usually by someone they know.
- Around 641 million women worldwide have experienced at least one incidence of physical and sexual violence from a romantic partner.
- As many as 38% of murders of women globally are committed by their intimate partners.
- In some countries, the World Bank estimates that violence against women can a cost up to 3.7% of the countries GDP in lost productivity thus impacting the capacities of many families to earn.
Gender-based violence can have serious long-term and life-threatening consequences for victims/survivors. These can range from permanent disability or death to a variety of physical, psycho-social and health-related problems that often destroy the survivor’s self-worth and quality of life, and expose her or him to further abuse. Gender-based violence can lead to a vicious cycle of violence and abuse as survivors risk being rejected by their family, excluded and ostracized by society, and even arrested, detained and punished – and sometimes abused again for seeking protection, assistance or access to justice.
Aishwarya Says:
I have always been against Glorifying Over Work and therefore, in the year 2021, I have decided to launch this campaign “Balancing Life”and talk about this wrong practice, that we have been following since last few years. I will be talking to and interviewing around 1 lakh people in the coming 2021 and publish their interview regarding their opinion on glamourising Over Work.
If you are interested in participating in the same, do let me know.
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