Forms of violence

Violence against women can fit into several broad categories. These include violence carried out by individuals as well as states. Some of the forms of violence perpetrated by individuals are: rape, domestic violence, sexual harassment, acid throwing, reproductive coercion, female infanticide, prenatal sex selection, obstetric violence, online gender-based violence and mob violence; as well as harmful customary or traditional practices such as honor killings, dowry violence, female genital mutilation, marriage by abduction and forced marriage. There are forms of violence which may be perpetrated or condoned by the government, such as war rape; sexual violence and sexual slavery during conflict; forced sterilization; forced abortion; violence by the police and authoritative personnel; stoning and flogging. Many forms of VAW, such as trafficking in women and forced prostitution are often perpetrated by organized criminal networks.^[19] Historically, there have been forms of organized WAV, such as the Witch trials in the early modern period or the sexual slavery of the comfort women. The Gender Equality Commission of the Council of Europe identifies nine forms of violence against women based on subject and context rather than life cycle or time period:^[25][26]

• 'Violence within the family or domestic violence'
• 'Rape and sexual violence'
• 'Sexual harassment'
• 'Violence in institutional environments'
• 'Female genital mutilation'
• 'Forced marriages'
• 'Violence in conflict and post-conflict situations'
• 'Killings in the name of honour'
• 'Failure to respect freedom of choice with regard to reproduction'

Survival sex

Women who are sex workers end up in the profession for several reasons. Some were victims of sexual and domestic abuse. Many women have said they were raped as working girls. They may be apprehensive about coming forward and reporting their attacks. When reported, many women have said that the stigma was too great and that the police told them they deserved it and were reluctant to follow police policy. Decriminilazing sex work is argued to help sex workers in this aspect.^[38]

In some countries it is common for older men to engage in "compensated dating" with underage girls. Such relationships are called enjo kōsai in Japan, and are also common in Asian countries such as Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong. The WHO condemned "economically coerced sex (e.g. school girls having sex with "sugar daddies" (Sugar baby in return for school fees)" as a form of violence against women.^[27]

Kisaeng women from outcast or slave families.

Women from lower certain castes have been involved in prostitution as part of tradition, called Intergenerational prostitution. In pre-modern Korea, women from the lower caste Cheonmin, known as Kisaeng, were trained to provide entertainment, conversation, and sexual services to men of the upper class.^[39] In South Asia, castes associated with prostitution today include the Bedias,^[40] the Perna caste,^[41] the Banchhada,^[42] the Nat caste and, in Nepal, the Badi people.^[43][44]

Women with illegal resident status are disproportionately involved with prostitution. For example, in 1997, Le Monde diplomatique stated that 80% of prostitutes in Amsterdam were foreigners and 70% had no immigration papers.^[45]

Forced sexual services

By military forces

Main article: Wartime sexual violence

Brennus and His Share of the Spoils, by Paul Jamin, 1893

Rangoon, Burma. 8 August 1945. A young ethnic Chinese woman from one of the Imperial Japanese Army's "comfort battalions" is interviewed by an Allied officer.

Militarism produces special environments that allow for increased violence against women. War rapes have accompanied warfare in virtually every known historical era.^[46] Rape in the course of war is mentioned multiple times in the Bible: "For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken and the houses plundered and the women raped..."Zechariah 14:2 "Their little children will be dashed to death before their eyes. Their homes will be sacked, and their wives will be raped."Isaiah 13:16

War rapes are rapes committed by soldiers, other combatants or civilians during armed conflict or war, or during military occupation, distinguished from sexual assaults and rape committed amongst troops in military service. It also covers the situation where women are forced into prostitution or sexual slavery by an occupying power. During World War II the Japanese military established brothels filled with "comfort women", girls and women who were forced into sexual slavery for soldiers, exploiting women for the purpose of creating access and entitlement for men.^[47][48] People rarely tried to explain why rape happens in wars. One explanation that was floated around was that men in war have "urges".^[49]

Another example of violence against women incited by militarism during war took place in the Kovno Ghetto. Jewish male prisoners had access to (and used) Jewish women forced into camp brothels by the Nazis, who also used them.^[50]

Rape during the Bangladesh Liberation War by members of the Pakistani military and the militias that supported them led to 200,000 women raped over a period of nine months. Rape during the Bosnian War was used as a highly systematized instrument of war by Serb armed forces predominantly targeting women and girls of the Bosniak ethnic group for physical and moral destruction. Estimates of the number of women raped during the war range from 50,000 to 60,000; as of 2010 only 12 cases have been prosecuted.^[51]

The 1998 International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda recognized rape in the Rwandan Genocide as a war crime.^[52]

According to one report, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's capture of Iraqi cities in June 2014 was accompanied by an upsurge in crimes against women, including kidnap and rape.^[53] The Guardian reported that ISIL's extremist agenda extended to women's bodies and that women living under their control were being captured and raped.^[54] Fighters are told that they are free to have sex and rape non-Muslim captive women.^[55] Haleh Esfandiari from the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars has highlighted the abuse of local women by ISIL militants after they have captured an area. "They usually take the older women to a makeshift slave market and try to sell them. The younger girls ... are raped or married off to fighters", she said, adding, "It's based on temporary marriages, and once these fighters have had sex with these young girls, they just pass them on to other fighters."^[56] In December 2014 the Iraqi Ministry of Human Rights announced that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant had killed over 150 women and girls in Fallujah who refused to participate in sexual jihad.^[57]

During the Rohingya genocide (2016–present) the Armed Forces of Myanmar, along with the Myanmar Border Guard Police and Buddhist militias of Rakhine, committed widespread gang rapes and other forms of sexual violence against the Rohingya Muslim women and girls. A January 2018 study estimated that the military and local Rakhine Buddhists perpetrated gang rapes and other forms of sexual violence against 18,000 Rohingya Muslim women and girls.^[58] The Human Rights Watch stated that the gang rapes and sexual violence were committed as part of the military's ethnic cleansing campaign while the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary General on Sexual Violence in Conflict Pramila Patten said that the Rohingya women and girls were made the "systematic" target of rapes and sexual violence because of their ethnic identity and religion. Other forms of sexual violence included sexual slavery in military captivity, forced public nudity, and humiliation.^[59] Some women and girls were raped to death while others were found traumatised with raw wounds after they had arrived in refugee camps in Bangladesh. Human Rights Watch reported of a 15-year-old girl who was ruthlessly dragged on the ground for over 50 feet and then was raped by 10 Burmese soldiers.^[60][61]

By criminal groups

Countries by prevalence of female trafficking

Main articles: Human trafficking and Forced prostitution

Human trafficking refers to the acquisition of persons by improper means such as force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them.^[62] The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children states,^[63]

"Trafficking in persons" shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.

Because of the illegal nature of trafficking, reliable data on its extent is very limited.^[64] The WHO states "Current evidence strongly suggests that those who are trafficked into the sex industry and as domestic servants are more likely to be women and children."^[64] A 2006 study in Europe on trafficked women found that the women were subjected to serious forms of abuse, such as physical or sexual violence, that affected their physical and mental health.^[64]

Forced prostitution is prostitution that takes place as a result of coercion by a third party. In forced prostitution, the party/parties who force the victim to be subjected to unwanted sexual acts exercise control over the victim.^[65]

Sexual initiation rites

Sexual "cleansing" is ceremony where girls have sexual intercourse as a cleansing ritual following their first menstruation^[66] and is referred to as kusasa fumbi in some regions of Malawi.^[67] Prepubescent girls are often sent to a training camp where women known as anamkungwi, or "key leaders", teach the girls how to cook, clean, and have sexual intercourse in order to be a wife.^[68] After the training, a man known as a hyena performs the cleansing for 12- to 17-year-old females for three days and the girl is sometimes required to perform a bare-breasted dance, known as chisamba, to signal the end of her initiation in front of the community.^[69]

Violence related to acquiring a partner

Single women and women who are economically independent have been vilified by certain groups of men. In Hassi Messaoud in Algeria in 2001, mobs targeted single women, attacking 95 and killing at least six^[70][71] and, in 2011, similar attacks happened again throughout Algeria.^[72][73]

Stalking is unwanted or obsessive attention by an individual or group toward another person, often manifested through persistent harassment, intimidation, or following/monitoring of the victim. Stalking is often understood as "course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear".^[74] Although stalkers are frequently portrayed as being strangers, they are most often known people, such as former or current partners, friends, colleagues or acquaintances. In the U.S., a survey by NVAW found that only 23% of female victims were stalked by strangers.^[75] Stalking by partners can be very dangerous, as sometimes it can escalate into severe violence, including murder.^[75] Police statistics from the 1990s in Australia indicated that 87.7% of stalking offenders were male and 82.4% of stalking victims were female.^[76]

Women are the overwhelming majority of victims of acid attacks and it is often motivated by rejection and jealousy.

An acid attack is the act of throwing acid onto someone with the intention of injuring or disfiguring them. Women and girls are the victims in 75-80% of cases,^[77] and are often connected to domestic disputes, including dowry disputes, and refusal of a proposal of marriage, or of sexual advances.^[78] The acid is usually thrown at the faces, burning the tissue, often exposing and sometimes dissolving the bones.^[79] The long term consequences of these attacks include blindness and permanent scarring of the face and body.^[80][81] Such attacks are common in South Asia, in countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, India; and in Southeast Asia, especially in Cambodia.^[82]

Forced marriage

Main article: Forced marriage

See also: Bride kidnapping

The painting depicts a Chilean woman being kidnapped during a malón. Bride kidnapping for the purpose of forced marriage and forced pregnancy was common through the history in many countries.

Criticism of the Azeri custom of forced marriage, as depicted in the early 20th-century satirical periodical Molla Nasraddin

A forced marriage is a marriage in which one or both of the parties is married against their will. Forced marriages are common in South Asia, the Middle East and Africa. The customs of bride price and dowry, that exist in many parts of the world, contribute to this practice. A forced marriage is also often the result of a dispute between families, where the dispute is 'resolved' by giving a female from one family to the other.^[83]

The custom of bride kidnapping continues to exist in some Central Asian countries such as Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and the Caucasus, or parts of Africa, especially Ethiopia. A girl or a woman is abducted by the would be groom, who is often helped by his friends. The victim is often raped by the would be groom, after which he may try to negotiate a bride price with the village elders to legitimize the marriage.^[84]

Forced and child marriages are practiced by some inhabitants in Tanzania. Girls are sold by their families to older men for financial benefits and often girls are married off as soon as they hit puberty, which can be as young as seven years old.^[85] To the older men, these young brides act as symbols of masculinity and accomplishment. Child brides endure forced sex, causing health risks and growth impediments.^[86] Primary education is usually not completed for young girls in forced marriages. Married and pregnant students are often discriminated against, and expelled and excluded from school.^[85] The Law of Marriage Act currently does not address issues with guardianship and child marriage. The issue of child marriage is not addressed enough in this law, and only establishes a minimum age of 18 for the boys of Tanzania. A minimum age needs to be enforced for girls to stop these practices and provide them with equal rights and a less harmful life.^[87]

Dowry violence

Main articles: Dowry death and Bride burning

Anti-dowry poster in Bangalore, India

The custom of dowry, which is common in South Asia, especially in India, is the trigger of many forms of violence against women. Bride burning is a form of violence against women in which a bride is killed at home by her husband or husband's family due to his dissatisfaction over the dowry provided by her family. Dowry death refers to the phenomenon of women and girls being killed or committing suicide due to disputes regarding dowry. Dowry violence is common in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. In India, in 2011 alone, the National Crime Records Bureau reported 8,618 dowry deaths, while unofficial figures suggest the numbers to be at least three times higher.^[88]

Violence within a relationship

Anti-domestic violence sign in Liberia

The relation between violence against women and marriage laws, regulations and traditions has also been discussed.^[89][90] Roman law gave men the right to chastise their wives, even to the point of death.^[91] The US and English law subscribed until the 20th century to the system of coverture, that is, a legal doctrine under which, upon marriage, a woman's legal rights were subsumed by those of her husband.^[92] Common-law in the United States and in the UK allowed for domestic violence^[93] and in the UK, before 1891, the husband had the right to inflict moderate corporal punishment on his wife to keep her "within the bounds of duty".^[94][95] Today, outside the West, many countries severely restrict the rights of married women: for example, in Yemen, marriage regulations state that a wife must obey her husband and must not leave home without his permission.^[96] In Iraq husbands have a legal right to "punish" their wives. The criminal code states at Paragraph 41 that there is no crime if an act is committed while exercising a legal right; examples of legal rights include: "The punishment of a wife by her husband, the disciplining by parents and teachers of children under their authority within certain limits prescribed by law or by custom".^[97] In the West, married women faced discrimination until just a few decades ago: for instance, in France, married women received the right to work without their husband's permission in 1965.^[98] In Spain, during the Franco era, a married woman required her husband's consent (permiso marital) for nearly all economic activities, including employment, ownership of property and traveling away from home; the permiso marital was abolished in 1975.^[99] Concerns exist about violence related to marriage – both inside marriage (physical abuse, sexual violence, restriction of liberty) and in relation to marriage customs (dowry, bride price, forced marriage, child marriage, marriage by abduction, violence related to female premarital virginity). Claudia Card, professor of philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, writes:^[100]

The legal rights of access that married partners have to each other's persons, property, and lives makes it all but impossible for a spouse to defend herself (or himself), or to be protected against torture, rape, battery, stalking, mayhem, or murder by the other spouse... Legal marriage thus enlists state support for conditions conducive to murder and mayhem.

Physical

An illustration from JJ Grandville's Cent Proverbes (1845) captioned "Qui aime bien châtie bien" (Who loves well, punishes well). A man beating a woman is shown in the back.

Women are more likely to be victimized by someone that they are intimate with, commonly called "intimate partner violence" (IPV). Instances of IPV tend not to be reported to police and thus many experts find it hard to estimate the true magnitude of the problem.^[101] Though this form of violence is often considered as an issue within the context of heterosexual relationships, it also occurs in lesbian relationships,^[102] daughter-mother relationships, roommate relationships and other domestic relationships involving two women. Violence against women in lesbian relationships is about as common as violence against women in heterosexual relationships.^[103]

Women are much more likely than men to be murdered by an intimate partner. In the United States, in 2005, 1181 women were killed by their intimate partners, compared to 329 men.^[104][105] It is estimated that 30% or more of the women who are admitted to the ER could be victims of domestic violence

^[106] In England and Wales about 100 women are killed by partners or former partners each year while 21 men were killed in 2010.^[107] In 2008, in France, 156 women were killed by their intimate partner, compared to 27 men.^[108] According to the WHO, globally, as many as 38% of murders of women are committed by an intimate partner.^[109] A UN report compiled from a number of different studies conducted in at least 71 countries found domestic violence against women to be most prevalent in Ethiopia.^[110] A study by Pan American Health Organization conducted in 12 Latin American countries found the highest prevalence of domestic violence against women to be in Bolivia.^[111] In Western Europe, a country that has received major international criticism for the way it has dealt legally with the issue of violence against women is Finland; with authors pointing out that a high level of equality for women in the public sphere (as in Finland) should never be equated with equality in all other aspects of women's lives.^{[112][113][114]}

The American Psychiatric Association planning and research committees for the forthcoming DSM-5 (2013) have canvassed a series of new Relational disorders, which include Marital Conflict Disorder Without Violence or Marital Abuse Disorder (Marital Conflict Disorder With Violence).^{[115]: 164, 166} Couples with marital disorders sometimes come to clinical attention because the couple recognize long-standing dissatisfaction with their marriage and come to the clinician on their own initiative or are referred by an astute health care professional. Secondly, there is serious violence in the marriage that is "usually the husband battering the wife".^[115]: 163 In these cases the emergency room or a legal authority often is the first to notify the clinician. Most importantly, marital violence "is a major risk factor for serious injury and even death and women in violent marriages are at much greater risk of being seriously injured or killed (National Advisory Council on Violence Against Women 2000)".^[115]: 166 The authors of this study add, "There is current considerable controversy over whether male-to-female marital violence is best regarded as a reflection of male psychopathology and control or whether there is an empirical base and clinical utility for conceptualizing these patterns as relational."^[115]: 166

Recommendations for clinicians making a diagnosis of Marital Relational Disorder should include the assessment of actual or "potential" male violence as regularly as they assess the potential for suicide in depressed patients. Further, "clinicians should not relax their vigilance after a battered wife leaves her husband, because some data suggest that the period immediately following a marital separation is the period of greatest risk for the women. Many men will stalk and batter their wives in an effort to get them to return or punish them for leaving. Initial assessments of the potential for violence in a marriage can be supplemented by standardized interviews and questionnaires, which have been reliable and valid aids in exploring marital violence more systematically."^[115]: 166

The authors conclude with what they call "very recent information"^{[115]: 167, 168} on the course of violent marriages, which suggests that "over time a husband's battering may abate somewhat, but perhaps because he has successfully intimidated his wife. The risk of violence remains strong in a marriage in which it has been a feature in the past. Thus, treatment is essential here; the clinician cannot just wait and watch."^{[115]: 167, 168} The most urgent clinical priority is the protection of the wife because she is the one most frequently at risk, and clinicians must be aware that supporting assertiveness by a battered wife may lead to more beatings or even death.^{[115]: 167, 168}

Widowhood related violence

Sati (a Hindu practice whereby a widow immolates herself on the funeral pyre of her husband) ceremony

A 1533 account of the execution of a witch charged with burning the German town of Schiltach in 1531

Widows have been subjected to forced remarriage called widow inheritance, where she is forced to marry a male relative of her late husband.^[131] Another practice is banned remarriage of widows, such as was legal in India^[132] and Korea.^[133] A more extreme version is the ritual killing of widows as was seen in India and Fiji. Sati is the burning of widows and although sati in India is today an almost defunct practice, isolated incidents have occurred in recent years, such as the 1987 sati of Roop Kanwar, as well as several incidents in rural areas in 2002,^[134] and 2006.^[135] A traditional idea upheld in some places in Africa is that an unmarried widow is unholy and “disturbed” if she is unmarried and abstains from sex for some period of time. This fuels the practice of widow cleansing where the unmarried widow is required to have sexual intercourse as a form of ritual purification and is commenced with a ceremony for the neighborhood to witness that she is now purified.^[136]

Unmarried widows are most likely to be accused and killed as witches.^[137][138] Witch trials in the early modern period (between the 15th and 18th centuries) were common in Europe and in the European colonies in North America. Today, there remain regions of the world (such as parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, rural North India, and Papua New Guinea) where belief in witchcraft is held by many people, and women accused of being witches are subjected to serious violence.^[139]

Infanticide and abandonment

India's child sex ratio, 2011

Birth sex ratios, 2012

Chinese anti-infanticide tract circa 1800. China has a long history of son preference, which was aggravated after the enforcement of the one child policy.

Son preference is a custom prevalent in many societies^[140] that in its extreme can lead to the rejection of daughters. Sex-selective abortion of females is more common among the higher income population, who can access medical technology. After birth, neglect and diverting resources to male children can lead to some countries having a skewed ratio with more boys than girls,^[140] with such practices killing an approximate 230,000 girls under five in India each year.^[141] In China, the one child policy increased sex-selective abortions and was largely responsible for an unbalanced sex ratio.The Dying Rooms is a 1995 television documentary film about Chinese state orphanages, which documented how parents abandoned their newborn girls into orphanages, where the staff would leave the children in rooms to die of thirst, or starvation.^[142][143]

Another manifestation of son preference is the violence inflicted against mothers who give birth to girls.^[144]

Body modification

Genitalia

Main articles: Female genital mutilation and labia stretching

Map showing the prevalence of FGM in Africa

Anti-FGM road sign, Bakau, Gambia, 2005

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as "all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons".^[145]

The WHO states: "The procedure has no health benefits for girls and women" and "Procedures can cause severe bleeding and problems urinating, and later cysts, infections, infertility as well as complications in childbirth increased risk of newborn deaths".^[145]

According to a UNICEF report, the top rates for FGM are in Somalia (with 98 percent of women affected), Guinea (96 percent), Djibouti (93 percent), Egypt (91 percent), Eritrea (89 percent), Mali (89 percent), Sierra Leone (88 percent), Sudan (88 percent), Gambia (76 percent), Burkina Faso (76 percent), Ethiopia (74 percent), Mauritania (69 percent), Liberia (66 percent), and Guinea-Bissau (50 percent).^[146] FGM is linked to cultural rites and customs, including traditional practices. It continues to take place in different communities of Africa and the Middle East, including in places where it is banned by national legislation. According to a 2013 UNICEF report, 125 million women and girls in Africa and the Middle East have experienced FGM.^[146] Due to globalization and immigration, FGM is spreading beyond the borders of Africa and Middle East, to countries such as Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, New Zealand, the U.S., and UK.^[147]

Although FGM is today associated with developing countries, this practice was common until the 1970s in parts of the Western world, too. FGM was considered a standard medical procedure in the United States for most of the 19th and 20th centuries.^[148] Physicians performed surgeries of varying invasiveness to treat a number of diagnoses, including hysteria, depression, nymphomania, and frigidity. The medicalization of FGM in the United States allowed these practices to continue until the second part of the 20th century, with some procedures covered by Blue Cross Blue Shield Insurance until 1977.^[149][148]

As of 2016, in Africa, FGM has been legally banned in Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, and Zambia.^[150] The Istanbul Convention prohibits female genital mutilation (Article 38).^[151]

Labia stretching, also referred to as labia elongation or labia pulling, is the act of lengthening the labia minora (the inner lips of the female genitals) through manual manipulation (pulling) or physical equipment (such as weights).^[152] It is often done by older women to girls.^[153]

Feet

X-ray of bound feet, China

Foot-binding was a practice in China done to reduce the size of feet in girls. It was seen as more desirable and was likely to make a more prestigious marriage.^[154]

Honor killings

Honor killings are a common form of violence against women in certain parts of the world. Honor killings are perpetrated by family members (usually husbands, fathers, uncles or brothers) against women in the family who are believed to have placed dishonor to the family. The death of the dishonorable woman is believed to restore honor.^[157] These killings are a traditional practice, believed to have originated from tribal customs where an allegation against a woman can be enough to defile a family's reputation.^[158][159] Women are killed for reasons such as refusing to enter an arranged marriage, being in a relationship that is disapproved by their relatives, attempting to leave a marriage, having sex outside marriage, becoming the victim of rape, and dressing in ways that are deemed inappropriate, among others.^[158][160] In cultures where female virginity is highly valued and considered mandatory before marriage; in extreme cases, rape victims are killed in honor killings. Victims may also be forced by their families to marry the rapist in order to restore the family's "honor".^[161] In Lebanon, the Campaign Against Lebanese Rape Law - Article 522 was launched in December 2016 to abolish the article that permitted a rapist to escape prison by marrying his victim. In Italy, before 1981, the Criminal Code provided for mitigating circumstances in case of a killing of a woman or her sexual partner for reasons related to honor, providing for a reduced sentence. ^[162][163]

Honor killings are common in countries such as Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, Yemen.^{[160][164][165][166][167]} Honor killings also occur in immigrant communities in Europe, the United States and Canada. Although honor killings are most often associated with the Middle East and South Asia, they occur in other parts of the world too.^[158][168] In India, honor killings occur in the northern regions of the country, especially in the states of Punjab, Haryana, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.^[169][170] In Turkey, honor killings are a serious problem in Southeastern Anatolia.^[171][172]

Restrictions around menstruation

Awareness raising through education is taking place among young girls to modify or eliminate the practice of chhaupadi in Nepal.

Women in some cultures are forced into social isolation during their menstrual periods. In parts of Nepal for instance, they are forced to live in sheds, are forbidden to touch men or even to enter the courtyard of their own homes, and are barred from consuming milk, yogurt, butter, meat, and various other foods, for fear they will contaminate those goods. Women have died during this period because of starvation, bad weather, or bites by snakes.^[179] In cultures where women are restricted from being in public places, by law or custom, women who break such restrictions often face violence.^[180]

Forced pregnancy

Forced pregnancy is the practice of forcing a woman or girl to become pregnant. A common motivation for this is to help establish a forced marriage, including by means of bride kidnapping. This was also used as part of a program of breeding slaves (see Slave breeding in the United States). In the 20th century, state mandated forced marriage with the aim of increasing the population was practiced by some authoritarian governments, notably during the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, which systematically forced people into marriages ordering them to have children, in order to increase the population and continue the revolution.^[181]

The issue of forced continuation of pregnancy (i.e. denying a woman safe and legal abortion) is also seen by some organizations as a violation of women's rights. For example, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women considers the criminalization of abortion a "violations of women's sexual and reproductive health and rights" and a form of "gender based violence".^[182]

In addition, in some parts of Latin America, with very strict anti-abortion laws, pregnant women avoid the medical system due to fear of being investigated by the authorities if they have a miscarriage, or a stillbirth, or other problems with the pregnancy. Prosecuting such women is quite common in places such as El Salvador.^{[183][184][185][186]}

Forced sterilization and forced abortion

A map from a 1929 Swedish royal commission report displays the U.S. states that had implemented sterilization legislation by then

Forced sterilization and forced abortion are considered forms of gender-based violence.^[187] The Istanbul Convention prohibits forced abortion and forced sterilization (Article 39).^[188] According to the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women, all "women are guaranteed the right to decide freely and responsibly on the number of and spacing of their children, and to have access to information, education, and means to enable them to exercise these rights."^[189]

Studies show forced sterilizations often target socially and politically disadvantaged groups such as racial and ethnic minorities, the poor, and indigenous populations.^[190] In the United States, much of the history of forced sterilization is connected to the legacy of eugenics and racism in the United States.^[190] Many doctors thought that they were doing the country a service by sterilizing women who were poor, disabled, or a minority; the doctors considered those women to be a drain on the system.^[190][191] Native American, Mexican American, African American and Puerto Rican-American women were coerced into sterilization programs, with Native Americans and African Americans especially being targeted.^[190] Records have shown that Native American girls as young as eleven years-old had hysterectomy operations performed.^[192]

In Europe, there have been a number of lawsuits and accusations towards the Czech Republic and Slovakia of sterilizing Roma women without adequate information and waiting period.^[193] In response, both nations have instituted a mandatory seven-day waiting period and written consent. Slovakia has been condemned on the issue of forced sterilization of Roma women several times by the European Court for Human Rights (see V. C. vs. Slovakia, N. B. vs. Slovakia and I.G. and Others vs. Slovakia).^[194]

In Peru, in 1995, Alberto Fujimori launched a family planning initiative that especially targeted poor and indigenous women. In total, over 215,000 women were sterilized, with over 200,000 believed to have been coerced.^[195] In 2002, Health Minister Fernando Carbone admitted that the government gave misleading information, offered food incentives, and threatened to fine parents if they had additional children. The procedures have also been found to have been negligent, with less than half using proper anesthetic.^[196]

In China, the one child policy included forced abortions and forced sterilization.^[197] Forced sterilization is also practiced in Uzbekistan.^[198][199]

Dress

In Iran, since 1981, after the Islamic Revolution, all women are required to wear loose-fitting clothing and a headscarf in public.^[200][201] In 1983, the Islamic Consultative Assembly decided that women who do not cover their hair in public will be punished with 74 lashes. Since 1995, unveiled women can also be imprisoned for up to 60 days.^[202] The Iranian protests against compulsory hijab continued into the September 2022 Iranian protests which was triggered in response to the killing of Mahsa Amini, who was allegedly beaten to death by police due to wearing an "improper hijab". In Saudi Arabia, after the Grand Mosque seizure of 1979, it became mandatory for women to veil in public^[203] but this was no longer required since 2018. ^[204] In Afghanistan, since May 2022, women are required to wear a hijab and face covering in public. ^[205]

The hijab has seen bans in places such as Austria,^[206] Yugoslavia, ^[207] Kosovo,^[208] Kazakhstan,^[209] the Soviet Union,^[210] and Tunisia.^[211] On 8 January 1936,^[212] Reza Shah issued a decree, Kashf-e hijab, banning all veils.^[201] To enforce this decree, the police were ordered to physically remove the veil from any woman who wore it in public. Women who refused were beaten, their headscarves and chadors torn off, and their homes forcibly searched.^[213]

Freedom of movement

Women are, in many parts of the world, severely restricted in their freedom of movement. Freedom of movement is an essential right, recognized by international instruments, including Article 15 (4) of CEDAW.^[214] Nevertheless, in some countries, women are not legally allowed to leave home without a male guardian (male relative or husband).^[215] Saudi Arabia was the only country in the world where women were forbidden to drive motor vehicles until June 2018.^[216]

Sexuality

Sex crimes such as adultery and sex outside marriage are disproportionately levelled against women and the punishment is often stoning and flogging. This has been seen in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Pakistan, Yemen, the United Arab Emirates, and some states in Nigeria.^[217] Additionally this can deter victims of sexual violence from reporting the crime, because the victims may themselves be punished (if they cannot prove their case, if they are deemed to have been in the company of an unrelated male, or if they were unmarried and not virgins at the time of the rape).^[218][219] Another aspect is the denial of medical care often occurs with regard to reproductive and sexual health. Sometimes women themselves avoid the medical system for fear of being reported to the police or facing family violence due to having premarital sex or being the victims of sexual violence.^[220]

Male-dominated spheres

Slut shaming is a common form of semiotic violence against women in politics.

Online

Cyberbullying is a form of intimidation using electronic forms of contact. In the 21st century, cyberbullying has become increasingly common, especially among teenagers in Western countries.^[246] Almost 75% of women have encountered harassment and threats of violence online, known as cyber violence, as reported by the United Nations Broadband Commission in 2015.^[247] Misogynistic rhetoric is prevalent online, and the public debate over gender-based attacks has increased significantly, leading to calls for policy interventions and better responses by social networks like Facebook and Twitter.^[248][249] Some specialists have argued that gendered online attacks should be given particular attention within the wider category of hate speech.^[250] Abusers quickly identified opportunities online to humiliate their victims, destroy their careers, reputations and relationships, and even drive them to suicide or "trigger so-called 'honor' violence in societies where sex outside of marriage is seen as bringing shame on a family".^[251] According to a poll conducted by Amnesty International in 2018 across 8 countries, 23% of women have experienced online abuse of harassment. These are often sexist or misogynistic in nature and include direct of indirect threats of physical or sexual violence, abuse targeting aspects of their personality and privacy violations.^[252] According to Human Rights Watch, 90% of those who experienced sexual violence online in 2019 were women and girls.^[251]

High risk groups

Background and history

Activism refers to "a doctrine or practice that emphasizes direct vigorous action especially in support of or opposition to one side of a controversial issue".^[290] In the activism for violence against women, the objectives are to address and draw public attention on the issues of VAW as well as seek and recommend measures to prevent and eliminate this violence.^[291] Many scholarly articles suggest that the VAW is considered as a violation of human rights^{[292][293][294]} as well as "public health issue".^[295]

The emergence of the first women's movements, or so called the first wave of feminism, dated back in the years the late 19th Century and early 20th Century in the United States and Europe. During this period, feminist movements developed from the context of industrialization and liberal politics that triggered the rise of feminist groups concerned with gaining equal access and opportunity for women.^[296]: 1 This wave marks a period of "suffrage, independence, rights to nationality, work and equal pay" for women.^[297]

The third wave of feminism is the newest wave of feminism led by young feminists whose understanding and context are of the globalized world order and the technological advances that have come with it. Also, this wave is a transition of the fall communism^[296]: 17 to more complex issues of new kinds of 'warfare', threats and violence. This new wave also "embraces ambiguity"^[296]: 16 and introduced a feminist approach of 'intersectionality' that includes the issues of race, gender, age, and class.^[296]: 17 Other than that, the third wave marks a period of feminism dealing with identity politics, body politics as well as the issues of violence.^[298]

Papua New Guineans show their support for putting an end to violence against women during a White Ribbon Day march.

Nonetheless, the VAW movement was initiated in the 1970s where some feminist movements started to bring the discussion on the issue of violence into the feminist discourse^[299] and that many other groups, on the national as well as international levels, had attempted to push for the betterment of women through lobbying of the state officials and delegates, demanding the conferences on 'gender issues'.^[297]

Levels of activist movements

Poster against child and forced marriage

Mass protest against violence against women in Buenos Aires in 2015

On the local or national level, the VAW movements are diverse and differ in their strategic program of intervention. The strategies used in a number of the movements focus on the individual level with the emphases on individuals, relationships and family. Also, many of them take the 'preventive' as an approach to tackle the issues on the ground by encouraging people to "reexamine their attitudes and beliefs" in order to trigger and create fundamental changes in these "deep-rooted beliefs and behaviors".^[295] Despite the fact that these strategies can be life changing, helpful to those who participate and feasible over a long time frame, the effects on societal level seem to be restricted and of minimal effects. In order to achieve the objectives of the movement, many activists and scholars argue that they have to initiate changes in cultural attitudes and norms on a communal level.^[300]

On the transnational or regional level, the anti-violence movements also deploy different strategies based on the specificities of their cultures and beliefs in their particular regions. On this level, the activist movements are known as "transnational feminist networks" or TFNs.^[292]: 556 The TFNs have a significant effect, like the autonomous movements on the national level, in shaping sets of policies as well pushing for the recognition and inclusion of language of VAW in the United Nations human rights mechanisms: the international human rights agreements.^[292] Their activities are ranging from lobbying the policy makers; organizing demonstrations on the local and regional levels; to creating institutional pressure that could push for changes in the international institutional measures.^[292]

On an international level, the movements that advocate for women's rights and against VAW are the mixture of (civil society) actors from domestic and regional levels. The objectives of these VAW movements focus on "creating shared expectations" within the domestic and regional levels as well as "mobilizing numbers of domestic civil society" to create "standards in global civil society".^[292]: 556 The global women's movement works to transform numbers of international conventions and conferences to "a conference on women's rights" by pushing for a "stronger language and clearer recognition" of the VAW issues. In addition, the United Nations also plays a vital role in promoting and campaigning for the VAW movements on the international level.^[301]

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5 is also a global initiative with a target to eliminate all forms of violence against women.^[302]In recent years, there has been a trend of approaching VAW at an international level through means such as conventions or, in the European Union, through directives (such as the directive against sexual harassment, and the directive against human trafficking).^[303][304]

Second order sexual harassment (SOSH)

Second-order sexual harassment (SOSH) is the harassment suffered by those who stand with and support victims of violence against women (VAW).^[305] In 2013 the UN General Assembly passed its first resolution calling for the protection of defenders of women's human rights.^[306] The resolution urges states to put in place gender-specific laws and policies for the protection of women's human rights defenders and to ensure that defenders themselves are involved in the design and implementation of these measures, and calls on states to protect women's human rights defenders from reprisals for cooperating with the UN and to ensure their unhindered access to and communication with international human rights bodies and mechanisms.^[307]

Challenges faced by women in accessing justice and limitations of measures

There can be a de jure or de facto acceptance of violent behaviors and lack of remedies for victims.^[253]

• Lack of criminalization: in many places, acts of abuse, especially acts such as female genital mutilation, marital rape, forced marriage and child marriage, are not criminalized, or are illegal but widely tolerated, with the laws against them being rarely enforced. There are instances where crimes against women are also categorized as minor offenses.
• Lack of awareness of the existing laws: in many places, although there are laws against violence on the books, many women do not know of their existence. This is especially the case with marital rape – its criminalization being very recent in most countries.^[308]
• Challenges in making a case in court: the burden of proof can be placed on the victim. For instance in the Philippines, before a change in law in 1997, rape used to be described as a crime against chastity; and virginity played an important role in court. In various countries, such as Bangladesh, a woman's past sexual experience continues to be very important in a case of rape. Bangladesh has received criticism for its employment of the "two-finger test" in rape investigations. This test consists in a physical examination of women who report rape during which a doctor inserts two fingers in the woman's vagina to determine whether the woman is "habituated to sex". This examination has its origin in the country's colonial-era laws dating back to 1872. The test deters many women from reporting incidents of rape. More than 100 experts, including doctors, lawyers, police, and women's rights activists had signed a joint statement in 2013 asking for the test, which they called "demeaning", to be abolished, as it "does not provide any evidence that is relevant to proving the offence". This test is also performed in several other countries in the region, including India.^[309] It can also be difficult to make a case of sexual assault in court, when members of the judiciary expect evidence of severe struggle and injury as determinative evidence of non-consent. On the other hand, there are measures, such as the 2012 law in Brazil, that allow for cases to be filed even without the representation of the victim.
• Existing laws are insufficient, conflicting, and have no effect in practice: some laws on domestic violence, for instance, conflict with other provisions and ultimately contradict their goals. Legal frameworks can also be flawed when laws that integrate protection do so in isolation, notably in relation to immigration laws. Undocumented women in countries where they would have, in theory, access to justice, do not in practice for fear of being denounced and deported. The CEDAW Committee recommends that a State authority's obligation to report undocumented persons be repealed in national legislation.

Invoking culture to explain particular forms of violence against women risks appearing to legitimize them. There is also debate and controversy about the ways in which cultural traditions, local customs and social expectations, as well as various interpretations of religion, interact with abusive practices.^[255][310] Specifically, cultural justifications for certain violent acts against women are asserted by some states and social groups within many countries claiming to defend their traditions. These justifications are questionable precisely because the defenses are generally voiced by political leaders or traditional authorities, not by those actually affected.^[255]

Measures to address violence against women range from access to legal-aid to the provision of shelters and hotlines for victims. Despite advances in legislation and policies, the lack of implementation of the measures put in place prevents significant progress in eradicating violence against women globally. This failure to apply existing laws and procedures is often due to the persisting issue of gender stereotyping.^[311]

Accessibility of police

Women who report acts of violence most often come into contact first with police workers. Therefore, police attitudes are crucial in facilitating a sense of safety and comfort for women who have been victimized.^[312][313] When police officers misuse their power as agents of the state to physically and sexually harass and assault victims, the survivors, including women, feel much less able to report the violence.^[314] Human rights violations perpetrated by police and military personnel in many countries are correlated with decreased access to public health services and increased practices of risky behavior among members of vulnerable groups, such as women and female sex workers.^[315] These practices are especially widespread in settings with a weak rule of law and low levels of police and military management and professionalism. Police abuse in this context has been linked to a wide range of risky behaviors and health outcomes, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance abuse.^[315][316] Extortion of sexual services and police sexual abuse have been linked to a decrease in condom use and an elevated risk of STI and HIV infections among vulnerable groups.^[315][317]

Some countries, such as Brazil and Jordan, have enacted women's police station, which are police stations that specialize in certain crimes, such as sexual violence, harassment, domestic violence committed against women.

Intervention versus autonomy

It is standard procedure for police to force entry into the victim's home even after the victim's numerous requests for them to go away.^[318] Government agencies often disregard the victim's right to freedom of association with their perpetrator.^[319]

Africa

In Africa, there emerged a series of regional meetings and agreements, which was triggered by the UN processes on the international level such as Third World Conference on Women in Nairobi, 1985; the 1993 Kampala Prep Com; the 1994 Africa-wide UN women's conference^[324] that led to the identification of VAW as a critical issue in the Southern African Women's Charter.^[292]: 557

Americas

In the Americas, the Inter-American Convention on Violence Against Women, which was formally announced and adopted by the Organization of American States (OAS) in 1994, immediately after the Vienna Conference^[292]: 557 The Inter-American Convention to Prevent, Eradicate and Punish Violence Against Women – also known as the Belém do Parà Convention, for instance, has been applied by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in its first case of domestic violence to condemn Brazil in the Maria da Penha case. This led the Brazilian government to enact in 2006 the Maria da Penha Law, the country's first law against domestic violence against women.^[325]

Asia

In Asia, there is the South Asian Agreement on Regional Cooperation's (SAARC) Protocol to End Trafficking in Women and Children.^[253]

Europe

In Europe, the European Union (EU)'s initiatives to combat violence against women after the 1990s: the 1997 resolution calling for a zero tolerance: specifically on UN human rights instruments of CEDAW and the Vienna Declaration. The Council of Europe also developed "a series of initiatives" related to the issue of VAW: "the 2000 resolution on trafficking, the 2003 resolution on domestic violence, and the 2004 resolution on honor crimes" as well as promoted "the 2002 recommendation on the protection of women against violence and established its monitoring framework".^[292]: 557 The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, also known as the Istanbul Convention, is the first legally binding instrument in Europe in the field of domestic violence and violence against women,^[326] and came into force in 2014.^[327] Countries which ratify it must ensure that the forms of violence defined in its text are outlawed. In its Preamble, the Convention states that "the realisation of de jure and de facto equality between women and men is a key element in the prevention of violence against women". The convention also provides a definition of domestic violence as "all acts of physical, sexual, psychological or economic violence that occur within the family or domestic unit or between former or current spouses or partners, whether or not the perpetrator shares or has shared the same residence with the victim".^[328] Although it is a Convention of the Council of Europe, it is open to accession by any country.^[329]