Millions of women face violence every day, but despite this, they continue to fight for equality and hope for change.

Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is one of the most prevalent human rights violations in the world. Almost one in three women experience physical or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner violence at least once in their life (1^✔ ✔Trusted Source
International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

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Violence Against Women Every 10 Minutes

Due to gender-based violence against women, 51,100 women were killed in 2023 by their partners or family members. That means a woman was killed every 10 minutes.

This issue does not stop with homes rather it has worsened in workplaces and online platforms. Factors like conflicts and climate change have made the situation even worse.

VAWG remains unreported due to a lack of fear of getting a punishment, silence, stigma, and shame surrounding it. Violence can be in different forms and it can be physical, sexual, and psychological.

Everyday Gender-Based Violence

Women undergo battering, a violent attack causing injuries, psychological abuse, marital rape, and femicide from their intimate partner. Marital rape is forcing a woman into sexual intercourse without her consent. Femicide is a gender-based murder of a woman or girl by a man.

Sexual violence and harassment is a severe form of violence that affects a woman or girl physically and mentally. Rape, forced sexual acts, child sexual abuse, stalking, harassment, cyber harassment, and forced marriage are the traumatic acts of violence that females undergo in their everyday life.

Human trafficking is the trade of humans for forced labor, sexual slavery, or sexual exploitation. Trafficking female babies and teenage girls illegally has neither stopped nor reduced.

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a traditional harmful practice that involves the removal of female genitalia. It is often done as a cultural practice and a form of VAWG. about 200 million girls and women globally face this cruel and painful violence.

Child marriage is a fundamental violation of human rights where a child under the age of 18 is married due to reasons like gender inequality, poverty, insecurity, and cultural practices.

UN’s Efforts to End Violence

The UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women issued by the UN General Assembly in 1993, defines violence against women as “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life.”

Violence against women continues to be an obstacle to achieving equality, development, and peace. The goal of Sustainable Developmental Goals (SDGs) is not to leave anyone behind and put an end to VAWG. Despite all the hurdles a female faces in this society, she never falls back to achieve her dream and bring hope.

Reference:

1. International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women – (https://www.un.org/en/observances/ending-violence-against-women-day)

Source-Medindia