Violence against women - What it is

Violence against women is a human rights problem.  Without women's rights, there are no human rights.

Violence against women is an obstacle to the achievement of equality, development and peace.

Violence against women constitutes a violation of the rights and fundamental freedoms of women and impairs or nullifies their enjoyment of those rights and freedoms.

Violence against women is a manifestation of historically unequal power relations between men and women, which have led to domination over and discrimination against women by men. 

Violence against women is one of the crucial social mechanisms by which women are forced into a subordinate position compared with men.

Some groups of women, such as women belonging to minority groups, indigenous women, refugee women, migrant women, women living in rural or remote communities, destitute women, women in institutions or in detention, female children, women with disabilities, elderly women and women in situations of armed conflict, are especially vulnerable to violence.

Violence against women is pervasive and cuts across lines of income, class and culture. 

Opportunities for women to achieve legal, social, political and economic equality in society are limited by continuing and endemic violence.

"Violence against women" means 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 in private life.

From Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women G.A. res. 48/104, 48 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 49) at 217, U.N. Doc. A/48/49 (1993).

Rural Womyn Zone > Violence Against Rural Women