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Chapter 6

Violence against women

Introduction

Violence against women is defined as any act o“gender-based violence that results in or is likelyto result in physical, sexual or psychologicalharm or suffering to women, including threats oacts such as coercion or arbitrary deprivation oliberty, whether occurring in public or in privatelie.”1 Its dimensions include physical, sexual,psychological/emotional and economic violenceoccurring in the amily and general communityor such violence perpetrated or condoned by theState. Violence against women includes domes-tic violence, child marriage, orced pregnancy,

“honour” crimes, emale genital mutilation,emicide, sexual and other violence perpetratedby someone other than an intimate partner (alsoreerred to as non-partner violence), sexual har-assment (in the workplace, other institutions andin public spaces), trafficking in women and vio-lence in conflict situations.

1 United Nations General Assembly, 1993.

In all societies, to varying degrees, women andgirls are subjected to physical, sexual and psy-chological abuse that cuts across lines o income,class and culture.2 Such violence is recognizedas a violation o human rights and a orm odiscrimination against women, reflecting thepervasive imbalance o power between womenand men.3

Te experience o violence can affect women ina myriad o ways that are ofen difficult to quan-tiy. Injuries and health problems are common asa result o physical and sexual violence, but thepsychological and emotional wounds they mayalso inflict are sometimes deeper and longer last-ing.4 Violence can lead to a reduced ability o awoman to work, care or her amily and contrib-ute to society. Witnessing violence in childhoodcan also result in a range o behavioural and

2 Ibid .

3 Ibid .

4 United Nations, 2006a.

Key findings

• Women across the world, regardless of income, age or education, are subject to physical, sexual, psycho-

logical and economic violence.

• Experience of violence can lead to long term physical, mental and emotional health problems; in the most

extreme cases, violence against women can lead to death.

• Intimate partner violence accounts for the majority of women’s experience of violence.

• Prevalence of sexual violence is lower than that of physical violence, however, in intimate relationships they

are often experienced together.

• Attitudes towards violence are starting to change—in almost all countries where information for more

than one year is available, the level of both women’s and men’s acceptance of violence decreased over time.

• In the 29 countries in Africa and the Middle East where the practice is concentrated, more than 125 million

girls and women alive today have been subjected to female genital mutilation.

• In the majority of countries, less than half of the women who experienced violence sought help of any sort,

and among those who did, most looked to family and friends as opposed to the police and health services.

• At least 119 countries have passed laws on domestic violence, 125 have laws on sexual harassment and 52

have laws on marital rape.

• Availability of data on violence against women has increased significantly in recent years—since 1995 more

than 100 countries have conducted at least one survey addressing the issue.


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The World's Women 2015140

Box 6.1

Gaps in gender statistics related to violence against women

The 1993 Decla ration o n the Elimination of Violenceagainst Women called on States to promote research,collect data and compile statistics relating to the dif-

ferent forms of violence against women, especiallydomestic violence. It also encouraged research on thecauses, nature and consequences of violence againstwomen and on the effectiveness of measures to pre-vent and redress it.

Apart from a few exceptions, initially, only small-scalead-hoc studies that were not nationally representativewere available. In the early 2000s, the first initiativesto conduct dedicated, internationally comparable sur-veys to measure prevalence were the World Health Or-ganization’s (WHO) Multi-country Study on Women’sHealth and Domestic Violence against Womena andthe International Violence against Women Survey, co-ordinated by the European Institute for Crime Preven-tion and Control. The WHO study focused on a numberof specific sites in selected countries. It addressed in-

timate partner violence and its association with wom-en’s physical, mental, sexual and reproductive health,and was instrumental in developing and testing modelquestionnaires for use in surveys on violence againstwomen. More recently, the United Nations StatisticsDivision has developed a set of guidelinesb to assistnational statistics offices in collecting data and compil-ing indicators on violence against women, which al-low for more standardized and comparable analysesof levels and trends in prevalence at both the nationaland international levels.

In recognition of the need for better data and stand-ardized measurements, the United Nations StatisticalCommission established a “Friends of the Chair” groupto identify key indicators on physical, sexual, psycho-logical and economic violence against women.c

In general, surveys dedicated to measuring violenceagainst women are better at collecting informationthan administrative data since, if well designed, they

more accurately reflect the actual experience of vio -lence than what is reported to officials. d However,implementing a dedicated survey is often costly. Ifa dedicated survey is not feasible, inserting a mod-ule of questions on experiences of violence into anexisting survey, such as one on women’s health orgeneral victimization, is an alternative option forcollecting some information, provided specific ethi-cal and safety guidelinese developed for conductinga dedicated survey on this sensitive topic are takeninto consideration.

The availabilit y of data on violence against womenhas increased significantly in recent years. Duringthe period 1995–2014, 102 countries conducted atleast one survey addressing violence against womenthat produced representative results at the national

level,—either as a dedicated survey (51 countries) oras a module attached to a wider survey (64 countries).Some countries implemented both types of surveys.Forty-four countries undertook a survey in the pe-riod 1995–2004 and 89 countries did so in the period2005–2014, suggesting growing interest in this issue.More than 40 countries conducted at least two surveysin the period 1995–2014. This means that, dependingon the comparability of the surveys, changes over timecould be analysed. One hundred countries conductedsurveys that included questions on attitudes towardsviolence, and 29 on female genital mutilation. Thiscovers all countries where the practice of female geni-tal mutilation is concentrated.

Despite the increase in the availability and qualityof data on violence against women, significant chal-lenges remain. Different survey questionnaires andmethodologies are sometimes used in different coun-tries, leading to a lack of comparability at the regionaland international levels. Willingness to discuss experi-ences of violence may also differ according to the cul-tural context, and this can affect reported prevalencelevels.

Police, court, social services and health statistics rep-resent a potential source of information on violenceagainst women that is often underutilized. However,the usefulness of such information can be mixed. Sincemany women do not report violence to the authori-ties, statistics based on reported cases significantlyunderestimate the phenomenon. Administrativerecords can be used to track victims’ use of servicesand monitor the system’s response to the problem,but even when statistics are available, the sex of the

victim and relationship to the perpetrator and/or thesex of the perpetrator are often not recorded, limit-ing the scope of the analysis. Data on specific formsof violence, such as trafficking and harmful practicessuch as “honour” killings, from any source, are scarce.

a WHO, 2005.

b United Nations, 2013a.

c Adopted by the United Na-tions Statistical Commissionin 2009, E/CN.3/2009/29. Seealso United Nations, 2013afor the final list of indicators.

d United Nations, 2013a.

e WHO, 2001.

Number of countries conducting surveys on violence against women, 1995–2014

1995–2014 1995–2004 2005–2014

Type of survey At least onesurvey

At least twosurveys

At least onesurvey

At least onesurvey

Dedicated survey to measureviolence against women 51 7 17 35

Module of questions onviolence against women 64 31 25 60

Dedicated survey or module onviolence against women 102 43 44 89

Survey with questions onattitudes towards violence 100 62 37 97

Survey with questions onfemale genital mutilation 29 25 20 27


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Violence against women 141

emotional problems.5 Women who have sufferedrom intimate partner violence are more likelyto give birth to a low-birthweight baby, have anabortion and experience depression.6 In some re-gions, they are also more likely to contract HIV,compared to women who have not experienced

violence at the hands o a partner.7 In some cases, violence against women can lead to death; abouttwo thirds o the victims o intimate partner/amily-related homicide are women, in contrastto all cases o homicide, o which 20 per cent othe victims are women.8 Whereas other orms ohomicide have shown significant declines overtime, rates o intimate partner/amily-related e-male homicide have remained relatively stable.9

Violence against women also incurs significanteconomic costs, both direct and indirect. Directcosts include those associated with the police,

hospital and other health services, legal costs,and costs associated with housing, social andsupport services. Indirect costs include thoserelated to reduced employment and productiv-ity and the diminished value o a lie lived with

violence. A number o countries have conductedstudies to estimate the economic toll o violenceagainst women. As the methodologies used orconducting such studies vary, the real costscannot be directly compared across countries.However they do provide an indication o thesubstantial economic impact o violence againstwomen and how much needs to be spent to ad-

dress the problem.10 Globally, conservative esti-mates o lost productivity resulting rom domes-tic violence range between 1 and 2 per cent ogross domestic product.11

A call to end all orms o violence against womenwas made in the Declaration on the Eliminationo Violence against Women, adopted in 199312 and the Beijing Declaration and Platorm orAction, adopted in 1995.13 Several initiativeshave been undertaken to reduce violence against

5 Ibid .

6 WHO, 2013a. 7 Ibid .

8 UNODC, 2013.

9 Ibid .

10 For example, a study in the United Kingdom examinedthe cost categories o justice, health care, social services,housing, legal services, lost output, and pain and suffer-ing. Te study estimated the cost o domestic violence inEngland and Wales alone to be US$25 billion per year.Walby, 2009.

11 World Bank, 2014.

12 United Nations General Assembly, 1993.

13 United Nations, 1995.

women internationally by the United Nationsand others, as well as at the national level. Te

vision o the United Nations Secretary-Gener-al’s Campaign UNiE to End Violence againstWomen is “a world ree rom violence againstwomen, realized through meaningul actions

and ongoing political commitments o nationalgovernments, backed by adequate resources.”o urther draw attention to this ofen silencedtopic, the United Nations designated 25 Novem-ber as the International Day or the Eliminationo Violence against Women. Te General As-sembly’s most recent resolution on the intensifi-cation o efforts to eliminate all orms o violenceagainst women (A/RES/69/147), adopted in 2014,calls on States to take measures towards that endin the areas o laws and policies, prevention,support services and responses, as well as datacollection and research, with a special ocus onwomen acing multiple orms o discrimination.In the same year, the Council o Europe Con-

vention on Preventing and Combating Violenceagainst Women and Domestic Violence (CESNo. 210, known as the Istanbul Convention) en-tered into orce. Te Convention sets out a legalramework and approach to address violenceagainst women, ocused on preventing domestic

violence, protecting victims and prosecuting o-enders.

Tis chapter presents an overview o the preva-lence o women’s experience o physical and sex-

ual violence, an examination o intimate partner violence and attitudes towards violence. It is ol-lowed by a review o orms o violence in specificsettings—emale genital mutilation, violence inconflict situations and the trafficking o women.It concludes with a look at help-seeking behav-iour and state response to violence. In preparingthis issue o Te World’s Women, the United Na-tions Statistics Division undertook a compilationo data collected by surveys addressing violenceagainst women. While every effort was made toincorporate as many surveys as possible, someo them could not be included due either to thetiming o their release or the lack o availabledata or some other reason. Precise definitionsand exact methodologies used may vary amongdata sources. Te complete list o surveys and keyresults are presented in the Statistical Annex.14

14 See Statistical Annex available at http://unstats.un.org/unsd/gender/worldswomen.html.


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A. Prevalence of the main forms

of violence against women

Violence against women is ound in all countriesto varying degrees. A number o actors can in-crease the risk o violence against women and

girls. Tese include: witnessing or experienc-ing violence in childhood, low levels o educa-tion, limited economic opportunities, substanceabuse, attitudes that tolerate violence, and lim-ited legislative rameworks or preventing andresponding to violence.15

A number o initiatives have attempted to assessthe scale o the problem at the international, re-gional and national levels. At the internationallevel, WHO estimates that over a third (35 percent) o women worldwide have experiencedphysical and/or sexual violence by an intimatepartner or sexual violence by a non-partner atsome point in their lives.16

A recent United Nations Multi-country Study onMen and Violence in Asia and the Pacific17 oundthat nearly hal o the more than 8,000 men in-terviewed reported using physical and/or sexual

violence against a emale partner, with the pro-portion o men reporting such violence rangingrom 26 to 80 per cent across sites. In all six coun-tries included in the study, the majority (between65 and 85 per cent) o men who reported usingphysical or sexual violence against a partner hadcommitted such violence more than once.

As noted earlier, definitions and methodologiesused to collect data on violence against womencan vary across countries. Tereore, or compa-rability purposes, in this chapter, data are pre-sented according to data sources—results romDemographic and Health Surveys (DHS) andReproductive Health Surveys (RHS) appear to-gether, and results rom the recent survey con-ducted by the European Union (EU) Agency orFundamental Rights (FRA) are presented to-gether. Te EU FRA study was conducted acrossthe 28 Member States o the EU in 2012.

It should be noted that although countries areranked within each region, this is or presenta-tion purposes only. Ranking should not be seenas absolute ranking since, even in the case osimilar survey instruments, data may not be ullycomparable and the level o underreporting islikely to be different rom one country to anotherdue to many actors, including stigma surround-

15 End Violence Against Women Now, 2014.

16 WHO, 2013a.

17 UNDP, UNFPA, UN Women and UNV, 2013.

Box 6.2

Measuring violence against women in Canada

using complementary data sources

Canada’s national statistics office, Statistics Canada,

uses two complementary data sources to measureviolence against women nationally: police-reported

administrative surveys and population-based self-

reported victimization surveys. These two sources of

information have made important advances over the

past 30 years, making it possible to better understand

the issue and how it differs from violence against men.

Since 1962, aggregate police statistics have been col-

lected in Canada, although it was not until 1988 that

collection began of micro-data on the criminal event

(including the weapon used and location of the event),

on victims (including their sex, age and relationship to

the accused) and the accused (including sex and age).

This information, collected along with the Incident-

based Uniform Crime Reporting Survey, has shed light

on the nature and extent of police-reported violence

against women in Canada. In addition, the mandatorynature of the survey, along with the use of common

definitions across the country, has meant that data on

violence against women are nationally representative

and comparable over time and across regions. The sur-

vey has also been critical in providing insight into how

gender-based violence is treated within the criminal

justice system, since information is also captured on

clearance and charge rates.

The main limitation of police-reported surveys is that

they only include those incidents that come to the at-

tention of police, which is not always the case for inti-

mate partner and sexual violence. To address this gap,

Canada turned to victimization surveys to get a better

sense of the extent of victimization and reasons why

people may choose to report or not report an incidentto the police. Since 1988, the Canadian General Social

Survey on Victimization has been conducted every five

years on a representative sample of women and men

aged 15 years and older. As with police-reported sur-

veys, self-reported surveys have evolved over time to

address data gaps on violence against women.

In 1993, Statistics Canada became one of the first na-

tional statistics offices to develop and implement a

gender-specific survey on violence, providing the first

national indicator of spousal violence against women.

Statistics Canada built on the success of this one-time

dedicated survey to ensure that the measurement of

violence against women would be embedded within

an existing survey structure. Modelled on the Violence

against Women Survey, a special module on spousal vi-

olence was developed within the General Social Surveyon Victimization. The broader target population (both

women and men) expanded the potential for gender-

based analysis and has improved the understanding of

violence against both women and men. For instance,

results from the victimization survey have shown that

while rates of spousal violence against women and men

are similar, women are more likely than men to experi-

ence the most severe forms of such violence and suf-

fer more chronic abuse, injuries and emotional trauma.

Such information has helped guide the development

of policies and programmes that better address the

unique needs of women.Source: Stat istics Canada.


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ing violence and prevailing social norms in di-erent contexts. Finally, data on violence againstwomen rom other sources or selected countries,including those based on victimization surveys,are presented (alphabetically) in dedicated tables.

1. Violence against women by all perpetratorsPhysical violence against women

Physical violence consists o acts aimed at physi-cally hurting the victim and include, but are notlimited to, pushing, grabbing, twisting the arm,pulling the hair, slapping, kicking, biting or hit-ting with the fist or object, trying to strangle orsuffocate, burning or scalding on purpose, or at-tacking with some sort o weapon, gun or knie.Te proportion o women who experienced physi-cal violence (regardless o the perpetrator) at leastonce in their lietime and in the last 12 months is

presented in , figure 6.2 and table 6.1.For countries with available DHS data (ig-ure 6.1), the proportion o women experienc-ing physical violence in their lietime rangedrom 13 per cent in Azerbaijan (2006) to 64 percent in the Democratic Republic o the Congo(2007). For physical violence experienced in the12 months prior to the survey, prevalence rangedrom 6 per cent in the Comoros (2012) to 56 per-cent in Equatorial Guinea (2011).

Physical violence is high in Africa

Based on available data, reported prevalence ophysical violence was highest in Arica, with al-most hal o countries reporting lietime preva-lence o over 40 per cent. Te range o preva-lence was widest in Arica, rom 14 per cent inComoros (2012) to 64 per cent in the DemocraticRepublic o the Congo (2007). Te range o lie-time physical violence in Asia was narrower,rom 13 per cent in Azerbaijan (2006) to almost40 per cent in imor-Leste (2009–10). Data avail-ability is higher in Arica than in other regions.

Among countries or which comparable data areavailable or multiple years, a number o them

showed encouraging declines in the prevalenceo physical violence experienced in the past 12months, including Cameroon (rom 45 per centin 2004 to 27 per cent in 2011) and Uganda (rom34 per cent in 2006 to 27 per cent in 2011). How-ever, results or the majority o countries revealedthat the prevalence o violence stayed almostconstant, reflecting the persistence o the prob-lem (see Statistical Annex).18

18 Available at http://unstats.un.org/unsd/gender/worlds-women.html.

Figure 6.1

Proportion of women aged 15–49 years experiencing physical violence

(irrespective of the perpetrator) at least once in their lifetime and in the last

12 months, 1995–2013 (latest available)

Source: Compiled by the Unit-ed Nations Statistics Division fromDemographic and Health Surveys(DHS). (ICF Internati onal, 2014).

Note: Ranking is for presentationpurposes only (see introduction tosection A for further details).

Europe

Oceania

Latin America and the Caribbean

Asia

Africa

Ukraine

Marshall IslandsTuvalu

ColombiaDominican Republic

HondurasHaiti

AzerbaijanTajikistan

PhilippinesNepal

KyrgyzstanPakistan

IndiaJordan

Timor-Leste

South AfricaComoros

Burkina FasoNigeriaMalawi

ZimbabweMozambique

Sao Tome and PrincipeCentral African Republic

Côte d'IvoireGhanaKenya

United Republic of TanzaniaRwanda

LiberiaZambia

EgyptGabon

CameroonUgandaEquatorial Guinea

Democratic Republic of the Congo

0 10 2 0 3 0 4 0 5 0 60 7 0 8 0Per cent

Lifetime

Last 12 months

Figure 6.2

Proportion of women aged 18–74 years experiencing physical violence

(irrespective of the perpetrator) at least once in their lifetime and in the last

12 months, European countries, 2012

Source: European Union Agencyfor Fundamental Rights, Violenceagainst Women: An EU-wide Sur-vey, 2014. (European Union Agen-cy for Fundamental Rights, 2014).

Note: Some countries request-ed that only the results of their na-tional surveys be presented (see ta-ble 6.1). Ranking is for presentationpurposes only (see introduction tosection A for further details).Austria

PolandCroatia

MaltaSpain

CyprusSlovenia

IrelandGreece

HungaryBulgaria

RomaniaCzech Republic

EstoniaLithuania

Slovakia

BelgiumGermany

LatviaLuxembourgNetherlands

United KingdomFinland

Denmark

0 10 20 30 40 50

Per cent

Lifetime

Last 12 months

http://-/?-


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For countries included in the EU FRA survey(figure 6.2), hal o them reported lietime preva-lence o physical violence o at least 30 per cent.Te range o lietime violence ranged rom 17 percent in Austria to 48 per cent in Denmark, how-ever, recent experience (in the past 12 months)was much more similar across the region, rang-ing between 3 and 10 per cent.

For other countries and areas that conductednational surveys on violence against women (ta-ble 6.1), the range o reported levels o lietimeexperience o violence was very wide—rom 7per cent in Singapore (2009) to 77 per cent inonga (2009). Out o the 15 countries reporting

lietime physical violence, 9 reported prevalenceo at least 30 per cent. Experience o violence inthe past 12 months was generally much lowerthan lietime experience, with prevalence oless than 10 per cent in all but three countries:Costa Rica (2003), Finland (2013) and Morocco(2009/10).

Sexual violence against women

Sexual violence is defined as any sort o harmulor unwanted sexual behaviour that is imposed onsomeone. It includes acts o abusive sexual con-tact, orced engagement in sexual acts, attempted

or completed sexual acts with a woman withouther consent, sexual harassment, verbal abuse andthreats o a sexual nature, exposure, unwantedtouching, and incest.

In general, the prevalence o sexual violencewhen measured in surveys is lower than that ophysical violence. However, in the case o inti-mate partner violence, sexual violence is ofenexperienced along with physical violence. Teproportion o women who experienced sexual

violence (regardless o the perpetrator) at leastonce in their lietime and in the past 12 monthsis presented in , figure 6.4 and table 6.2.

Figure 6.3

Proportion of women aged 15–49 years experiencing

sexual violence (irrespective of the perpetrator) at

least once in their lifetime and in the last 12 months,

1995–2013 (latest available)

Source: Compiled by the United Nations Statistics Division from De-mographic and Health Surveys (DHS). (ICF International, 2014).

Note: Ranking is for presentation purposes only (see introduction tosection A for further details).

Table 6.1

Proportion of women experiencing physical violence (irrespective of the perpetrator)

at least once in their lifetime and in the last 12 months, 2003–2012 (latest available)

Country Year Lifetime Last 12 months

Australia 2012 34.0 4.6

Canada 2009 .. 3.4

China, Hong Kong SAR 2005 12.0 2.0

Costa Rica 2003 47.0 11.0

Denmark 2013 .. 1.1

Ecuador 2011 38.0 ..

Fiji 2010/11 68.5 ..

Finland 2013 .. 14.5

France 2007 .. 1.8

Iceland 2008 29.8 2.1

Italy 2006 18.8 2.7

Mexico 2011 15.2 6.4

Morocco 2009/10 35.3 15.2

Poland 2004 30.0 5.1

Singapore 2009 6.8 1.0

Sweden 2012 .. 1.3

Switzerland 2003 27.0 1.0

Tonga 2009 76.8 ..

Tunisia 2010 31.7 7.3

Viet Nam 2010 35.2 ..

Source: Compiled by the UnitedNations Statistics Division from na-tional surveys on violence againstwomen, correspondence with Na-tional Statistical Offices.

Note: Age groups covered differamong countries; methodologies,questionnaire designs and samplesizes used in surveys by statisticsoffices to produce national datamay differ from those used in inter-nationally conducted surveys.

Europe

Oceania


Asia

Africa

Ukraine


Honduras

ColombiaDominican Republic

Haiti

Timor-LesteTajikistan

AzerbaijanIndia

PhilippinesNepal

Côte d'IvoireComoros

NigeriaMozambique

Sao Tome and PrincipeZambia

Democratic Republic of the CongoLiberiaGhana

ZambiaUnited Republic of Tanzania

KenyaGabon

RwandaMalawi

ZimbabweUganda

CameroonEquatorial Guinea

0 10 20 30 40Per cent

Lifetime Last 12 months

http://-/?-


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Figure 6.4


sexual violence (irrespective of the perpetrator) at

least once in their lifetime and in the last 12 months,

European countries, 2012

Source: European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, Violenceagainst Women: An EU-wi de Survey, 2014. (European Union Agency forFundamental Rights, 2014).

Note: Some countries requested that only the results of their na-tional surveys be presented (see table 6.2). Ranking is for presenta-tion purposes only (see introduction to sec tion A for further details).

Experience of sexual violence is highestin the African region

For Arican countries with available DHS data(figure 6.3), the proportion o women experi-encing sexual violence in their lietime rangedrom 5 per cent in Côte d’Ivoire (2011/12) to 32per cent in Equatorial Guinea (2011). For sexual

violence experienced in the 12 months prior tothe survey, prevalence ranged rom less than1 per cent in Comoros (2012) to 16 per cent inUganda (2011). Reported lietime prevalencerates were higher across Arica than other re-

gions—more than hal o the 19 countries acrossArica with data reported prevalence o at least20 per cent. Across all the other regions only onecountry reported prevalence over 20 per cent(uvalu, 2007). Te range o lietime prevalencewas lower across the Asian and Latin Americanand Caribbean regions—rom 4 to 13 per cent.Similar to physical violence, data availability orsexual violence is higher in Arica than in otherdeveloping regions.

For countries included in the EU FRA survey(figure 6.4), the proportion o women experi-encing sexual violence in their lietime rangedrom 5 per cent in Cyprus, Poland and Croatiato 19 per cent in Denmark, with almost hal ocountries reporting lietime prevalence o atleast 10 per cent. Recent experience (in the past12 months) was very similar across the region—ranging rom less than 1 per cent to 3 per cent.

Among other countries and areas that conductednational surveys on violence against women (ta-ble 6.2), more than a quarter reported lietimeprevalence o sexual violence o at least 25 percent. Experience in the past 12 months was lessthan 10 per cent in all countries with the excep-tion o Mexico (21 per cent, 2011).

Table 6.2

Proportion of women experiencing sexual violence (irrespective of the perpetrator)



Australia 2012 19.0 1.2

Canada 2009 .. 2.0

China, Hong Kong SAR 2005 14.0 3.0

Costa Rica 2003 41.0 7.0

Ecuador 2011 25.7 ..

Fiji 2010/11 35.6 ..

Finland 2013 .. 2.3

France 2007 .. 0.7

Iceland 2008 24.2 1.6

Italy 2006 23.7 3.5

Mexico 2011 38.9 20.8

Morocco 2009/10 22.6 8.7

Poland 2004 16.5 1.6

Republic of Korea 2013 19.5 2.7


Sweden 2012 .. 1.4

Switzerland 2003 25.0 1.0

Tonga 2009 17.4 ..

Tunisia 2010 15.7 7.4

United Kingdom (England and Wales only) 2012/13 19.1 2.0

United States of Americaa 2011 19.3 1.6

Viet Nam 2010 10.8 ..

Source: Compiled by the United Nations Statistics Division from national surveys on violence against women,correspondence with National Statistical Offices.

Note: Age groups covered differ among countries; methodologies, questionnaire designs and sample sizes usedin surveys by statistics offices to produce national data may differ from those used in internationally conduct-ed surveys.a Refers to rape only.

Cyprus

Poland

Croatia

GreeceSpain

Romania

Lithuania

Slovenia

Ireland

Czech Republic

Hungary

Malta

Austria

Slovakia

Bulgaria

Germany

Estonia

Belgium

Latvia

United Kingdom

Luxembourg

FinlandNetherlands

Denmark

0 5 10 15 20Per cent



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a. Non-partner sexual violence

Sexual violence can be perpetrated by women’sintimate partners or non-partners. In general,data availability is higher or sexual violenceperpetrated by an intimate partner. However,

available data suggest that, at the global level, anestimated 7 per cent o women have experiencedsexual violence perpetrated by someone otherthan an intimate partner in their lietime.19

In countries or which DHS data are available(figure 6.5), lietime experience o sexual vio-lence perpetrated by someone other than an in-timate partner ranged rom less than 1 per centin India (2005–06), Kyrgyzstan (2012), Nepal(2011) and imor-Leste (2009) to 5 per cent inCameroon (2011) and Gabon (2012). In coun-tries included in the EU FRA survey (figure 6.6),it ranged rom 1 per cent in Greece to 12 per cent

in the Netherlands.

Aside rom those countries covered in DHS orEU FRA surveys, very ew additional countrieshave data available or non-partner sexual vio-lence. An exception is the Pacific region, where arecent round o surveys based on WHO method-ology or measuring violence against women in-cluded questions on non-partner sexual violence,revealing lietime rates as high as 33 per cent inVanuatu in 2009.20

19 WHO, 2013a.

20 Vanuatu Women’s Centre, 2011.

Figure 6.6


sexual violence perpetrated by someone other than

an intimate partner at least once in their lifetime,

European countries, 2012

Source: European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, Violenceagainst Women: An EU-wid e Survey, 2014. (European Union Agenc y forFundamental Rights, 2014).

Note: Some countries requested that only the results of their nation-al surveys be presented. Ranking is for presentation purposes only (seeintroduction to section A for further details).

Violence among vulnerable groups

Violence against women is a widespread and sys-temic violation o human rights. It affects women

and girls at all stages o the liecycle—rom e-male inanticide and genital mutilation to orcedprostitution and trafficking, domestic violence,sexual harassment at work, and abuse and ne-glect o older women. Violence affects all popu-lation groups; however, some groups o womenmay be more vulnerable than others, such asindigenous women, or ace particular types o

violence at different stages o their lives, either aschildren or in later lie.

a. Violence against girls

Violence against children21 is a worldwide phe-nomenon. What makes it especial ly intractableis the act that some orms o it, such as corpo-ral punishment o children by their parents, are

21 Te Convention on the Rights o the Child (Article 1)defines a “child” as a person below the age o 18. How-ever, surveys on violence against children have covereddifferent age ranges. Tere is no international consensuson the methodology or collecting data on this sensitiveissue, including on the target population.

Europe


Asia

Africa

Ukraine

Haiti

KyrgyzstanIndia

NepalTimor−Leste

Philippines

ZimbabweComoros

NigeriaMalawiLiberia

Democratic Republic of the CongoUnited Republic of Tanzania

ZambiaKenya

UgandaGhana

CameroonGabon

0 2 4 6Per cent

GreeceCyprusPoland

RomaniaHungary

CroatiaSpain

Czech RepublicSlovakiaSlovenia

AustriaIreland

LithuaniaMalta

BulgariaLatvia

United KingdomGermanyBelgium

LuxembourgEstonia

Denmark Finland

Netherlands

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14Per cent

Figure 6.5

Proportion of women aged 15–49 years experiencing sexual violence perpetratedby someone other than an intimate partner at least once in their lifetime, 1995–2013

(latest available)

Source: Compiled by ICF Interna-tional based on Demographic andHealth Surveys (DHS). (ICF Interna-tional, 2014).

Note: Ranking is for presentationpurposes only (see introduction tosection A for further details).


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widely accepted. Tat said, all orms o violenceagainst children are a violation o their humanrights. Violence against girls, in particular, canhave a ripple effect t hroughout society, leadingto lower school attendance and achievement,which is linked to higher ertility rates as well as

reduced health outcomes or both women andtheir children.22

Wide gaps are ound in the data on violenceagainst children. No international standards ex-ist or data collection on the issue, which is gen-erally underreported and undocumented. Com-pounding the problem is the act that collectinginormation on violence against children presentsnumerous methodological and ethical chal-lenges. Children may be unwilling or, dependingon their age and level o development, unable toshare their experiences o violence. Moreover, ac-

cessing children in the first place may be prob-lematic since consent is ofen required by the par-ent or caregiver, who, in some cases, may be theperpetrator o the violence. Ethical issues includethe potential or children to become emotionallyaffected by questions about violence, regardless owhether they have been victimized, and victimso violence can be re-traumatized by being ques-tioned about their experiences. Data rom ad-ministrative sources, when available, may not beaccessible due to confidentiality issues, and differ-ent social services may use different approachesor tracking cases o abuse that ofen cannot be

combined or compared.

Despite these challenges, efforts are under wayto collect data on violence against children. Forexample, Violence against Children Surveys(VACS) have been conducted in Kenya, Swazi-land, the United Republic o anzania and Zim-babwe. Based on these surveys, it was ound that66 per cent o women aged 18 to 24 in Kenya (and73 per cent o men), and 64 per cent o womenin Zimbabwe (and 76 per cent o men) reportedincidents o physical violence prior to age 18. Inthe United Republic o anzania, 74 per cent o

emales aged 13 to 24 (and 72 per cent o males)said they experienced physical violence beore age18, perpetrated by a relative, authority figure orintimate partner. Te United Nations Children’sFund (UNICEF) reports that or countries withavailable and comparable data, use o violent dis-cipline (psychological aggression and/or physical

22 UNICEF, 2014a.

punishment) in the home ranges rom 45 per centin Panama to almost 95 per cent in Yemen.23

For children growing up outside the home, vio-lence can be commonplace. Rates o violenceagainst children living in institutional care inKazakhstan—which has the highest rate o chil-dren in institutional care in the world—can beup to six times higher than those o children liv-ing in amily-based oster care.24

An extreme orm o physical violence againstgirls is emale genital mutilation. Tis is a topicthat is covered in a separate section o this chap-ter since it is a unique orm o violence that tendsto occur in specific countries and contexts.

In addition to suffering violence at the hands oparents, authority figures and intimate partners,children also experience violence inflicted by

their peers—other children. Bullying exists eve-rywhere and can be physical and/or psychologicalin nature. Research suggests25 that boys are morelikely to avour physical violence as a bullying tac-tic, while girls tend to use psychological violence.New orms o bullying are emerging, includingthrough cell phones and the Internet. Cyber-bul-lying includes the distribution o sexually explicitphotos and videos taken o children to embarrassand shame them. Te widespread access to theseimages and the difficulty in removing them per-manently rom the Internet means that this typeo abuse can have long-lasting consequences.

Child marriage (marriage beore the age o 18)is also ound throughout the world and is ac-knowledged to be a harmul practice, as well as amaniestation o discrimination against womenand girls. More than 700 million women alivetoday (aged 18 years and older) were marriedbeore the age o 1826 (see Chapter 1 on Popu-lation and Families). More than one in three othese women married or entered into union be-ore age 15. Boys are also married as children,but girls are disproportionately affected and areofen married to men significantly older than

themselves. In Niger, or example, 77 per cent owomen aged 20 to 49 were married beore age18, compared to 5 per cent o men in the sameage group. Child marriage is most common inSouth Asia and sub-Saharan Arica, with Indiaaccounting or one third o the global total o

23 Ibid .

24 Ibid .

25 Ibid .

26 UNICEF, 2014b.


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child brides. Girls in the poorest 20 per cent othe population (poorest quintile) are much morelikely to marry at a young age compared to thosein the wealthiest quintile, and girls living in ruralareas are more likely than those in urban areasto marry young. On a more positive note, the

practice o child marriage is declining, especiallyamong girls under age 15. One in our womenalive today was married in childhood comparedto one in three in the early 1980s.27

In terms o sexual violence, UNICEF reports thataround 120 million girls and women under age20 have been subjected to orced sexual inter-course or other orced sexual acts at some pointin their lives.28 In a review o the prevalence ochild sexual abuse,29 drawn rom 55 studies rom24 countries, it was ound that levels ranged rom8 to 31 per cent among emales and rom 3 to 17

per cent among males.30

Based on results romDHS, the percentage o women whose first sexualintercourse was orced against their will rangedrom 1 per cent in imor-Leste (2009–2010) to 29per cent in Nepal (2011). 31 Although most sexual

violence takes place in the home, girls are gener-ally more likely than boys to experience sexual

violence while travelling to and rom school,highlighting the need or adequate measures toenable girls to attend school saely.32

Girls continue to be vulnerable to sexual violenceas they continue their education and attend col-lege. In the United States, the White House has

established a ask Force to Protect Students romSexual Assault. In its report on the issue pub-lished in April 2014, the ask Force asserted that“one in five women is sexually assaulted whilein college”.33 It also ound that the perpetratoris usually someone the victim knows and that,

very ofen, the victim does not report the as-sault. Te ask Force is encouraging colleges toinvestigate and act upon this problem, providingtoolkits or colleges to conduct surveys on sexualassault, establishing awareness and preventionprogrammes, and setting out necessary steps or

an effective response.

27 Ibid .

28 UNICEF, 2014a.

29 Reers to those less than 18 years o age.

30 UNICEF, 2014a.

31 Statistica l Annex, available at http://unstats.un.org/unsd/gender/worldswomen.html.

32 UNICEF, 2014a.

33 White House ask Force to Protect Students rom SexualAssault, 2014; Journal of American College Health, 2009;Krebs and others, 2007.

b. Violence against older women

Although violence peaks in women’s reproduc-tive years, it persists as women age. Neglect,abuse and violence were identified as importantissues affecting the well-being o older persons34

during the Second World Assembly on Ageingin Madrid in 2002. Tese issues were reflected inthe Madrid International Plan o Action on Age-ing, and highlighted the act that older women“ace greater risk o physical and psychologicalabuse due to discriminatory societal attitudesand the non-realization o the human rights owomen.”35 o draw attention to the global issueo abuse against older people, the United Nationsdesignated 15 June as World Elder Abuse Aware-ness Day. In addition, to raise awareness o theunique challenges aced by widows, it adopted 23June as International Widows’ Day.

Violence against older women may take the ormo physical, sexual or psychological abuse, as wellas financial exploitation or neglect perpetrated byintimate partners, amily members, or caregivers.Risk actors include residence in an institution ormental/physical impairment. In many countries,institutions established to provide care or olderwomen and men are not managed properly andlow standards o care go unchecked.36

In many instances, the issue o violence againstolder women is not given the attention it de-serves. Sometimes this bias is reflected even in

data collection methods and indicators, leadingto significant data gaps or older women. Suchgaps are becoming increasingly important ascountries deal with their ageing populations.For example, the DHS, which are an impor-tant source o inormation on violence againstwomen, include only women aged 15 to 49 intheir sample. Surveys conducted to measure vi-olence against women are typically household-based, meaning that the experiences o olderwomen living in institutions that care or theolder persons are not included.

34 For statistical purposes, unless otherwise specified, theterm “older person” in this chapter reers to those aged60 and over. However, definitions at the national levelcan vary.


36 United Nations, 2013b.


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c. Violence against indigenous women and girls

Research has shown that indigenous girls,adolescents and young women ace a higherprevalence o violence, harmul practices, andlabour exploitation and harassment than other

girls and women. In Bolivia, 62 per cent o thepopulation is indigenous, and the country’s de-partments o Chuquisaca, Cochabamba, La Paz,Potosi and Oruro have the highest concentra-tions o indigenous people.37 DHS data showthat ever-married girls and women aged 15 to49 rom Potosi have the highest prevalence oreported physical or sexual violence by a cur-rent or ormer partner (29 per cent) comparedto the national average (24 per cent). In India,the proportion o the population belonging to‘Scheduled ribes’ (an official term used in thatcountry to reer to specific indigenous peoples)

is high in all northeastern states except As-sam and ripura. Te 2005–2006 DHS in Indiaound that nearly hal (47 per cent) o ever-mar-ried girls and women aged 15 to 49 belonging to‘Scheduled ribes’ reported experiences o emo-tional, physical or sexual violence committed bytheir husbands, compared to 40 per cent o thetotal population. In Canada, according to datarom the 2009 General Social Survey, the rate osel-reported violent victimization o Aboriginalwomen was around 2.5 times higher than that onon-Aboriginal women.38 Moreover, Aboriginalwomen were more likely than non-Aboriginal

women to say they eared or their lives as resulto spousal violence.

Violence against indigenous girls and womencannot be separated rom the wider context odiscrimination and exclusion to which indig-enous peoples as a whole are ofen exposed insocial, economic, cultural and political lie.Challenges—such as land dispossession, conflictinsecurity, displacement, low rates o birth reg-istration, limited access to culturally appropriateeducation and health services (including sexualand reproductive health), the lack o access to

justice and other essential services, including so-cial services—create conditions that affect theirdevelopment, human security and the ulfilmento their human rights.39

37 UNFPA, UNICEF, UN-Women, ILO and OSRSG/VAC,May 2013.

38 Statistics Canada, 2013. Measuring Violence AgainstWomen: Statistical rends 2013.

39 UNFPA, UNICEF, UN-Women, ILO and OSRSG/VAC,2013.

Box 6.3

Violence peaks in the reproductive years

The experience of violence peaks when womenare in their reproductive years. This is true in both

developed and developing countries. AcrossEurope, women in the youngest age group (18to 29 years) had the highest prevalence of bothpartner and non-partner violence in the past 12months. Prevalence declined with age and waslowest among women aged 60 and over.

Proportion of women who experienced physical

and/or sexual violence in the 12 months before

the survey, by type of perpetrator, European

Union-average, 2012

Age groupPartner

violence (%)Non-partnerviolence (%)

18–29 6 9

30–44 5 5

45–59 4 3

60+ 3 3

Based on data from the Italian Violence Against

Women survey conducted in 2006, it can be seenthat lifetime experience of violence (partnerand non-partner, physical or sexual) was higheramong women aged between 25 and 34 years (38per cent) and 35 and 44 years (35 per cent) thanamong women aged 55 to 64 years (26 per cent)and 65 to 70 years (20 per cent). As lifetime ex-perience is affected by years exposed to violence,

looking at experience in the past 12 months re-veals that recent experience of violence declineswith age also. Prevalence of violence in the past12 months was 16 per cent for women aged be-tween 16 and 24 years and less than 1 per cent forwomen aged between 65 and 70 years.a

Many surveys conducted in developing countriesdo not include older women in their sample. How-

ever, results from the few that do show that theexperience of violence tends to decline as womenage. In Fiji,b results show that younger womenare much more at risk of experiencing intimatepartner violence in the previous 12 months thanolder women. In that country, the prevalence ofintimate partner violence of a physical nature inthe past 12 months declined from 40 per cent in

the 18- to 24-year-old age group to 3 per cent inthe 55- to 64-year-old age group. A similar pat-tern was observed for intimate partner sexualviolence. In Morocco, the experience of intimatepartner physical violence in the past 12 monthspeaked between the ages of 30 and 34 and thendeclined, with prevalence halving from 6 per centin the 40- to 49-year-old age group to 3 per cent

in the 50- to 64-year-old age group.c

Source: European Union Agen-cy for Fundamental Rights, Vi-olence against Women: An EU-wide Survey, 2014.

a ISTAT, 2006.

b Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre,2013.

c Haut-Commi sariat au Plan,2009.


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2. Intimate partner violence

Physical and/or sexual violence

In many cases, intimate partner violence ac-counts or the majority o women’s experienceso violence. Tis was one conclusion drawn

rom one o the first multi-country studies on violence against women.40 Among women whoreported incidents o physical or sexual violence,or both, at some point in their l ives, at least 60 percent had been abused by a partner in almost allsites included in the study. Te proportion ap-proached 80 per cent or more in most sites. Incontrast, less than one third o women in mostsites had been abused only by someone otherthan an intimate partner.

Intimate partner violence is traumatic and debil-itating. Victims ofen eel they have nowhere to

turn, especially in societies where it is difficult orwomen to leave their husbands or live-in part-ners and live alone. Addressing intimate partner

violence requires a range o approaches, includ-ing awareness-raising, education, preventionactivities, provision o necessary health, legaland social services, shelters and counselling andimproved ollow-up on reported cases so thatwomen are ree rom physical injury and ear.41

Half of all countries reported lifetime prevalence of

intimate partner physical and/or sexual violence of at

least 30 per cent

For countries with available DHS data (figure6.7), the proportion o women experiencing in-timate partner physical and/or sexual violencein their lietime ranged rom 6 per cent in theComoros (2012) to 64 per cent in the DemocraticRepublic o the Congo (2007). Hal o all coun-tries reported lietime prevalence o at least 30per cent. Prevalence was generally higher in A-rica than in other regions, with one quarter ocountries in the region reporting lietime preva-lence o at least 50 per cent. Prevalence was loweracross Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean

and Oceania, with maximum prevalence levelso around 40 per cent. For intimate partner phys-ical and/or sexual violence experienced in the 12months prior to the survey, prevalence rangedrom 5 per cent in the Comoros (2012) to 44 percent in Equatorial Guinea (2011) and Rwanda(2010). Across all regions, the prevalence o expe-

40 WHO, 2005.

41 WHO, 2013b.

rience o violence in the past 12 months was ofensimilar to lietime prevalence, a possible indica-tion o how difficult it can be or women to leave

violent relationships. For countries where morethan one year o data are available, prevalence inthe last 12 months showed slight declines in most

countries, with Uganda showing an encouragingdecline rom 45 per cent in 2006 to 35 per cent in2011. 42 However, results rom Rwanda showed asignificant increase—rom 26 per cent in 2005 to44 per cent in 2010.43

For countries included in the EU FRA survey(figure 6.8), the proportion o women experi-encing intimate partner physical and/or sexual

violence in their lietime ranged rom 13 percent in five countries—Austria, Croatia, Poland,Slovenia and Spain to 32 per cent in Denmarkand Latvia. More than hal o countries in the

region reported lietime prevalence o at least 20per cent. Experience in the past 12 months wasgenerally considerably lower than lietime, rang-ing between 2 and 6 per cent.44

able 6.3 presents results or countries thatconducted national surveys on violence againstwomen. Rates o lietime intimate partner physi-cal and/or sexual violence were highest in Oce-ania, with prevalence reaching over 60 per centin a number o countries in the region. Across allregions, lietime prevalence was at least 30 percent in hal o the countries. Experience in thepast 12 months was typically much lower thanlietime.

42 ICF International, 2014.

43 It should be noted that one o the methodological issuesrelated to surveys on violence against women is that, a-ter awareness campaigns, or example, women may findit easier to talk about their experiences. Tereore, dis-closure o violence may be higher in a subsequent surveyeven though the level o violence may not have increased.

44 In general, it can be seen that the differences betweenlietime experience o intimate partner physical and/orsexual violence and experience in the last 12 months arewider or results rom the EU FRA survey than or DHS.Tis may be due to a number o reasons and urther re-search into this is needed, however contributing actorsmay be the wider age reerence period or the EU FRAsurvey as compared to DHS (18 to 74 years comparedto 15 to 49 years) and also a reflection o the possibil-ity to stop the violence or leave a violent relationship.Higher levels o current (in the last 12 months) violencein developing countries is a common finding and can beexpected i women cannot leave the relationship.


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Figure 6.7

Proportion of ever-partnered women

aged 15–49 years experiencing intimate partner

physical and/or sexual violence at least once

in their lifetime and in the last 12 months,


Source: Compiled by the United Nations Statistics Division from De-mographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and Reproductive Health Surveys(RHS). (ICF International, 2014 and CDC, 2014).


Figure 6.8

Proportion of ever-partnered women aged 18–74 years experiencing intimate

partner physical and/or sexual violence at least once in their lifetime and in the last

12 months, European countries, 2012

Table 6.3

Proportion of women experiencing intimate partner physical and/or sexual violence



Albania 2013 24.6 ..

Armenia 2008 9.5 ..

Australia 2012 16.9 ..Bangladesh 2011 67.2 50.7

Canada 2009 .. 1.3

Ecuador 2011 37.5 ..

Fiji 2010/11 64.0 24.0

Finland 2013 .. 5.8

France 2007 .. 1.0

Iceland 2008 22.4 1.8

Italy 2006 14.3 2.4

Kiribati 2008 67.6 36.1

Maldives 2006 19.5 6.4

Mexico 2011 14.1 6.6

Norway 2008 27.0 6.0

Poland 2004 15.6 3.3

Republic of Moldova 2010 45.5 ..

Samoa 2000 46.1 ..


Solomon Islands 2009 63.5 ..

Sweden 2012 15.0 2.2

Tonga 2009 39.6 19.0

Turkey 2014 38.0 11.0

Vanuatu 2010 60.0 44.0

Viet Nam 2010 34.4 9.0

Source: European Union Agencyfor Fundamental Rights, Violenceagainst Women: An EU-wide Sur-vey, 2014. (European Union Agen-cy for Fundamental Rights, 2014).

Note: Some countries request-ed that only the results of their na-tional surveys be presented (see ta-ble 6.3). Ranking is for presentationpurposes only (see introduction tosection A for further details).

Source: Compiled by the UnitedNations Statistics Division from na-tional surveys on violence againstwomen, correspondence with Na-tional Statistical Offices.

Note: Age groups covered differamong countries; methodologies,questionnaire designs and samplesizes used in surveys by statisticsoffices to produce national datamay differ from those used in inter-nationally conducted surveys.


Europe

Oceania


Asia

Africa

Ukraine

Marshall Islands

Tuvalu

Honduras

Haiti

Dominican Republic

El Salvador

Guatemala

Nicaragua

Jamaica

Peru

Colombia

Azerbaijan

Cambodia

PhilippinesTajikistan

Jordan

Kyrgyzstan

Nepal

Timor−Leste

India

Comoros

Burkina Faso

Cabo Verde

Nigeria

Ghana

Côte d'Ivoire

Sao Tome and Principe

Central African Republic

MalawiMozambique

Egypt

Mali

Liberia

Kenya

Zimbabwe

United Republic of Tanzania

Sierra Leone

Gabon

Zambia

Uganda

Cameroon

Rwanda

Equatorial Guinea


0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Per cent

Austria

Spain

SloveniaCroatia

Poland

Ireland

CyprusMalta

Greece

Estonia

HungaryCzech Republic

Luxembourg

Germany

SlovakiaBulgaria

Lithuania

Romania

BelgiumNetherlands

United KingdomFinland

LatviaDenmark

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

Per cent

Lifetime

Last 12 months


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Psychological and economic violence

Psychological violence includes a range o behav-iours that encompass acts o emotional abuse andcontrolling behaviour. Tese ofen coexist withphysical and sexual violence by intimate partnersand are acts o violence in themselves. Exampleso behaviours that all within the definition opsychological violence include:45

Emotional abuse—insulting or making a womaneel bad about hersel, belittling or humiliatingher in ront o others, deliberately scaring or in-timidating her, threatening to hurt her or othersshe cares about.

Controlling behaviour —isolating a woman bypreventing her rom seeing amily or riends,monitoring her whereabouts and social interac-tions, ignoring her or treating her indifferently,getting angry i she speaks with other men, mak-ing unwarranted accusations o infidelity, con-trolling her access to health care, education orthe labour market.

Lifetime experience of psychological violence was highest

in Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean

For countries with available data rom DHS,46 RHS and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys(MICS) (figure 6.9), the proportion o womenexperiencing intimate partner emotional/psy-chological violence in their lietime ranged rom7 per cent in Azerbaijan (2006) to 68 per cent

in Peru (2013). Lietime experience was highestin Arica and Latin America and the Caribbean.In Latin America and the Caribbean prevalenceis higher than 40 per cent in more than hal ocountries with data. For intimate partner emo-tional/psychological violence experienced inthe 12 months prior to the survey, prevalenceranged rom 6 per cent in Azerbaijan (2006) andthe Comoros (2012) to 40 per cent in EquatorialGuinea (2011). Experience in the past 12 monthswas generally similar to lietime experience inArica, Asia and Oceania, however, in LatinAmerica and the Caribbean recent experiencewas considerably lower than lietime.

In EU countries, reported psychological vio-lence among women was also very high (figure6.10). Te scope o such violence in the EU FRAsurvey included controlling and abusive behav-


46 It should be noted that the figures reported by DHS reerto the emotional aspect o psychological violence onlyand do not include the experience o controlling behav-iour.

iour, economic violence and blackmail withabuse o children. Only lietime experience wasaddressed. Te proportion o women experi-encing intimate partner psychological violenceat least once in their lives ranged rom 31 percent in Ireland to 60 per cent in Denmark and

Latvia. More than hal o the countries reportedlietime prevalence o psychological violence o40 per cent or higher.

Figure 6.9


intimate partner psychological violence at least once

in their lifetime and in the last 12 months,


Source: Compiled by the United Nations Statistics Division from De-mographic and Health Surveys (DHS), Reproductive Health Surveys(RHS) and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS).(ICF International,2014, CDC, 2014 and UNICEF, 2014c).


Europe

Oceania


Asia

Africa

Ukraine


Honduras

HaitiDominican Republic

JamaicaParaguay

Bolivia (Plurinational State of)Ecuador

ColombiaGuatemalaEl SalvadorNicaragua

Peru

AzerbaijanTimor−Leste

TajikistanKyrgyzstan

GeorgiaIndia

NepalCambodia

PhilippinesJordan

Pakistan

ComorosBurkina Faso

RwandaCabo Verde

EgyptCôte d'Ivoire

NigeriaCentral African Republic

Sao Tome and PrincipeMalawiZambia

ZimbabweSierra Leone

KenyaMali

GhanaMozambique

GabonLiberia

United Republic of TanzaniaCameroon

UgandaDemocratic Republic of the Congo

Equatorial Guinea

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

L ifet ime Last 12 months

Per cent


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Figure 6.10


intimate partner psychological violence at least once

in their lifetime, European countries, 2012

Source: European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, Violenceagainst Women: An EU-wide Survey, 2014.(European Agency for Fun-damental Rights, 2014).

Note: Some countries requested that only the results of their nationalsurveys be presented (see table 6.4). Ranking is for presentation pur-poses only (see introduction to section A for further details).

able 6.4 presents data rom other national surveys. Lietime experience o intimate partner psy-chological violence was higher than 50 per cent in8 out o the 23 countries with data. Experience inthe past 12 months was typically also high, reach-ing as high as 72 per cent in Bangladesh (2011) andover 50 per cent in 4 out o 20 countries with data.

Economic violence is difficult to define andcan vary significantly according to the culturalcontext and country circumstances. In generalterms, economic violence can involve deny-ing access to property, durable goods or the la-bour market; deliberately not complying witheconomic responsibilities, thereby exposing awoman to poverty and hardship; or denying par-ticipation in economic decision-making.47

A number o countries have collected data onwomen’s experience o economic violence. InMexico, the 2011 survey “Encuesta Nacional so-

bre la Dinámica de las Relaciones en los Hoga-res” (ENDIREH)48 revealed that one quarter owomen who were married or in union had expe-rienced economic violence during their currentrelationship, with 17 per cent experiencing such

violence in the previous 12 months. A 2010 surveyin Viet Nam discovered that among ever-marriedwomen, 4 per cent had husbands who had taken


48 Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geograía, 2011.

their earned or saved money rom them, 7 per centhad been reused money by their husbands, and9 per cent had experienced at least one o theseacts.49 In the 1998 DHS in South Arica, almostone in five currently married women reported thattheir partner regularly ailed to provide economicsupport, while having money or other things.50

Results rom Fiji51 revealed that women who expe-rienced physical or sexual violence by their part-ners are significantly more likely to have husbandswho take their savings or earnings and reuse togive them money, compared with women whohave not experienced partner violence.

49 Viet Nam General Statistics Office, 2010.

50 ICF International, 2014.

51 Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre, 2013.

IrelandGreece

SpainSlovenia

PolandMalta

AustriaCyprus

BulgariaRomania

CroatiaBelgium

United KingdomCzech Republic

SlovakiaHungary

LuxembourgEstonia

GermanyNetherlandsLithuania

FinlandDenmark

Latvia

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70Per cent

Table 6.4

Proportion of women experiencing intimate partner psychological violence



Albania 2013 58.2 52.8

Armenia 2008 25.0 ..

Australia 2012 24.5 4.7

Bangladesh 2011 81.6 71.9

Canada 2009 11.4 ..

Ecuador 2011 43.4 ..

Fiji 2010/11 58.3 28.8

Italy 2006 43.2 ..

Japan 2010 17.8 ..

Kiribati 2008 47.0 30.1

Maldives 2006 28.2 12.3

Morocco 2009/10 .. 38.7

Republic of Korea 2013 .. 36.4

Republic of Moldova 2010 59.4 25.7

Samoa 2000 19.6 12.3

Solomon Islands 2009 56.1 42.6

State of Palestine 2011 58.8 58.6

Sweden 2012 23.5 6.8

Tonga 2009 24.0 13.0

Tunisia 2010 24.8 17.0

Turkey 2014 44.0 26.0

United Kingdom (England and Wales only) 2012/13 17.2 2.5

United States of America 2011 47.1 14.2

Vanuatu 2010 68.0 54.0

Viet Nam 2010 53.6 25.4

Source: Compiled by the United Nations Statistics Division from national surveys on violence against women,correspondence with National Statistical Offices.

Note: Age groups covered differ among countries; methodologies, questionnaire designs and sample sizes usedin surveys by statistics offices to produce national data may differ from those used in internationally conduct-ed surveys.


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Attitudes towards wife-beating

Wie-beating is a clear expression o male domi-nance; it is both a cause and consequence owomen’s serious disadvantage and unequal po-sition vis-à-vis men.52 In some countries and

cultures, wie-beating is seen as justifiable in awide range o contexts. Tis acceptance means itcan be difficult or behaviours to change and orwomen to eel they can discuss their experienceso violence and ask or help. Research indicatesthat perpetration o and victimization by vio-lence is higher among those who accept or justiysuch abuse than those who do not.53 However,evidence also suggests that attitudes are begin-ning to change and that both women and menare starting to view violence as less acceptable.shows the proportions o women and men whoagree that a husband is justified in beating his

wie or at least one o the ollowing reasons: thewie burns the ood, argues with her husband,goes out without telling him, neglects the chil-dren or reuses to have sex with him.

Wife-beating is acceptable in many countries

across the world

Acceptance o wie-beating was generally higherin Arica, Asia and Oceania, and lower in LatinAmerica and the Caribbean and developed coun-tries. Levels o women’s acceptance ranged rom3 per cent in Ukraine (2012) and Serbia (2010) to92 per cent in Guinea (2012). Levels o men’s ac-ceptance ranged rom 7 per cent in Serbia (2010)to 81 per cent in imor-Leste (2009–2010). Itshould be noted that it is difficult to compare re-ported levels o acceptance o wie-beating acrosscountries and contexts because the willingness totalk about violence and attitudes towards it vary,which can affect people’s response. In almost allo the countries where more than one year o dataare available, the level o women’s and men’s ac-ceptance o wie-beating decreased over time.54 Although it may be assumed that wie-beating

is more widely justified by men than women, inmost countries levels o reported acceptance areactual ly lower among men than women.


53 WHO, 2005; Promundo, International Center or Re-search on Women, 2012.

54 Statistical Annex, available at http://unstats.un.org/unsd/gender/worldswomen.html.

Box 6.4

Violence against men

Gender-based violence is a manifestation of the historic imbalance of powerbetween men and women. Although gender-based violence typically focuseson violence against women, data on violence against men are also collected.

The figure below presents statistics on the proportion of women experiencinglifetime intimate partner physical violence (women victims) alongside the pro-portion of women who repor t ever committing acts of physical violence againsttheir husband/partner when he was not already beating or physically hurtingthem (women perpetrators).

Women are far more likely to be victims than perpetrators

of intimate partner violence

Caution should be taken when interpreting these results, since they are based onwomen’s self-reports of perpetrating violence against men as opposed to menreporting their experience of violence perpetrated by women. Based on availabledata, women are far more likely to be victims than perpetrators of intimate part-ner violence; in one country, women were over 50 times more likely to be victims(India, 2005–2006). The only country for which violence against men was higherthan violence against women was the Philippines (2013). There, the prevalence ofviolence perpetrated by women against men (16 per cent) was only slightly higherthan violence perpetrated by men against women (13 per cent).

Some studies also include men’s self-reported experiences of violence. Here again,reported rates of physical violence by men against women are higher than those ofphysical violence by women against men. Even in countries where reported ratesof intimate partner physical violence are similar for women and men, women aremore likely to suffer from violence more frequently and to experience the moreserious types of violence and emotional stress.a

a Ansara, D.L. and M. J. Hindin, 2010.

Proportion of women who report experiencing lifetime intimate partner

physical violence, as victims and perpetrators, 2005–2013 (latest available)

Source: Compiled by theUnited Nations Statistics Divi-sion from Demographic andHealth Surveys (DHS). (ICF In-ternational, 2014).

Note: The chart presents the

proportion of women who re-port experiencing lifetime inti-mate partner physical violence(women victims) alongside theproportion of women who re-port ever committing physi-cal violence against their hus-band/partner when he wasnot already beating or phys-ically hurting them (womenperpetrators).

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Per cent

UkraineRepublic of Moldova


HaitiPeru

PhilippinesCambodiaTajikistan

NepalKyrgyzstan

Timor-LesteIndia

ComorosNigeria

Cabo VerdeGhana

MalawiCôte d'Ivoire

Central Africa RepublicZimbabwe

MaliRwanda

MozambiqueLiberiaKenya

United Republic of TanzaniaUganda

Sierra LeoneCameroon

GabonZambia

Equatorial GuineaAfrica

Asia


Oceania

Developed regions

Women perpetratorsWomen victims


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Figure 6.11

Attitudes towards wife-beating: proportion of women and men aged 15–49 years who agree that a husband is justified in hitting or beating

his wife for at least one of five specified reasons, 1995–2014 (latest available)

Source: Demographic and HealthSurveys (DHS), Reproductive Health

Surveys (RHS) and Multiple Indi-cator Cluster Surveys (MICS). (ICF,2014, CDC, 2014 and UNICEF, 2014c).

Note: Some surveys have differ-ent reasons for justifying wife-beat-ing (details of these differences arepresented in the Statistical Annexavailable at unstats.un.org/unsd/gender/default.html). Ranking is forpresentation purposes only (see in-troduction to section A for furtherdetails).

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

UkraineSerbia

Republic of MoldovaAlbania

Marshall Islands

Samoa

Tuvalu

Dominican RepublicHonduras

Nicaragua

Bolivia (Plurinational State of)Guyana

Haiti

Armenia

KazakhstanPhilippines

ThailandGeorgia

NepalIndonesia

Maldives

BangladeshKyrgyzstan

TurkeyCambodiaAzerbaijan

IndiaJordan

Timor-Leste

MalawiBenin

Cabo Verde

Sao Tome and PrincipeMozambique

SwazilandMadagascar

NigeriaNamibia

Lesotho

ZimbabweEgypt

Liberia

Burkina FasoCameroon

Côte d'Ivoire

GabonKenya

Equatorial GuineaUnited Republic of Tanzania

RwandaUganda

Niger

GhanaSenegal

ZambiaSierra Leone

Morocco

EthiopiaEritrea

BurundiCongo

Mali


Guinea

Per cent

Women

Men

Africa

Asia


Developed countries

Oceania


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B. Forms of violence in specific settings

1. Female genital mutilation

Te term “emale genital mutilation” (FGM, alsoknown as “emale genital cutting” and “emalegenital mutilation/cutting”) reers to all proce-

dures involving partial or total removal o theexternal emale genitalia or other injury to theemale genital organs or non-medical reasons.his harmul practice constitutes a seriousthreat to the health o millions o women andgirls worldwide and violates their undamentalrights. Immediate complications include bleed-ing, delayed or incomplete healing, and inec-tions. Long-term consequences are more di-ficult to determine, but may include damage toadjacent organs, sterility, recurring urinary tractinections, the ormation o dermoid cysts andeven death.55

In 2014, the United Nations General Assem-bly passed the second resolution on intensiy-ing global efforts or the elimination o emalegenital mutilations (A/RES/69/150) calling oncountries to take steps to increase educationand awareness training on the issue, enact andenorce legislation, implement national actionplans by involving multiple stakeholders, con-tinue data collection and research, and providesupport to victims and women and girls at risk.Despite this resolution and other important ad-

vances to eliminate emale genital mutilation,

the practice continues at unacceptably high lev-els in countries around the world.

In the 29 countries in Arica and the Middle Eastwhere the practice is concentrated, more than125 million girls and women alive today havebeen subjected to the practice.56 O these, aroundone in five live in Egypt, where prevalence hasbeen consistently over 90 per cent since data col-lection on the practice began. In addition, emalegenital mutilation is practised by immigrantsand minority groups in other countries, mean-ing that the global total o girls and women sub-

jected to cutting is likely to be even higher than125 million.

55 UNICEF, 2013.

56 Ibid .

Female genital mutilation is less prevalent among

younger women

Based on latest available data, the prevalence oemale genital mutilation among women aged be-tween 15 and 49 is highest (over 80 per cent) in Dji-

bouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Guinea, Mali, Sierra Leone,Somalia and Sudan. 57 Among countries studied,prevalence is lowest (less than 10 per cent) in Be-nin, Cameroon, Ghana, Iraq, Niger, ogo andUganda. In most countries where the practice isconcentrated, prevalence rates have declined overtime. Comparing prevalence across age groupscan also indicate changes in the practice amongyounger generations. Te proportions o girls andwomen aged 15 to 19 and 45 to 49 subjected toemale genital mutilation are presented in fig-ure 6.12. In all but one country presented here(Niger, which has rates near zero across all age

groups), prevalence was lower among the youngercohort, with much lower prevalence rates oundamong younger women in Burkina Faso, Kenya,Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone (more than 20percentage points difference). However, in severalcountries—Djibouti, Guinea, Mali, Somalia andSudan—prevalence was still very high amongthe young (more than 80 per cent) and was onlyslightly lower (5 percentage points difference orlower) in the younger age group, indicating thatnot much progress has been made overall.

Within countries, prevalence rates vary ac-

cording to ethnicity, religion, urban or ruralresidence, economic status, age, education andincome. In general, reported levels o emale gen-ital mutilation are lower in urban areas, amongyounger women, and in amilies with higherlevels o household income and mothers withhigher levels o education.58

Some efforts have been made to estimate thenumbers o those at risk o emale genital mu-tilation in countries o destination or peopleemigrating rom areas where cutting is practised.Methods used include applying the prevalencerate in the country o origin to the numbers o

immigrants rom that country. However, thismay lead to significant overestimation, since im-migrants may not be representative o the popu-lation in the country o origin. Moreover, atti-tudes towards and the practice o emale genitalmutilation may be affected by moving to a newcountry where cutting is not widespread.

57 Statistica l Annex, available at http://unstats.un.org/unsd/gender/worldswomen.html.

58 UNICEF, 2013.


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Figure 6.12

Girls and women aged 15–19 years and 45–49 years

subjected to female genital mutilation, 2002–2013

(latest available)

Source: Compiled by the United Nations Statistics Division from De-mographic and Health Survey (DHS) and Multiple Indicator Cluster Sur-vey (MICS) re ports (ICF, 2014 and UNICEF, 2014c).

Note: In the 29 countries where FGM is concentrated, almost all girlsundergoing FGM are cut before the age of 15 (UNICEF, 2013). Rankingis for presentation purposes only (see introduction to section A for fur-ther details).

Attitudes towards emale genital mutilation havealso shown some change. In a number o coun-tries, the majority o women (and men, whereavailable) believe the practice should be discon-tinued. It is ofen assumed that support or emalegenital mutilation is higher among men thanwomen; however, in many cases, the proportion owomen and men who believe the practice shouldbe discontinued is around the same. Support ordiscontinuation is mainly high in countries whereprevalence is relatively low, such as Benin, Cam-

eroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Iraq, Kenya, Niger,Nigeria, ogo, Uganda and the United Republic oanzania. However, in Burkina Faso, strong sup-port has been ound or discontinuation, even in ahigh-prevalence context. In most countries wheredata are available or multiple years, support ordiscontinuation has increased.59

59 Based on data compiled by the United Nations StatisticsDivision rom Demographic and Health Surveys.

2. Violence in conflict situations

In addition to the trauma o coping with liein the midst o conflict, people in these situa-tions can ace heightened levels o interpersonal

violence. Sexual violence perpetrated by militia,

military personnel or the police during conflictis an important aspect o non-partner sexual

violence. However, data in this area tend to besparse. In an effort to gather specific inorma-tion on this issue, the Office o the Special Rep-resentative to the Secretary-General on SexualViolence in Conflict has created a website (http://www.un.org/sexualviolenceinconflict/) that in-cludes inormation on violence experienced bypeople living in conflict situations. Te conflictshighlighted include those in Bosnia and Herze-govina, the Central Arican Republic, Colombia,Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic o the

Congo, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Somalia, SouthSudan, Sudan and the Syrian Arab Republic.

In Somalia, or example, high numbers o in-cidents o sexual violence continue to be re-ported. Between January and November 2012,United Nations partners and serv ice providersregistered over 1,700 rape cases in Mogadishuand the surrounding areas. Acts o sexual vio-lence continue to be committed against inter-nally displaced women and girls in these areas.Somali reugee women and girls were also tar-geted or sexual violence while attempting to

flee to the border.60 Data rom eastern Demo-cratic Republic o the Congo, which has experi-enced sustained internecine violence or over adecade, ound that almost hal (48 per cent) omale non-combatants reported using physical

violence against women, 12 per cent acknowl-edged having carried out partner rape, and 34per cent reported perpetrating some kind o sex-ual violence. Tis heightened violence included9 per cent o adult men who said that they hadbeen victims o sexual violence themselves, and16 per cent o men and 26 per cent o womenwho reportedly were orced to watch sexual vio-

lence.61 In some instances in Aghanistan, sur- vivors o sexual violence said they were rapeda second time by security orces while seekingprotection.62


61 Promundo, International Center or Research onWomen, 2012.


NigerCameroon

UgandaGhana

TogoIraq

BeninUnited Republic of Tanzania

YemenSenegal

Central African RepublicNigeria

Côte d'IvoireChad

KenyaGuinea−Bissau

LiberiaMauritania

GambiaEthiopia

SudanBurkina Faso

MaliDjibouti

EritreaEgypt

Sierra Leone

SomaliaGuinea

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90Per cent

100

1519 4549

http://www.un.org/sexualviolenceinconflict/http://www.un.org/sexualviolenceinconflict/http://www.un.org/sexualviolenceinconflict/http://www.un.org/sexualviolenceinconflict/


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In cases where women fleeing conflict reachreugee camps, they ofen do not participateequally with men in the administration o thecamps and in the ormation and implementa-tion o assistance programmes, with negativeeffects on equal access to ood or other essen-

tial items. Vulnerability to sexual violence re-mains high in reugee camps, and single womenor unaccompanied girls may be at higher riski they are not accommodated separately rommen or i there is not sufficient privacy. Longwalk distances out o the camps to collect waterand firewood or cooking and heating may a lsoexpose women to the threat o rape. In somecases, reugee women engage in surviva l sex tosupport their amilies.63

Adopted in 2000, UN Security Council resolu-tion 1325 (2000) on women and peace and se-

curity was a milestone in addressing violenceagainst women in situations o armed conflict.Recognizing the need to ully implement lawsthat protect the rights o women and girls duringand afer armed conflict, it calls or special meas-ures to protect them rom gender-based violencein such situations. Te 26 indicators attached tothe resolution are designed to monitor imple-mentation and progress not only towards main-taining and promoting the security o women butalso towards promoting women’s leadership rolesor peacekeeping and peacebuilding (see Chapter5 on Power and Decision Making). Subsequent

related Security Council resolutions directly ad-dress the issues o sexual violence in conflict as atactic o war (1820 (2008)) and involving womenin post-conflict and reconstruction periods (1889(2009)).

3. Trafficking

Human trafficking in women is a serious issueand has been addressed internationally by theProtocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish ra-ficking in Persons, Especially Women and Chil-

dren, which supplements the United NationsConvention against ransnational OrganizedCrime. Te Protocol, which entered into orce in2003, had been ratified as at December 2014, by166 parties. According to the protocol, humantraicking involves recruiting, transporting,harbouring or receiving persons under threat oruse o orce or other types o coercion or pur-

63 United Nations, 2006b.

poses o exploiting individuals or prostitution,other types o sexual exploitation, orced labouror services, slavery or practices similar to slavery,servitude or the removal o organs.

In 2014, the United Nations General Assemblypassed a resolution on trafficking in womenand girls (A/RES/69/149) calling on countriesto sign and ratiy relevant treaties and conven-tions, address the actors that make women andgirls vulnerable to trafficking and to take morepreventative efforts, including through educa-tion, develop comprehensive anti-traickingstrategies, criminalize all orms o traffickingand strengthen national mechanisms to ensurecoordinated and comprehensive responses.

Due to its underground nature, accurate dataon the scale o human trafficking are difficultto collect. According to a 2014 report on tra-

ficking in persons,64 published by the UnitedNations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC),adult women accounted or almost hal (49 percent) o all human trafficking victims detectedglobally. Women and girls together accountedor about 70 per cent, with girls representing twoout o every three child trafficking victims.65 Opersons prosecuted or and/or convicted o tra-ficking in persons over the period 2010–2012,around three quarters w

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