1 in 3 women around the globe are survivors of gender-based violence (GBV) – but there tends to be confusion about what exactly GBV is. Today, we’re breaking down what gender-based violence is, exploring the types of harm that it includes, uplifting stories from survivors of GBV, and outlining how we are working to end this form of violence. 

Defining GBV 

Gender-based violence (GBV) is one of the world’s most pervasive human rights violations. It is defined as violence that results in the physical, sexual, or mental harm or suffering to women, whether occurring in public or private life. 

GBV includes physical, sexual, emotional, psychological, and economic abuse, as well as harmful practices such as child marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM). 

You’ll likely see us use the terms GBV and violence against women interchangeably – and this is to increase awareness of the issue at hand and use a term that is more accessible. However, GBV remains widely used by other international agencies, and it’s why we want to dive into the meaning today.  

Types of GBV 

As prefaced in the definition, gender-based violence can take many forms, but each incidence of violence has one thing in common: it strips away a woman’s right to safety, dignity, autonomy, and respect. Now, we’re going to take a closer look at the most common types of violence against women. 

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)  

Intimate partner violence specifically describes violence that occurs between people in sexual or romantic relationships. In cultures that deny women and girls educational opportunities or opportunities to gain income separate from their partners, women are especially vulnerable to physical, psychological, economic and emotional abuse from their partners. 

Tragically, nearly 40% of women murdered die at the hands of their partners. 

Domestic Violence 

While this term is often used to describe violence that occurs between intimate partners, the term extends to involve any incidence of violence that occurs to another person who lives in a shared space. This includes children, siblings, and grandparents.  

Every 11 minutes, a woman or girl is killed by a member of her own family. 

Child Marriage 

Harmful practices like child marriage are rooted in gender inequality and cause lifelong suffering for girls and women. Oftentimes, girls are pulled out of school when they are married, making them dependent on their often-adult spouses. Child marriage also usually leads to teen pregnancy – which is the leading cause of death for teenage girls around the world. Girls who are forced into child marriages are also at increased risk of other types of abuse from their spouses. 

1 in 5 women alive today were forced into marriage as children. 

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) 

FGM is the practice of altering or injuring the female genitalia for non-medical reasons, ranging from partial or full removal of the clitoris and vulva to repositioning the labia over the vaginal opening. Often, FGM happens as part of a religious or cultural ceremony to “protect” a girl’s purity or suppress her sexuality. FGM is internationally recognized as a human rights violation and outlawed in several countries – but even in areas where the practice has been outlawed, thousands of girls are cut each year. FGM causes lifelong complications such as infections, infertility, childbirth complications, and in some cases, death.  

Approximately 230 million girls and woman alive today have undergone female genital mutilation.  

Survivors of GBV Tell Their Stories 

“One day a group of us went to our neighbor’s house to watch television. At one point everyone left, leaving me alone with my friend. I fell asleep and my friend left me there alone. A man who lives in the house returned – I was deep asleep. He took a knife and woke me up, threatening me. Afraid, I let him do it, he raped me.” 

When Issa was still a child living with her grandmother in central Mali, she was raped by a neighbor. Tragically, her story is not too uncommon: Over 90% of all youth survivors of rape know their rapist beforehand. The man threatened Issa at knifepoint to not tell anyone, but soon afterward Issa discovered she was pregnant.  

Issa’s guardians took her to the local hospital, where UNFPA was supporting a center for survivors like Issa. She was assigned a case manager and a psychologist to help her cope with the abuse she had suffered and assess her legal options. Issa was also given maternal care throughout her pregnancy, as well as money and clothes.

“Because I come from a poor household, I wasn’t able to attend school beyond the second grade, and neither did my siblings…. I was married at the age of 14 and I lost my first child at 16 during pregnancy.”   

More than half of all girls in Bangladesh are married before they turn 18 – and that was Ranu’s reality as well. Harmful social norms in the area often mean that girls from poorer families are denied an education and instead married off young to help relieve financial burdens. But as Ranu began to have children, she knew that she couldn’t let them face the same fate that she had been forced into. 

Ranu joined a UNFPA-supported group of activists called Start, Awareness, Support, Action (SASA!Together). Today, she’s working to advocate for other girls in her village and raise children who are aware of their rights and able to speak out for themselves. 

“’Come with me, we need to go to the bakery’, my mother told me one morning. That day, I experienced fear, deception and excruciating pain. I was only seven. When we arrived at the bakery, my mom took me to the back room where there was an old stove. I saw an old woman holding razor blades. I remember that old woman and my mom holding me down. Words cannot express the pain and confusion I felt.” 

Nearly 5 decades ago, Dania underwent female genital mutilation (FGM) against her will – but she still recalls every blood-soaked moment. In addition to lifelong psychological trauma, FGM can also cause infections, painful menstruation and intercourse, infertility, and even death. And yet, the practice remains all too common, with over 3 million girls at risk of FGM each year. 

Today, Dania is working with UNFPA to end FGM in her community, as well as the gender biases that drive it. “By performing genital mutilation and other harmful practices, we are robbing our daughters of their sexual and reproductive rights,” Dania shared with us.  

Our work to end GBV 

We’re working to defend every woman and girl from violence, no matter what. UNFPA is leading programs to prevent, respond and mitigate gender-based violence in over 153 countries and territories with the ultimate goal of ending violence against women by 2030. 

We’re partnering with governments, local communities and other agencies to support survivors of GBV, identify and protect women and girls vulnerable to violence, and change community attitudes toward incidence of violence. Some examples of this work in action include: 

– Working to transform social gender norms to prevent GBV and address structural inequalities that make women and girls more vulnerable to violence. 

– Building capacities to respond to incidents of GBV in communities. 

– Building and sharing knowledge of GBV in communities. 

– Delivering services to survivors of GBV, including in humanitarian crises when incidents of violence increase. 

– Creating safe spaces for survivors to heal. 

If you would like to learn more about our work to end violence against women or get involved, you can read more here.