Violence against women (VAW)

Violence against women (VAW) is a term of art used to collectively refer to violent acts that are primarily or exclusively committed against women. Similar to a hate crime, this type of violence targets a specific group with the victim's gender as a primary motive. The United Nations General Assembly defines "violence against women" as "any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life." The 1993 Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women noted that this violence could be perpetrated by assailants of either gender, family members and even the "State" itself. 1. Worldwide governments and organizations actively work to combat violence against women through a variety of programs. A UN resolution designated November 25th as International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. 2

Table of contents

History of violence against women

Some experts believe that the history of violence against women is tied to the history of women being viewed as property and a gender role assigned to be subservient to men and also other women. 3. Feminist groups have contended that the advancement of women in society will curb the prevalance of violence against them.

Violence against women by women

Very little research has been done on lesbian relationship violence, so reliable source information is hard to come by. Contrary to sexist gendered beliefs, women have the capacity to be violent. Thus, this form of violence can occur in lesbian relationships, daughter-mother relationships, roommate relationships and other domestic relationships involving two women. Violence against women by women also exists outside the sphere of relationship violence, probably even less research has been done on this subject.

Types of violence

Studies have shown that violence is not always perpetrated as a form of physical violence but can also be psychological and verbal. 4 5 Women are more likely to be victimized by someone that they are intimate with, commonly called "Intimate Partner Violence" or (IPV)6. Instances of IPV tend not to be reported to police and thus many experts believe that the true magnitude of the problem is hard to estimate. 7

Impact on society

The World Health Organization reports that violence against women put an undue burden on health care services with women who have suffered violence being more likely to need health services and at higher costs. 8

References

==External links==

*Rape as a hate crime (gender bias crimes)

*Stop Violence Against Women, [Amnesty International]

*U.S. Violence against women: Home Page

*Phillips, J. & Park, M, Measuring violence against women: a review of the literature and statistics [Australian Parliament House] Library E-Briefs: Online only, issued 06 December 2004

*US Dept of Justice Office on Violence Against Women

*UK Home Office Violence against women

*United Nations Human Rights Commission Women and Violence 

*European Union Daphne Project

*World Health Organization Violence against women

*Full report of the prevalence, incidence, and consequences of violence against women: Findings from the national violence against women survey. Publication No. NCJ183781

*Extent, nature, and consequences of intimate partner violence: findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey. Publication No. NCJ 181867

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References

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