The Issues

Psychological and emotional abuse involves trauma to the victim caused by acts, threats of acts, or coercive tactics.

Domestic violence is behavior used by one person to control the other. This includes emotional, physical, sexual and financial abuse. Victims and perpetrators may be married or not married; heterosexual, gay, or lesbian; related, not related, living together, separated or dating. Some examples of domestic violence include: physical assault or the threat of physical assault, name-calling, forced social isolation, withholding money or jobs, stalking, and name calling, among others.

Rape is the crime of forcing somebody into sexual activity against his or her will through use of physical force, threat of injury, or other duress.

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is the name for procedures that intentionally alter, cut or injur female genital organs for non-medical reasons. The practice has no health benefits. FGM is practiced in many places as a coming-of-age-tradition and is usually performed on girls between infancy and 14 years old.

Early marriage is the marriage of children under the age of 18, while forced marriage occurs when one or both of the parties do not willingly enter into the marital relationship. Both are forms of violence against girls.

Rape and abuse that occurs within marriage often goes unreported and sometimes isn’t recognized by the victim as abuse. In many places around the world, it is assumed by women that enduring sexual abuse within marriage is a spousal obligation and a part of “normal” life. Marriage is often used by perpetrators to legitimize abuse often creates confusion for the victim around issues love, responsibility, and matrimony but is none-the-less a crime.

Son preference is the strong partiality to boys over girls by parents. Son preference often results in the neglect of daughters’ basic needs such as health care, sufficient nutrition, and education. Son preference can lead parents to abort female fetuses or commit female infanticide.

An honor killing is the murder of a family or clan member justified by a failure to comply with the expectations of the culture, religion or tradition. In many cases the victim is a woman who has been raped, engaged in premarital sex, sought divorce, or refused to marry the man chosen for her, all of which might bring perceived dishonor to their family. Although accusations may not be based on strict, tangible evidence, they often result in violent retaliation and death.

Sexual harassment is any unwelcome sexual attention or advancement that may affect one’s ability to function in every day life. Qualifying behavior can be as subtle as an implied comment, but is still considered gender discrimination and often leads to more serious criminal offenses. Situations can vary from involving implied to direct behavior, from targeting one to a group of individuals, or from involving a pattern of behavior to a single incident.

Human trafficking is the use of fraud, force, or coercion to exploit a person for profit.

Violence against women in armed conflict is the intentional abuse of women in order to achieve military objectives. These may include breaking the resistance of a community or spreading political terror.

Violent or forced sex often causes tears or lacerations for women that significantly increase the likelihood of HIV transmission, while forced sex also renders women unable to negotiate safer conditions, leaving the vulnerable to transmission of the disease.