Abuse against women occurs in families of all socioeconomic, educational and cultural backgrounds and is

found in both rural and urban settings. Women in lesbian relationships can also be at risk for abuse.
The abuse may be a single act, but most often it occurs in a context where there is a pattern of assaultive
and controlling behavior. Once an abuser uses physical violence, they are likely to intensify their assaults and
increase the womans risk of harm and serious life-threatening injury.
No one form of abuse is worse than the others. Non-physical forms of abuse are as harmful to women as
physical abuse. Tactics of control may appear gradually as coercive behaviors that are not be criminal in nature.
This subtle process makes it very difficult for the woman, as well as friends, family or professionals to recognize it
as abuse.
Many women identify the emotional and psychological consequences of abuse as more damaging than the
physical assaults. While emotional abuse can occur in the absence of physical abuse, the two often occur together.
Men can also be abused, but the term 'woman abuse' recognizes that women are most often the victims of
abuse and men are most often the perpetrators.

What is Violence against Women?

The special character of this form of violence consists of the fact that it is not just directed towards individual
women but against all women as a social group. Violence against women encompasses all things that deny a woman
the right to realize her potential for development for reasons of gender. It frequently comprises a form of
contempt for women, which is socially accepted to a degree so that men are frequently not even aware of it,
whereby, in contrast, women frequently see it as a necessary evil of their being women, or accept it as a form of
relationship between man and woman which is based on biology.
Structural and personal violence can be differentiated between: Under violence to the person direct
attacks on the body of a woman such as the rape of women and girls, physical abuse or the murder of women is to
be understood. In most cases, violence to the person is usually connected directly with the female body, to the
reproductive function of the woman and to her sexuality. Structural violence expresses itself in the ideology of
inferiority, in scorn and in the object status of women and is linked to men's desire for superiority in many social
areas.
How many women get abused?
According to statistics one in three women is a victim of domestic violence. One in three girls and one in six
boys are victims of sexual abuse before they reach the age of 18.
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE STATISTICS

One out of every three women will be abused at some point in her life.
Battering is the single major cause of injury to women, exceeding rapes, muggings and auto accidents

combined.
A woman is more likely to be killed by a male partner (or former partner) than any other person.
About 4,000 women die each year due to domestic violence.
Of the total domestic violence homicides, about 75% of the victims were killed as they attempted to leave

the relationship or after the relationship had ended.

Seventy-three percent of male abusers were abused as children.
Thirty percent of Americans say they know a woman who has been physically abused by her husband in the

past year.
Women of all races are equally vulnerable to violence by an intimate partner.

On average, more than three women are murdered by their husbands or partners in this country every day.
Intimate partner violence a crime that largely affects women. In 1999, women accounted for 85% of the

victims of intimate partner violence.

On average, a woman will leave an abusive relationship seven times before she leaves for good.
Approximately 75% of women who are killed by their batterers are murdered when they attempt to leave
or after they have left an abusive relationship.

What are the roots of Violence against Women?

Violence against women is rooted in unequal power relationships between men and women in society. In a
broader context, structural relationships of inequalities in politics, religion, media and discriminatory
cultural norms perpetuate violence against girls and women.

Violence against women is a global problem and not limited to a specific group of women in society. However,
the forms of violence might be shaped differently based on factors such as sexual orientation, religion,
ethnicity, class, age, nationality. Significantly, Immigrant and Aboriginal women are further marginalized
due to ongoing racism, which contributes to violence and is internalized by marginalized people impeding
their social and personal power. Poverty, isolation from family and friends, language difficulties, and
homelessness also contribute to the victimization of the most vulnerable women in society.

In a male-dominant society, male privilege becomes the norm and contributes to the belief and behavior of
men that they have the right to control women.