Violence Against Women: Strategies and Responses

Hearing Notice

Violence against women is a serious human rights violation which occurs in varying forms and contexts with severe global health implications. Women and girls are systematically targeted in armed conflicts, communal violence and cultural practices, in the workplace and at home. Globally, one in three women experience physical, sexual and/or emotional violence in their lifetime and one in five women experience rape or attempted rape (World Health Organization).

A recent study of the World Health Organization (WHO) on women’s health and domestic violence found 15-71 percent of women described either physical or sexual violence by a husband or partner, that a large number of women reported their first sexual experience was non-consensual, and that these severe violations frequently go unreported and unaddressed. The United Nations 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.”

Violence against women includes sexual, physical, or emotional abuse by an intimate partner, family member or others, abuse and harassment by figures of authority, human trafficking for purposes of forced labor or sex, and cultural practices such as female genital mutilation, forced/child marriages, dowry-related violence and honor killings. 

If you have any questions, please contact Allison McGuire (Rep. McGovern) or Elizabeth Hoffman (Rep. Wolf) at 202-225-3599.

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