GENDER BASED

VIOLENCE
 What is Gender-Based
Violence (GBV)?
• Any harm or suffering that is perpetrated
against a woman or girl, man or boy and that
has a negative impact on the physical, sexual
or psychological health, development or
identity of the person. The cause of the
violence is founded in gender-based power
inequalities and gender-based discrimination.
 Violence Against Women (VAW)
• Any act of abuse or violence ‘that results in, or
is likely to result in, physical, sexual or
psychological harm or suffering to women,
including threats of such acts, coercion or
arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether
occurring in public or in private life’
– United Nations Declaration on the Violence Against Women
1993
 Violence Against Women (VAW)
• GBV mostly affects women and girls, the terms
GBV and VAW are often used interchangeably
• GBV against women and girls is linked to
gender inequalities and gender norms
according to which the ‘female’ and the
‘feminine’ is associated with weakness and
inferiority
 The life cycle of gender-based violence

• Prenatal - Prenatal sex selection

• Infancy - Female infanticide, child abuse, living
with domestic violence, neglect including
access to food and medical care
• Childhood - Sexual, physical and emotional
abuse, prostitution, living with domestic
violence, child/forced marriage, discrimination
in nourishing food distribution, medical care
and education
 The life cycle of gender-based violence

• Adolescence - prostitution and pornography,

trafficking, sexual harassment at school and in the
street, forced marriage, honour crimes, intimate
partner violence and rape and sexual assault by
relatives, known persons or strangers
• Adulthood - Sexual harassment at work and in the
public space, intimate partner violence, rape and
sexual assault, forced pregnancy, dowry and bride
price abuse, honour crimes, stalking and trafficking
 The life cycle of gender-based violence

• Old Age - intimate partner violence, rape,

abuse of widows, sexual harassment in public
space
Structural and Direct
Forms of Violence
• Violence against women occur in different
forms and settings across the world
• Mainly categorized into two forms:
Micro Violence Macro Violence
Episodic Violence Broad Based Violence
Physical Mental or Psychological
Direct Indirect
 Multiple Expressions of Gender
Based Violence
1. Intimate Partner Violence / Domestic
Violence
2. Sexual Violence by Non-Partners
3. Conflict Related Gender Based and Sexual
Violence
4. Violence in the name of Honour
5. Early/Child Marriage
6. Violence Against LGBT persons
7. Trafficking in Human Beings
 1. Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) / Domestic Violence

• The form most commonly associated with GBV

• Intimate partner violence (IPV) is domestic
violence by a spouse or partner in an
intimate relationship against the other spouse
or partner. 
• Intimate violence can take a number of forms
including physical, verbal, emotional,
economic and sexual abuse
• Global Phenomena: International surveys
show that at least 1/3 of women in intimate
relationships have experienced violence from
their partner
• It may take many different forms, be
conducted by different perpetrators
throughout the lifetime, and have severe
direct and indirect health consequence
• Children who witness violence are indirect
victims, and are also likely to be exposed to
direct violence
• Due to pressure from the feminist and women’s
movement worldwide, many countries have
passed laws and policies to address men’s
physical violence towards their partners
• In 1976 only one country had legislation against
domestic violence, and in 2013 the number had
increased to 76 (World Bank)
• However economic and emotional abuses are
still not considered criminalized acts within many
legal frameworks
• Many still see it as a private matter and women
are often held responsible for the violence
inflicted upon them
• Reference to the privacy of the home contributes
not only to impunity for violence against women
at the hands of family members, but also to
impunity for violence against domestic workers
• This creates a stigma which often deters
women and girls from seeking medical service
or legal redress
 2. Sexual Violence by Non-Partners

• Includes sexual assault, sexual harassment, rape and

gang rape
• WHO statistics show that globally 7 % of women have
been exposed to sexual violence outside a
relationship
• Statistics vary, and in some contexts sexual violence
by non-partners is far more prevalent
• For e.g: In South Africa, studies reveal that nearly 33
% of men report raping a woman during their lifetime
 3. Conflict-Related Gender Based and Sexual Violence

• When violence in general is more present in a

society and in situations of increased militarization,
subordinated groups in the society become more
vulnerable in public as well as in private
• Displacement and heightened tensions within
communities and households
• Increased risk of gender- based violence, including
men’s violence against their intimate partners and
other forms of violence in the family
• Poor welfare services and the breakdown of
social networks and justice systems make it
more difficult for victims of violence to escape
• Examples: Europe during World War II, Bosnia,
Rwanda, Liberia, Northern Uganda,
Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Iraq,
Libya and Syria
4. Violence in the Name of Honour
• Violence against family members (usually women
and girls) conducted with reference to the shame
and dishonour a person is supposed to have
brought to their family and/or community
• Includes physical, sexual and psychological violence
as well as other forms of control such as forced
marriages of women with the men who raped them
• In extreme cases lead to murder – an ‘honour
killing’
 Honour killings in Pakistan
• Present with different names
– Karo Kari in Sindh
– SiyahKari in Balochistan
– Kala Kali in Punjab
– Tor Tora in Tribal areas and north west

– Human Rights Watch 2019: about 1000 honour

killings every year
Honour killings in Pakistan (HRCP)
Year Number

2015 1096

2014 1000

2013 869

2012 913

2011 675
 5. Early/Child Marriage

• Marriage before the age of 18

• Form of GBV as it robs girls of their right to
childhood, health, education and security
• Consequences :
– domestic violence and rape
– heightened risk of the death of very young
expecting mothers
– undesired pregnancies
• Often occurs due to poverty
• Every day 39 000 girls become child brides
– “State of the World Population”, UNFPA
 6. Violence Against LGBT persons

• LGBT: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender

• LGBT people face high levels of discrimination
and GBV worldwide
• Way of controlling and punishing those who are
not seen as “real/proper” men or women and
therefore threatening traditional norm of
masculinity and femininity
• Most cases of violence against LGBT people are
not reported
• Violence against LGBTI persons is often
labelled as “hate crime”
– when a person is victimised because of his or her
race, ethnicity, religion, gender or sexual
orientation
 7. Trafficking in Human Beings

• Trafficking in human beings is about girls and

women, boys and men that in an organised
way, with or without consent, are transported
to another region or abroad to provide for
exploitation, so that actors between the client
and the victim profit from this
• 20 million victims of trafficking
– US Dept of State
 Strategies to
Eliminate Gender
Based Violence
• A shift in focus
– from seeing women (and other groups exposed to gender-
based violence) as victims to seeing them as survivors, actors
and agents of change with a strong focus on women and girls’
empowerment
• Increasing Women’s political participation and influence
– in contexts of peace, conflicts and other humanitarian crisis.
Women have rights to participate on equal terms with men in
political bodies at all levels of the society
– In many countries women’s political representation is very low,
and women are often excluded from formal peace negotiations
• Increased Women’s Economic Empowerment
– Enhance women’s bargaining power and ability to
leave abusive relationships.
– This includes strengthening women’s employment
opportunities, improving women’s access to land
and property rights, promoting equal sharing of
unpaid care work between women and men and
encouraging universal access to quality education
• Increased Sexual and Reproductive health
and rights
– promotion and protection of women’s right to
have control and decide freely over matters
related to their sexuality, including sexual and
reproductive health
– family-planning possibilities and
– HIV/Aids prevention
• Transformation of norms and behavior
– The logic of GBV is based on gender stereotypes
– Gender Stereotypes:
• ideals linking masculinity to the provider role, macho behavior
and violence
• ideals linking femininity to submission and victimhood
– Prevention efforts should start early in life and be directed
at girls and boys
– Both non-formal education and formal education are
important sites for normative change and have the
potential to address gender inequalities and prevent GBV.
• Improving legislation directly linked to GBV
– Laws for violence against women
– Implementation
• Improving legislation indirectly linked to GBV
– Rights to property, land, inheritance
– Employment and income
– Increase women’s ability to leave abusive
relationships and establish their own households
• Bridging the Gap between Law and Practice
(Effective Implementation)
– strengthening of accountability mechanisms to
follow up
 Theories of
Violence Against
Women
• Three main kinds:
1. Micro- Oriented Theories
2. Macro- Oriented Theories
3. Multi-Dimensional Theories
 Micro-Oriented Theories

1. Social learning theory

– individuals learn how to behave through both

experience of and exposure to violence
– Intergenerational concept of violence
– Relationship between victim and offender
contributes to the cycle of violence
 2. Personality Characteristics and Psychopathology Theory

- individuals who use violence against women

have some sort of personality disorder or mental
illness that might get in the way of otherwise
normal inhibitions about using violence
- Those who are engaged in violent behavior are
seen as sick individuals
- Focusing on psychological factors only tends to
decrease abuser’s responsibility for his actions
 3. Biological Theory
• Violence against women is related to the
process of natural selection
• Rape as extreme response to natural selection
pressure on men to reproduce
– Biological and Neurological Factors:
• Childhood attention deficit disorders
• This theory eliminates responsibility for the
offender
 4. Exchange Theory
• Individuals engage in behavior to earn rewards
or to escape punishment
• Violence is a means by which individuals can
maintain or advance their interests
 5. Resource theory
• Violence occurs in the family to maintain
power
• Control of all resources of a household
 Macro-Oriented Theories
• Feminist Theory:
– Violence occurs as a result of male dominated
social structure
– Patriarchy
– Gender Specific roles for men and women
• Family Violence Perspective:
– Violence affects all family relationships (Both men
and women can be violent)
– Origin of problem is in the nature of family
structure
• Cultural Acceptance of Violence
Theory:
– Cultural acceptance of violence in certain areas of
life (sports, movies etc) may spill over into other
areas of interpersonal interaction
– Certain groups in society may be more likely than
other groups to accept the use of violence in
specific situations
 Multidimensional Theories
• Exchange Theory and Social Control
Theory
– Violence and abuse are higher when the rewards
exceed the costs (Exchange Theory) and due to
privacy of family institution, as well as others
reluctance to intervene (control theory), assists in
reducing the cost of violence
– Cultural approval of use of violence increases the
rewards for violent behavior
 Gender Theory
• Men and women view violence differently
• Violence is a means of constructing
masculinity
• Social patriarchal system increases the risk
against women because they support
relationships in which males have higher
relative status than females
 Male Peer Support Model
• A number of factors (patriarchal social
structure, male peer social support, alcohol
use) contribute to likelihood of violence
• Male peer support groups reinforce and
maintain patriarchal values
 Social Etiological Model
• Violence is result of structural inequality
• Establishes a pattern of exploitation and
domination of one group by another
 Ecological Model
• Behavior is shaped through interactions
between individuals and their social
environment
• Development is the result of interaction at
following levels:
– Individual
– Microsystem – family, friends, colleagues
– Mesosystem – interaction between others in near
environment (school, home)
– Exosystem – Impact of actions by policy makers,
employers, etc
– Macrosystem: influence of largely held cultural
attitudes and beliefs regarding one’s behavior