Gender Based Violence

 What is Gender? 

‘Gender’ refers to the socially-constructed roles of and relationships between men and women. Gender concerns men and women, including conceptions of both femininity and masculinity. The difference between ‘gender’ and ‘sex’ is that the latter refers only to biological differences. Gender does not mean focusing solely on women or females, but rather on the inequalities between males and females, and should not be confused with feminism or women’s studies. 

Analyses of gender differences often show a disadvantaged and weaker position of women and girls in social, political, economic, legal, educational and physical issues. This is why there is a tendency for gender discussions and interventions to focus on correcting these imbalances by specifically targeting women and girls.

“ Gender is a socially constructed definition of women and men. It is not the same as sex (biological characteristics of women and men) and it is not the same as women. Gender is determined by the conception of tasks, functions and roles attributed to women and men in society and in public and private life.”  
[Gender in practice. Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation]


The Gender approach is distinct in that it focuses on women and men and not on women in isolation. It highlights:

  • the differences between women’s and men’s interest even within the same household and how these interact and are expressed.
  • the conventions and hierarchies which determine women’s and men’s position in the family, community and society at large, whereby women are usually dominated by men
  • the differences among women and among men, based on age, wealth, ethnic background and other factors

  • the way gender roles and relations change, often quite rapidly, as a result of social, economic and technological trends. [Wijk and Francis, 1999]                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     what is Gender Based Violence? 

Gender-based violence is a phenomenon deeply rooted in gender inequality, and continues to be one of the most notable human rights violations within all societies. Gender-based violence is violence directed against a person because of their gender. Both women and men experience gender-based violence but the majority of victims are women and girls.

Gender-based violence and violence against woman  are terms that are often used interchangeably as it has been widely acknowledged that most gender-based violence is inflicted on women and girls, by men. However, using the ‘gender-based’ aspect is important as it highlights the fact that many forms of violence against women are rooted in power inequalities between women and men. The terms are used interchangeably throughout EIGE’s work,  reflecting the disproportionate number of these particular crimes against women. 

Gender-based violence (GBV) or violence against women and girls (VAWG), is a global pandemic that affects 1 in 3 women in their lifetime.

The numbers are staggering:

  • 35% of women worldwide  have experienced either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence.
  • Globally 7%  of women have been sexually assaulted by someone other than a partner.
  • Globally, as many as 38% of murders  of women are committed by an intimate partner.
  • 200 million  women have experienced female genital mutilation/cutting. 

This issue is not only devastating for survivors of violence and their families, but also entails significant social and economic costs. In some countries, violence against women is estimated to cost countries up to 3.7% of their GDP – more than double what most governments spend on education.

Failure to address this issue also entails a significant cost for the future.  Numerous studies have shown that children growing up with violence are more likely to become survivors themselves or perpetrators of violence in the future.

One characteristic of gender-based violence is that it knows no social or economic boundaries and affects women and girls of all socio-economic backgrounds: this issue needs to be addressed in both developing and developed countries.

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