Women and Gender-Based Violence

Gender-based violence represents one of the most serious, deep-rooted, and widely tolerated human rights violations in the world today. It is rooted in centuries of patriarchal domination, unequal power relations, and cultural norms that have long reduced women to a subordinate position in both the public and private spheres. Despite legal and social progress made over the decades, the statistics remain alarming: according to the World Health Organization, one in three women worldwide has experienced physical or sexual violence in her lifetime.
This violence, whether visible or insidious, crosses geographic, cultural, economic, and social boundaries. It can strike in the privacy of the home, on the street, in the workplace, at school, or online. Whether perpetrated by an intimate partner, a stranger, or even institutions, it all reflects a desire for domination, control, and humiliation. Gender-based violence is not limited to beatings or sexual assault.
It also extends to psychological forms-such as intimidation, threats, and humiliation-to economic violence-deprivation of resources, forced dependence, financial blackmail-and symbolic violence-everyday sexism, degrading stereotypes, and the invisibility of women in spheres of power. It is expressed in words, actions, and laws, but also in silence and complicity. This book was born out of the need to give a voice to those who are often deprived of one.
Through testimonies, analyses, data, and examples of inspiring initiatives, it offers an insight into the realities experienced by women around the world. The aim is not only to denounce, but also to understand the inner workings of this violence: what are the root causes? Why do they persist despite awareness campaigns and laws? What are the obstacles to denunciation? And above all, what strategies do women implement to survive, rebuild their lives, and, in some cases, become agents of change themselves?The following pages will deconstruct the myths surrounding gender-based violence, explore the diversity of experiences-because not all women experience the same forms of violence or with the same intensity-and highlight the efforts made by civil society, institutions, feminist activists, and survivors themselves to push back against the unacceptable.