Violence against women

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Violence against women (VAW), also known as gender-based violence^[1][2] and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV),^[3] is violent acts primarily committed by men or boys against women or girls. Such violence is often considered a form of hate crime,^[4] committed against persons specifically because they are of the female gender, and can take many forms.

VAW has a very long history, though the incidents and intensity of such violence have varied over time and between societies. Such violence is often seen as a mechanism for the subjugation of women, whether in society in general or in an interpersonal relationship.^[5][6]

The UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women states, "violence against women is a manifestation of historically unequal power relations between men and women" and "violence against women is one of the crucial social mechanisms by which women are forced into a subordinate position compared with men."^[7]

Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations, declared in a 2006 report posted on the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) website:

Violence against women and girls is a problem of pandemic proportions. At least one out of every three women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime with the abuser usually someone known to her.^[8]