What is Gender Based Violence (GBV)?
- girlsstandup27
- Apr 21, 2021
- 6 min read
Gender-Based Violence (GBV) is violence against a person due to their gender and it predominantly affects women and girls.
Did you know? GBV also serves by intention or effect to perpetuate male power and control. It is sustained by a culture of silence and denial of the seriousness of the health consequences of abuse.
Gender-Based Violence affects everyone all around the world and can occur anywhere; in your homes, workplaces...
How Gender-Based Violence against women came about
Gender-Based Violence occurs due to the unequal power relationship between boys/men and girls/women where men are usually the perpetrators and women are usually the victims.
In most cases, women and girls do not have the choice to refuse or resort to other options without serious consequences financially, physically, emotionally, etc...
Girls/Women are at risk of violence throughout their life:
1. Pre-Birth: - sex-selective abortion.
2. Infancy: - female infanticide, neglect (healthcare, nutrition).
3. Childhood: - female genital mutilation/cutting.
4. Adolescence: - forced prostitution, trafficking, forced early marriage, psychological abuse, rape, IPV (Intimate Partner Violence).
5. Reproductive age: - honor/dowry killing, IPV (Intimate Partner Violence), sexual assault, homicide, sex trafficking.
6. Elderly: - elder/widow abuse, economic abuse.
There are many types of Gender-Based Violence :
1. Physical Violence
Act = Sexual Assault
Description/Examples: beating, punching, kicking, burning, mutilation, killing with/without weapons. These acts are usually committed with other forms of GBV.
It may be perpetrated by husband, intimate partner, family member, friend, acquaintance, stranger, or any person in a position of power, parties to a conflict.
Act = Trafficking, Slavery
Description/Examples: sale and/or trafficking of persons for the purpose of forcing them to conduct sexual activities for slavery or compulsory services, servitude, or slave-like acts, or for organ removal.
It may be perpetrated by any person in a position of power or control.
2. Moral/Psychological Violence
Act = Abuse/Insults
Description/Examples: non-sexual verbal abuse that insults the person, forcing the victim/survivor to engage in insulting acts, publicly or privately, or threats.
It may be perpetrated by any person in a position of power or control, this act is usually perpetrated by husbands, intimate partners, or family members in a position of power.
Act = Confinement
Description/Examples: separating a person from friends/family, restricting movement, denying freedom, restricting/obstructing the right to move freely.
It may be perpetrated by any person in a position of power or control, this act is usually perpetrated by husbands, intimate partners, or family members in a position of power.
3. Sexual Violence
Act = Rape
Description/Examples: entering any part of the victim's body with a sexual organ or object by force. The threat of force, coercion, hateful environment, exploitation, or against a person unable to give consent.
It may be perpetrated by any person in a position of power, influence, and control, including the husband, intimate partner, or caregiver.
Act = Sexual Abuse of Children, Violation of Privacy, Incest
Description/Examples: every act in which the child is used to attain sexual satisfaction. Every sexual relationship/ sexual interaction with a child.
It may be perpetrated by someone the child trusts, including the parents, siblings, members of the larger family, friend or stranger, teacher, elderly person, leaders, or any other caregiver, and any person with power, influence, and authority over the child.
Act = Sexual Abuse
Description/Examples: Physical penetration or tempted physical penetration of a sexual nature including inappropriate touching by force through unequal terms, or coercion.
It may be perpetrated by any person in a position of power, influence, and authority, family member/local community, colleagues at work, including supervisors, strangers.
Act = Sexual Exploitation
Description/Examples: Any exploitation of position of weakness, variant in power, or confidence for sexual purposes. This includes the financial, political, or social benefit of the sexual exploitation of another person. Sexual exploitation is one of the goals of trafficking in persons. Other kinds include making offers in a sexual manner, forcing nakedness and/or stripping, forced marriage, forced pregnancy, engaging in pornographic materials or prostitution, sexual exploitation to obtain a benefit, services, or assistant or sexual servitude.
It may be perpetrated by any person in a position of power, influence, and authority, including humanitarian aid workers, soldiers/offices at checkpoints, teachers, smugglers, and trafficking rings.
Act = Forced Prostitution (referred to also as sexual exploitation)
Description/Examples: Forced/mandatory sexual trade in return for financial resources, services, and assistant. This commerce usually affects very weak women or girls who cannot provide the basic humanitarian needs for themselves and/or their children.
It may be perpetrated by any person in a position of privilege with money or in control of financial resources and services, considered to be influential, humanitarian aid workers.
Act = Sexual Harassment
Description/Examples: Any unwelcome sexual offer that usually repeated and not usual, unwanted sexual interest, request of sexual access, or request of sexual services, sexual insinuation, other oral or sexual behaviors of a sexual nature, presentation of pornographic materials when the presentation violates the term of work or creates a hostile, insulting or provocative work environment.
It may be perpetrated by employers, supervisors, or colleagues, any person in a position of power, authority, and control.
4. Harmful Traditional Practises
Act = Female Genital Mutilation
Description/Examples: Female Genital Mutilation for non-medical reasons, usually at an early age. Mutilation ranges from partial to total and includes the removal of genital organs, stitching for cultural or other non-treatment reason, usually practiced several times throughout the lifetime, (after birth or if the girl/woman is the victim of sexual assault)
It may be perpetrated by traditional doctors with the support, consent, and assistance of the families and religious groups, entire local communities, and some countries.
Act = Early Marriage
Description/Examples: Arranged marriage below the legal age (intercourse in such relationships is considered rape of a minor since the girls do not enjoy the legal capacity to approve this marriage).
It may be perpetrated by parents, local community, country.
Act = Forced Marriage
Description/Examples: Arranged marriage against the will of the victim/survivor, in most cases a dowry is paid to the family, rejection has violent and/or abusive consequences.
It may be perpetrated by parents, family members.
Act = Crimes of Honor and Mutilation
Description/Examples: Mutilation or murder of a woman or girl as punishment for acts considered inappropriate for her gender and that brings shame to her family or local community (for example, pouring acid on the face of a young woman as punishment for bringing shame to her family by attempting to marry someone not chosen by the family) or in order to maintain family honor (for example, to atone for a sin committed by a male member of the family).
It may be perpetrated by parents, husband, family members, local community members.
Act = Killing the Infant and/or negligence
Description/Examples: Murder, denial of food, and/or negligence of female children because they are considered less valuable than male children in society.
It may be perpetrated by parents, family members.
Act = Denying Girls or Women education
Description/Examples: Taking the girls out of school, preventing or hindering access, or girls and women to technical, professional, or basic academic knowledge.
It may be perpetrated by parents, family members, the local community, some countries.
5. Social and Economic Violence
Act = Discrimination and/or denial of opportunities and services
Description/Examples: Exclusion, denial of access to education, medical assistance or paid employment, denial of property right.
It may be perpetrated by family members, society, institutions and organizations, government entities.
Act = Sexual preference-based social exclusion/ostracism
Description/Examples: Denial of access to services, social benefit, the practice of civil, social, economic, cultural, and political rights and their enjoyment, imposing criminal penalties, discriminatory practices or physical and psychological harm, acceptance of discriminatory practices, public or private animosity directed at homosexuals, transexuals, or crossdressers.
It may be perpetrated by family members, community, institutions and organizations, government entities.
Act = Obstructive legislative practises
Description/Examples: Denial of access to practice and enjoyment of the civil, social, economic, cultural, and political rights, specifically denying them to women.
It may be perpetrated by family, local community, institutions, state.
Health outcomes of violence against women and girls
Non-Fatal Outcomes
Physical Consequences
Injuries
Functional impairments
Permanent disabilities
Negative Health behaviors
Alcohol and drug abuse
Smoking
Sexual risk-taking
Self-injurious behavior
(Psycho-) Somatic Consequences
Chronic pain syndrome
Irritable bowel syndrome
Gastrointestinal disorders
Urinary tract disorders
Respiratory disorders
Consequences for Reproductive Health
Pelvic inflammatory diseases
Sexually transmitted diseases
Unwanted pregnancy
Pregnancy complications
Miscarriage/low birth weight
Psychological Consequences
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Depression, Fears, Sleeping disorders, Panic disorders
Eating disorders
Low self-esteem
Suicidal tendencies
Fatal Outcomes
Fatal Injuries
Killing
Homicide
Suicide
"The basis of Gender-Based Violence is entitlement; some people feel entitled to treat women as less than men. In many ways, the media reflects that sense of entitlement. There are also many cases of Gender-Based Violence that men face." - Jan Leach
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