International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

Every year on November 25th, people from around the world join together to observe the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.  According to the United Nations, 35% of women worldwide have experienced physical and/or sexual violence or non-partner sexual violence.  Additionally, worldwide research from the U.N. also indicates that approximately 120 million women have been forced into sexual acts at some point in their lives and about 133 million women have undergone female genital mutilation.

On November 25, 2014 at U.N. headquarters in New York City, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon spoke about the global pandemic of violence against women.  Moon said: “Violence against women and girls is a global pandemic that destroys lives, fractures communities and holds back development.  It is not confined to any region, political system, culture or social class.  It is present at every level of every society in the world.  It happens in peacetime and becomes worse during conflict… It is only by changing the everyday experience of women and girls that we can challenge discrimination and impunity, and put a stop to practices and customs that encourage, ignore or tolerate violence against them.”
During the 2013 International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, Samantha Power – the U.S. Permanent Representative to the U.N., described violence against women as a global scourge and an international shame.

Violence against women can occur within any level of society.  “As it turns out, I’m a very typical domestic abuse victim… Domestic violence happens to everyone.  All races, all religions, all income and education levels,” says Leslie Morgan Steiner, a Harvard university educated businesswoman who was in an abusive relationship.
The words of Ban Ki-moon, Samantha Power, and Leslie Morgan Steiner serve as a reminder to all of us concerning the importance of confronting violence against women.  We should stand together collectively to work towards solutions to the challenges of physical, psychological, and sexual violence against women.

Statistics from the United Nations also show:
* In 2012, 50% of women killed worldwide were killed by their intimate partners or family members.  Only 1 out of 20 of all men killed were killed in such circumstances.

* 2/3rds of all countries have outlawed domestic violence.
* Only 52 countries have explicitly criminalized rape within marriage.
* 2.6 billion women and girls live in countries where marital rape is not explicitly criminalized.
* In the European Union, 45% to 55% of women have experienced sexual harassment since the age of 15.
* Worldwide, 4.5 million people are victims of forced sexual exploitation; 98% of them are women and girls.
Sources:
http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/end-violence-against-women

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