Gender-Based Violence, Safety & Health

Worldwide, 1 in 3 women have experienced physical or sexual violence — mostly by an intimate partner.

The Covid-19 pandemic has both highlighted pre-existing gender gaps in health and exacerbated deep rooted gender-based discrimination and violence.

In September 2021, the World Economic Forum (WEF) noted that for women all over the world their healthcare requirements had been “collateral damage” during the COVID-19 pandemic – with The Lancet medical journal finding a marked increase in stillbirth, maternal death, and maternal depression globally.

UN Women found that women in Bangladesh and Pakistan were less likely to receive information about Covid-19 than men simply because they rarely owned a cell phone. 

With access to family planning provision disrupted by COVID-19, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) projects that up to 7 million unintended pregnancies occurred during the pandemic in low- and middle-income countries.

Period poverty has also increased substantially during the Covid-19 pandemic, with 47% of girls and women in 160 countries having experienced more difficulties in getting period products during the pandemic.

The abduction, rape and murder of British woman Sarah Everard by a serving Metropolitan police officer in London in March 2021 shocked the country and led hundreds of women to defy pandemic lockdown instructions and protest for greater protection on the streets of the capital and beyond. The Twitter tag #SheWasOnlyWalkingHome held by many of the protestors highlighted the scale of the anger, fear, and sexual harassment many women experience going about their daily lives. 

Since a first two-word hashtag #MeToo went viral, in less than 24 hours in October 2017, the organisation has grown into a self-described global ‘revolution’ to end sexual violence. Their latest report focuses on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sexual abuse survivors of colour. Key findings include that “Women survivors who reported likelihood of returning to an abusive partner [during COVID-19] had fewer than half the financial resources on average than women who reported no likelihood of returning to an abusive partner.”

Gender-based violence is not only devastating for survivors and their families, but also entails significant social and economic costs, according to the World Bank. 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.

EXAMPLES OF IMPACTFUL INITIATIVES

• Violence against women and girls is rooted in gender-based discrimination and social norms and gender stereotypes that perpetuate such violence. UN Women, in partnership with the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) has developed a global non-formal early education curriculum to engage young boys and girls in efforts to prevent and end violence against girls and women.

• In El Salvador, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has established and supported seven assistance centers for both juvenile and adult victims of gender-based violence, providing services ranging from medical treatment and psychological counseling to legal representation and vocational training. 

• In the United States, the Madison Metropolitan School District has developed a programme to combat bullying and harassment by fostering empathy and inclusion. It mirrors what’s going on both nationally and abroad, like in Iceland, where schools are increasingly incorporating their gender-equality teaching in early years, to give students the chance to think about inclusion and diversity as they’re learning to read, write, and solve math problems.

• In December 2019, the Spotlight Initiative, an EU-UN coalition to end gender-based violence against girls and women, supported the launch of the Alternative Economic Livelihood programme in Grand Cape Mount County, in Liberia. The programme teaches new skills to traditional FGM (Female Genital Mutilation) practitioners who earn their living by operating bush schools but want to stop performing these mutilations, providing an alternative source of income to replace FGM.