One out of every three women worldwide will be physically, sexually, or otherwise abused during her lifetime. This is unfair, unjust and a violation of basic human rights.

The International Violence Against Women Act (I-VAWA) would make ending gender-based violence a priority for U.S. foreign policy and international assistance. So every girl and woman can enjoy a life free of violence and abuse.

GET THE FACTS

Violence against women and girls is a global epidemic that affects the health and economic stability of women, their families, and their communities.  This violence is a violation of basic human rights.  It’s immoral and it happens every single day.  Right now, women are being beaten and killed by their husbands, children are being trafficked for sex, and girls are being forced to trade sex for food.  Violence against women and girls undermines our security, impedes efforts to promote peace and prosperity, and denies women and girls their dignity and their chance to live safe, productive lives.  It affects every aspect of the lives of women and girls – from personal health and safety, to the safety of their families, to their ability to earn a living.

• The United Nations Development Fund for Women estimates that at least one of every three women globally will be beaten, raped, or otherwise abused during her lifetime.  In most cases, the abuser is a member of her own family.[1]
• Sexual violence is a pervasive global health and human rights problem.  In some countries, approximately one in four women and girls over age 15 may experience sexual violence by an intimate partner at some points in their lives, and rates of sexual abuse by non-partners range from one to 12 percent over the course of a woman’s lifetime.[2]
• A 2005 World Health Organization study found that of 15 sites in ten countries – representing diverse cultural settings – the proportion of ever-partnered women who had experienced physical or sexual intimate partner violence in their lifetime ranged from 15 percent in Japan to 71 percent in Ethiopia.  At least one in five women reporting physical abuse had never before told anyone about it.[3]
• Violence and the threat of violence against women contributes to the spread of HIV/AIDS.  Numerous studies indicate that violence dramatically increases the vulnerability of women and girls to HIV/AIDS by making it difficult or impossible for them to abstain from sex, get their partners to be faithful, or use a condom.  Women account for half of all people living with HIV worldwide, and nearly 60 percent of HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa. Over the last 10 years, the proportion of women among people living with HIV has remained stable globally, but has increased in many regions.[4]
• An estimated 100 to 140 million girls and women worldwide are currently living with the consequences of female genital mutilation or cutting, with the majority of these instances taking place in Africa and the Middle East.[5]
• Sexual violence and rape have been used during armed conflict to torture, injure and degrade women, and have been a feature of recent conflicts around the world, including those in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Darfur region of Sudan, Rwanda, and the former Yugoslavia.  In 2008, the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution that declares rape and sexual violence to be weapons of war, and demanded an end to sexual violence against civilians in armed conflicts around the world.  The resolution says, in part, that sexual violence is being used as “a tactic of war to humiliate, dominate, instill fear in, disperse and/or forcibly relocate” civilians in certain ethnic groups and communities. [6]

• Gender-based violence can interfere with women’s ability to maintain economic stability.  In Managua, Nicaragua, for example, women who reported abuse earned 46 percent less than women who did not, after taking into account other factors that could affect earnings. [7]  It can also affect women’s access to employment. A survey in India showed that one incident of violence caused women to lose an average of seven working days. [8]
• Asset control can give women greater bargaining power within households and help protect against the risk of domestic violence. Research conducted in Kerala, India by the International Center for Research on Women found that, of 502 women interviewed, only seven percent of women who owned both land and a house reported experiencing physical violence, compared to seven times as many(49 percent) of women with no property. [9]
• Microfinance programs may provide women the economic stability and self-empowerment necessary to allow them to leave abusive relationships or limit the occurrence of violence in their relationships.  In rural South Africa, the IMAGE microfinance project reduced the levels of past year intimate partner physical and sexual violence by more than half for women participants.[10]

Voters Want the U.S. to Address Global Violence

• Public opinion research conducted for the Family Violence Prevention Fund and Women Thrive Worldwide by Lake Research Partners in 2009 found that that the majority of voters (61 percent) say addressing global violence should be one of the top priorities for the United States government. One in four voters says it should be the top priority.[11]
• It also found that voters across demographic and party lines strongly support the International Violence Against Women Act (I-VAWA). Eight in ten voters (82 percent) express support for the bill, and six in ten (62 percent) express intense support.  This legislation maintains salience with voters when compared to other foreign policy priorities like promoting democracy and trade, fighting corruption abroad, and reconstructing Iraq and Afghanistan. [12]