Inhalt: Violence against women is a structural and global phenomenon that knows no social, economic or national boundaries. It is a serious violation of human rights, most drastic form of discrimination on the grounds of gender and remains widely unsanctioned. Every day in Europe, women are psychologically, physically and sexually abused in the “safety” of their own homes, stalked, harassed, raped, mutilated, forced by their family to enter into marriage, or sterilised against their will. The revelations of the #MeToo movement across Europe cast a light on the extent of sexual abuse of women and the difficulty for women to speak out
against it1.
The concept of violence against women has been widely recognized since the 1990s in international normative acts concerning human rights. It has been adopted as a legal concept at all levels of the international legal system. The phenomenon is acknowledged in the universal legal system of the United Nations, covering practically all countries of the world, as well as in the regional legal systems of the Council of Europe and the European Union.
Gender-based violence and violence against women are terms that are often used interchangeably as it has been widely acknowledged that most gender-based violence is inflicted on women and girls, by men. However, using the ‘gender-based’ aspect is important as it highlights the fact that many forms of violence against women are not examples of random victimization but are rooted in power inequalities between women and men and
strategies to perpetuate or entrench that inequality2.
Gender-based violence is violence directed against a person because of their gender or one that disproportionally affects persons of a particular gender. The majority of victims are women and girls, although men and transgender people also experience violence, especially where they transgress stereotypical gender norms 3.
Schlagwörter:Antidiskriminierung; Belästigung; gender-based violence; Gewalt gegen Frauen; good practice; harassment
CEWS Kategorie:Europa und Internationales, Sexuelle Belästigung und Gewalt
Dokumenttyp:Graue Literatur, Bericht