Abstract
This paper describes the definition of violence against women and how it affects society. It also discusses common forms of individual violence against women in the world such as sexual assault, intimate partner abuse (also known as domestic violence), murder, and other legal and cultural customs which physically harm women. This paper also describes societal violence against women, structural forms of discrimination or depravation that affect women as a class. Introduction

This paper reviews individual and societal forms of violence against women that occur in the United States and throughout the world. Its purpose is to assist readers in recognizing and managing these phenomena and to encourage them to advocate locally and nationally for solutions to violence issues facing women worldwide.

Violence against women is a technical term used to refer to violent acts which are primarily committed against women. Similar to a hate crime, this type of violence targets a specific group with the victim's gender as a primary motive. It includes physical, emotional, economic, financial, sexual, and spiritual abuse due to their gender. The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1993, defines violence against women as “any act of gender based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual, or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life”. It encompasses, but is not limited to, “physical, sexual and psychological violence occurring in the family, including battering, sexual abuse of female children in the household, dowry related violence, marital rape, female genital mutilation and other traditional practices harmful to women (World Health Organization, 1997).
The Violence Against Women Act (“VAWA”) is a landmark piece of legislation that sought to improve criminal justice and community-based responses to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking in the United States. VAWA was drafted by US Senator Biden and was signed by President Clinton on September 13, 1994. The bill provided $1.6 billion to enhance investigation and prosecution of violent crimes perpetuated against women and imposed automatic and mandatory restitution on those convicted. It also allowed civil redress in cases prosecutors chose to leave unprosecuted.

VAWA also supports community-based organizations to include those that provide culturally and linguistically specific services. The American Civil Liberties Union stated, “VAWA is one of the most effective pieces of legislation enacted to end domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking. It has dramatically improved the law enforcement response to violence against women and has provided critical services necessary to support women and children in their struggles to overcome abusive situations” (www.aclu.org/womenrights/violence). This bill has also been described as the greatest breakthrough in civil rights for women in nearly two decades. It was reauthorized by Congress in 2000 and in 2005 – it is up for reauthorization this year.

Violence against anyone is unacceptable. Violence experienced by women, however, represents a unique aspect of the wider social problem of violence and requires specific attention and solutions. Cities and communities which are safe and free from violence against women help to create equal opportunities for men and women. When they are safe and comfortable, public spaces in cities and communities offer countless possibilities for the participation of women and girls in the areas of work, education, politics, and recreation. The creation of safe cities and communities for women and girls depends on the elimination of the violence and insecurity that prevent women and girls from using public spaces freely as citizens with equal human rights to opportunity and safety.

When women and girls perceive that their environment is threatening, they are limited in their use and enjoyment of public spaces because they avoid places that make them feel unsafe (Viswanath and Mehrotra, 2007). As a result, streets, squares, parks, and neighborhoods are often used more by men and boys than by women and girls. This reality contributes to unfair assumptions that women and girls should always be afraid and they are treated as “weak”, “helpless”, and “vulnerable”. This makes women and girls victims of fear, as well as victims of violence (Falú, 2007). Despite many protocols, policies and increased global awareness about violence against women and girls, these forms of violence and their effects remain underestimated and are not sufficiently taken into account by governments and civil society.

Also, to date, violence against women is not generally considered to be a component of urban violence. This means that programs which are designed to eradicate urban violence fail to address violence against women. Positive effects of safe cities and communities programs include:

• Improved recognition of the rights of women and girls
• Increased women’s independence
• Widespread recognition of the fact that unequal relations of power between men and women are a main cause and consequence of violence against women.
• Widespread recognition of the fact that violence against women is an obstacle for the development of cities and communities
• Widespread recognition and assessment of the impact of violence against women and girls in cities, including its economic costs. For instance, each year, cities spend millions of dollars in police, health and victim services related to women’s experiences and fear of violence in public space.

Some historians believe that the history of violence against women is tied to the history of women being viewed as property and a gender role assigned to be subservient to men and also other women. Violence strikes women from all kinds of backgrounds and of all ages. It can happen at work, on the street, or at home. Behaviors included in the broad category of violence against women include homicide, intimate partner abuse, psychological abuse, dating violence, same-sex violence, elder abuse, sexual assault, date rape, acquaintance rape, marital rape, stranger rape, and economic abuse.

Sexual assault is any type of sexual activity that you do not agree to include inappropriate touching, vaginal, anal or oral penetration, sexual intercourse that you say no to, rape, attempted rape, and child molestation. Sexual assault can be verbal, visual, or anything that forces a person to join in unwanted sexual contact or attention. Some examples comprise of when someone watches private sexual acts, when someone exposes him/herself in public, incest, and sexual harassment. It can happen in different situations – in the home by someone you know, on a date, or by a stranger in an isolated place.

Rape is a common form of sexual assault. Rape and sexual assault are never the victim’s fault, no matter where or how it happens. Forcible sex offenses are described as rape, sodomy, and sexual assault with an object and forcible fondling. Non-forcible sex offenses are described as incest and statutory rape. (www.vastatepolice.com)

The main focus of violence against women by male intimate partners includes physical and sexual violence, emotional abuse, and controlling behaviors by current partners or ex-partners. The area which is most concentrated on when a report is made is the physical and sexual abuse particular when assessing the associations with health consequences because of the difficulty quantifying emotional abuse consistently across cultures.

This result indicates that violence by a male partner (also called domestic violence) is wide spread in all countries. However, there is a great deal of variation from country to country and from setting to setting within the same country. Whereas there is variation by age, by marital status, and by educational status, these socio-demographic factors do not account for the differences found between settings.
The proportion of every partnered woman who had ever experienced physical or sexual violence or both, by an intimate partner in their lifetime, ranged from 15% to 71%, with most sites falling between 29%and 62%. Women in Japan were least likely to have ever experienced physical or sexual violence, or both, by an intimate partner. However, the greatest amount of violence was reported by women living in provincial settings in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Peru, and the United Republic of Tanzania. The partner violence in the past year figures ranged from 4% in Japan and Serbia and Montenegro to 54% in Ethiopia.

How physical and sexual violence is measured:
• Being slapped or having something thrown at a person
• Being pushed or shoved
• Being hit with a fist
• Being kicked, dragged, or beaten up
• Being choked or burned on purpose
• Being threatened with a gun, knife, or other weapon
The most act of violence experienced by women is being slapped by their partner. In most places, between 11% and 21% of women report being hit by a partner with his fist. (www.who.it)

As in the U.S., women in the developing world suffer verbal, emotional, physical and sexual abuse. There is at least one woman in three, worldwide, who has been beaten, forced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime. In countries such as Bangladesh, Cambodia, Mexico and Zimbabwe, many see wife-beating as justified. In rural Egypt, up to 81% of women say that wife-beating is justified under certain circumstances. In the developing world, resources for victims are often extremely limited. For example, Mexico City, the most heavily populated city in the world, has only one shelter for battered women.

Other types of individual violence against women noted more frequently in the developing world than in the U.S., include dowry-related murder, bride-burning, forced abortion and sterilization, divorce restrictions, forced prostitution, and child prostitution. Even so, an estimated 300,000 children under age 18 work in the sex trade in North American; their exploitation fuels a $7 billion-a-year industry. One to two million women and girls are being trafficked annually around the world for the purposes of forced labor, forced prostitution, servile domestic labor, or involuntary marriage. Selective abortion, malnutrition, and killing of female children is not uncommon, and may account for the ratio of male to female births in China being 1.1:1.0, and for higher infant mortality rates among girls in numerous poorer nations. Some women use suicide as “vengeance” against an abusive spouse. Others commit post-rape suicide or are killed by friends or relatives to “cleanse the family honor” after a rape. These types of killings constitute 47% of homicides in Alexandria, Egypt.

The World Health Organization reports that violence against women puts an undue burden on health care services with women who have suffered violence being more likely to need health services and at higher cost, compared to women who have not suffered violence. Several studies have shown a link between poor treatment of women and international violence. These studies show that one of the best predictors of inter- and intra-national violence is the maltreatment of women in the society. (www.who.org)

Violence against women also has an impact on our children. According to the Family Violence Prevention Fund, "growing up in a violent home may be a terrifying and traumatic experience that can affect every aspect of a child's life, growth and development. Children who have been exposed to family violence suffer symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, such as bed-wetting or nightmares and were at greater risk than their peers of having allergies, asthma, gastrointestinal problems, headaches and flu. In addition, women who experience physical abuse as children are at a greater risk of victimization as adults, and men have a far greater (more than double) likelihood of perpetrating abuse. Finally, violence against women has an impact on health and social services. The Centers for Disease Control estimates the cost of domestic violence in 2003 was more than over $8.3 billion. This cost includes medical care, mental health services, and lost productivity.

Regrettably, the availability of domestic violence shelters in the United States is poor, with up to 70% to 80% of women and 80% of children turned away on any given night in major cities. Over 50% of all homeless women and children become homeless as a direct result of fleeing domestic violence.

References
Violence Against Women, http://www.who.int/gender/violence/v4.pdf
World Health Organization (definition of VAG) www.vastatepolice.com http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breast_ironing (www.aclu.org/womenrights/violence).
(Viswanath and Mehrotra, 2007
Falú, 2007