Violence against women

Abstract

Over the past three decades, women's organizations have created a paradigm shift in understanding and acting to end violence against women. Where gender-based violence was once confined to whispers and silent suffering, it is now part of the public agenda. Women's groups and networks have insisted that violence against women is not only a crime; it is a violation of women's human rights. Rape, for example, is not an "affront to a woman's chastity" but rather a profound violation of her bodily integrity and her right to dignity, security, and freedom from discrimination. This article examines a recent assessment of initiatives to end violence against women that was conducted in 2002 by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and connected to current research, advocacy, and antiviolence organizing.