Gender-based violence as a sustainability problem

Abstract

The connection between gender-based violence and sustainable development remains under-researched, despite the fact that more than 30 percent of women worldwide have experienced physical and/or sexual violence. This article aims to address this research gap by foregrounding the connection between gender-based violence and sus-tainable development by examining a body of literature with a geographical focus on the Global South. To this end, it draws on two different approaches: the three dimen-sions of sustainability and the Sustainable Development Goals. Both approaches demonstrate, directly or indirectly, that gender-based violence negatively affects the path to sustainability by reducing a person’s potential, capabilities and well-being, thus hindering sustainable development.