The United Nations’ Commission on the Status of Women recently released a report that includes data on gender-based violence. Here are seven sets of figures on violence against girls and women that are based on their data:
1. Recent global estimates show that 35 percent of women worldwide have experienced either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime. While there is some variation across regions, all regions have unacceptably high rates of violence against women.
2. Almost half of female homicide victims are killed by their intimate partner or family members (the figure for men is just over 1 in 20 homicide victims).
3. Data from developing countries show that 21 percent of women believe that a husband is justified in beating his wife if she argues with him. Similarly, 27 percent of women believe that a husband is justified in beating his wife if she neglects the children.
4. Women account for between 55 percent and 60 percent of all trafficking victims detected globally, and women and girls together account for some 75 percent. Moreover, the trafficking of children remains a serious problem, as 27 percent of all victims are children and, of every three child victims, two are girls and one is a boy.
5. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimated in 2013 that more than 125 million girls and women had undergone some form of female genital mutilation/cutting in 29 countries across Africa and the Middle East. Another 30 million girls were estimated to be at risk of being cut in the next decade.
6 Approximately one quarter of girls aged between 15 and 19 are victims of physical violence from the age of 15,149 and 120 million girls under 20, about 1 in 10, are subjected to sexual violence.
7. Early childbearing is commonly linked to non-consensual sex in contexts of sexual violence, exploitation and child, early and forced marriage. More than 16 million girls aged between 15 and 19 and some 1 million girls under the age of 15 give birth annually, mostly in low- and middle-income countries, the highest rate being in sub-Saharan Africa.
