Understanding Gender-Based Violence: Definitions and Global Manifestations

Gender-based violence affects millions of women and girls worldwide, yet its scope extends far beyond individual acts of harm. Understanding this violence requires examining not just physical attacks, but the deep-seated systems and cultural practices that enable and perpetuate it. Globally, about one in three women have been subjected to physical or sexual violence in their lifetime, making this a critical issue that demands our attention.

Defining violence beyond physical force 🔗

When most people think of violence, they picture physical assault. But violence encompasses much more. The United Nations defines gender-based violence as any act that results in physical, sexual, or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats, coercion, or arbitrary deprivation of liberty. This expanded understanding recognizes that improper treatment and verbal abuse constitute forms of violence that can be equally damaging.

Violence operates at multiple levels. At the macro level, it manifests in nation-states through discriminatory laws and policies. At the micro level, it occurs within intimate relationships and family structures. Both forms systematically destroy individuals to protect the interests of privileged groups. This violence doesn’t happen randomly-it’s embedded in social arrangements that put certain people, particularly women, in harm’s way.

The patriarchal foundation of gender violence 🔗

Gender-based violence has deep roots in patriarchal systems. Patriarchy refers to a social structure in which men hold primary power and dominance over women and other genders, with this dominance reinforced through cultural norms, laws, and institutional practices. Over centuries, the institutionalization of patriarchal ideology has increased gender-based violence, making it seem normal or acceptable in many contexts.

For many women globally, sexual violence by men forms a part of their lived experience. This violence maintains unequal power relationships between genders. Feminist movements have diagnosed patriarchy as a systemic cause of violence, linking it to intersecting oppressions such as capitalism, racism, and institutional inequality. These interconnected systems work together to sustain gender-based violence across different spheres of life.

How patriarchal norms shape violence 🔗

Patriarchal norms create expectations about male authority and female subordination. Within families, these norms often legitimize male control, sometimes to the extent that women are expected to be subservient to their husbands or fathers. This power dynamic can lead to various forms of abuse-domestic violence, emotional manipulation, and sexual coercion-all justified by the belief that men have natural authority over women.

Economic dependency plays a crucial role in sustaining this violence. Women employed in low-wage jobs with fewer legal protections face workplace harassment and exploitation. This economic vulnerability creates a cycle where women’s ability to resist or escape violent situations becomes severely limited.

Cultural forms of gender-based violence 🔗

Gender construction varies across cultures, and so does the violence that stems from it. Different societies have developed distinct practices that harm women and girls, all rooted in patriarchal beliefs about controlling female bodies and sexuality. These practices persist because they’re justified through cultural or religious traditions, even when they cause severe harm.

Examples from around the world 🔗

In historical China, foot binding was practiced for centuries, causing permanent disability in the name of beauty and marriageability. In India, bride burning and female feticide continue to claim lives. In several Arab countries, high rates of domestic violence remain normalized. Each of these practices emerges from specific cultural contexts but shares a common thread: the belief that women’s bodies can and should be controlled.

The normalization of such violence means that practices like wife-beating become accepted within communities. Sexual violence is used deliberately to maintain patriarchal social order, keeping women in subordinate positions. Cultural norms of male dominance, social stigma around divorce, and economic dependency on spouses put women in more vulnerable positions to violence.

Structural roots: subordination and power 🔗

Structural gender-based violence is rooted in women’s subordination, power execution, and class interests. Unlike interpersonal violence that occurs between individuals, structural violence is embedded in social, political, and economic organization. Structural violence creates unequal access to determinants of health such as housing, healthcare, employment, and education, which then creates conditions where interpersonal violence can occur.

This structural dimension means that violence against women isn’t just about individual bad actors. It’s maintained through institutions, laws, and social norms that privilege men and disadvantage women. For instance, discriminatory laws about property ownership, inheritance, or divorce can trap women in abusive situations. Lack of access to education or employment limits women’s options for independence.

Intersecting forms of oppression 🔗

Gender-based violence doesn’t affect all women equally. Women from marginalized racial and ethnic communities face disproportionate rates of both structural and interpersonal violence. Black and Indigenous women in many parts of the world experience higher rates of sexual violence, human trafficking, and police brutality. Their experiences of violence are shaped not only by gender but also by their marginalized status within racialized and class-based hierarchies.

Female genital operations: tradition and colonialism 🔗

Female genital mutilation represents one of the most severe forms of gender-based violence. An estimated 230 million girls and women alive today have undergone some form of female genital mutilation, with no health benefits and only serious risks to physical and mental wellbeing.

The practice involves partial or total removal of external female genitalia or other injury to female genital organs for non-medical reasons. More than 230 million girls and women have undergone this procedure in 30 countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, mostly performed on young girls between infancy and age 15.

Cultural justifications and colonial legacies 🔗

Communities that practice female genital mutilation offer various justifications. Some see it as a rite of passage into womanhood. Others believe it ensures virginity before marriage and fidelity afterward. Hygiene and aesthetic reasons are sometimes cited. In many communities, the practice is mistakenly believed to be a religious requirement, though no religious texts actually mandate it.

The case of Fauziya Kasinga, who fled to the United States to escape female genital mutilation, highlights how this practice intersects with colonial dominance and patriarchal tradition. Like sati in India or foot binding in China, these practices are products of both long-standing cultural traditions and the power structures that maintain them. Colonial powers often used such practices to justify their dominance, portraying colonized societies as backward, while simultaneously failing to address violence against women in their own societies.

Health consequences 🔗

The health impacts of female genital mutilation are severe and lifelong. Immediate complications include severe pain, hemorrhage, infections, and urinary problems. Long-term consequences include chronic pelvic pain, complications during childbirth, psychological trauma, and sexual dysfunction. Women who have undergone this procedure face significantly greater risks during childbirth, including prolonged labor and stillbirth.

Despite these dangers, the practice persists because social benefits are perceived as higher than health risks. Families fear their daughters will be unmarriageable if they don’t undergo the procedure. This social pressure makes it difficult for individual families to abandon the practice, even when they want to protect their daughters.

Moving toward change 🔗

Understanding gender-based violence as both cultural and structural is essential for creating effective interventions. Change requires challenging the patriarchal systems that normalize violence, addressing the economic and legal structures that trap women in vulnerable positions, and working with communities to transform harmful cultural practices.

The global movement against female genital mutilation shows that change is possible. Many communities have made collective declarations to abandon the practice. Religious leaders who once endorsed it now actively condemn it. Legal frameworks in multiple countries now explicitly ban the procedure. These changes demonstrate that cultural practices can evolve when communities understand the harm they cause and when safer alternatives exist.

What do you think? How can communities balance respect for cultural traditions with protection of women’s and girls’ human rights? What role should international organizations play in addressing practices like female genital mutilation while avoiding cultural imperialism?

References

1. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/violence-against-women
2. https://gender.study/gender-based-violence/patriarchy-gender-roles-fuel-violence/
3. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/political-science/articles/10.3389/fpos.2025.1584792/full
4. https://bmcwomenshealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12905-015-0256-4
5. https://bmcwomenshealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12905-015-0247-5
6. https://www.unfpa.org/resources/female-genital-mutilation-fgm-frequently-asked-questions
7. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/female-genital-mutilation