"To progress in reducing this highly prevalent and impactful form of abuse, we must acknowledge the clear and consistent evidence for IPV being both examined and addressed as a gender-based issue. Women and girls are more likely to be killed by male partners than any other class of individuals—a finding consistent across every study in every national context (e.g., Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2007; Tjaden & Thoennes, 2000). Women and girls are more likely to be injured than men and boys due to violence from a partner, again, across each and every study on this topic (e.g., Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2007; Tjaden & Thoennes, 2000). Another universal finding is the far greater prevalence of sexual violence against women and girls from intimate partners (Tjaden & Thoennes, 2000). Large numbers of women and girls seek care in emergency rooms for injuries due to violence from a male partner (Biroscak, Smith, Roznowski, Tucker, & Carlson, 2006; Schafer, Drach, Hedberg, & Kohn, 2008); however, no documentation exists of partner violence from female partners as the source of a significant portion of emergency department visits by men or boys. The noninjury-related health burdens suffered by women and girls experiencing violence from male partners, particularly regarding adolescent andunintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infection (STI)/HIV, are also extremely well documented (e.g., Decker, Silverman, & Raj, 2005; Raj, Reed, Welles, & Silverman, 2008; Silverman, Raj, & Clements, 2004; Silverman, Raj, Mucci, & Hathaway, 2001). Thus, it is clear why the WHO and other major health authorities describe IPV as gender based, with the vast burden in regards to health, development, and economic security borne by women and girls (Heise & Garcia-Moreno, 2002; Tjaden & Thoennes, 2000; WHO, 2003). Such leading public health institutions frame this phenomenon unambiguously as rooted in the social construction of being female, both in the United States and most all other nations (i.e., deprivation of social and economic status and consequent power within sexual relationships, families, and communities; Anderson, Simpson-Taylor,& Hermann, 2004; Murnen, Wright, & Kaluzny, 2002; Santana, Raj, Decker, La Marche, & Silverman, 2006)."
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Gender-based violence
"Gender violence is perpetuated by cultural beliefs and norms based on the devaluation of women; and legitimized, obscured or denied by familial and social institutions. Abusive acts are typically characterized as horrible or tragic events, or resulting from bad luck or bad judgment, or being in the wrong place at the wrong time; when in fact gender violence is a historical, universal problem. It is often experienced in the context of additional oppressions based on race, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, type of labor performed, level of education, class position, disability, and/or immigration or refugee status.
Violence against women and girls occurs across the lifecourse. It employs a constellation of physical, sexual, economic, and emotional abuses that establish a climate of fear and result in severe physical and psychological injuries. It is the most extreme expression of sexism and misogyny; accompanied by gendered harms that leave women and girls bearing the socio-cultural burdens of shame, humiliation, and victim-blaming.
And yet, cultures of resistance spring up continually to counter cultures of violence. Survivors, victims, families, communities, anti-violence advocates and social justice activists engage in resistance, community organizing and changing cultures of patriarchy to build violence-free lives and establish gender equity.”
Asian & Pacific Islander Institute on Domestic Violence website
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Note: This page was created as pre-reading for the Auckland Regional Networking Meeting, Family and Sexual Violence held at Western Springs in September 2012.