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Violence against women has become a global public health problem

Violence against women is a global epidemic and the cause of major public health problems, international agencies have warned. The World Health Organisation estimates that at least one in five women has been physically or sexually abused by a man at some time in her life.

As the UK government prepared its national strategy against violence and the United Nations Commission on the status of women debated national and international measures to prevent gender violence, the independent organisation Panos estimated that violence against women causes more death and disability among women aged 15 to 44 than cancer, malaria, traffic accidents or even war.

But local community action in many countries around the world gives cause for hope, Panos says. In Peru, a network of women’s police stations staffed mainly by women officers has been set up to tackle domestic violence. In Nicaragua, women’s groups have campaigned successfully for a new bill to protect battered women from their husbands in their homes.

Judy Mirsky, director of the Panos reproductive health and gender programme, said: ‘A Masai woman in Kenya, who endured 13 years of abuse, recently defied tradition by taking her husband to court for wife-beating, and is now helping other women to follow her example.’

New laws against rape and domestic violence are being considered or have been passed in India, Uganda, the Bahamas, Chile and other countries, particularly in Latin America and the Caribbean.

However, UN member states still have major differences on how best to protect women’s rights. 30 countries have not ratified the UN convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women. 24 nations have lodges reservations against a core article of the convention which guarantees equality between men and women in marriage and family life.

But Panos points out that women everywhere are more at risk from husbands, fathers, neighbours or colleagues than they are from strangers. Each year in the UK, one in ten women is severely beaten by an intimate partner. The economic price, in terms of the cost to health and social services, is estimated at more than £1bn per year.

The intimate enemy: gender violence and reproductive health. Panos Institute: 0171 278 1111. panoslondon@gn.apc.org.