Violence Against Women: The Facts and How You Can Help Stop It!

It’s a scary statistic, but the World Health Organisation expects that 35 percent of women in the world will experience violence at some point in their lives and that estimate is comparable to the UK as well. The Crime Survey for England and Wales recently revealed that 30% of the adult female population, from the age of 16, has likely been subjected to some form of domestic violence.

Stock photo: copyright to Free Images.

To make the point even more salient, violence against women and girls aged 15 to 44 causes as much ill health and death as cancer.

What makes violence against women so common?

These types of cases are always complex, but violence often stems from an imbalance of power between men and women. In most places, rather than being condemned or demonised, violence against women is accepted as a normal part of life. Males grow up in cultures that make it seem socially acceptable and females are often conditioned to accept the abuse. In this, the cycle of violence is hard to break.

Trying to bring about change forces us rethink gender roles that have been in place for generations. These issues are sensitive, and are often difficult to discuss.

Bringing about change to end the violence

Change can happen, with a commitment to the following:

Providing services for women and girls - to help end violence against women, we need to have the services to help. Protection, financials and health-related are all need to help women recover form abuse

Education about proper gender relationships – there has to be a focus on improving awareness of the rights of girls and women. It begins by educating girls and boys in schools to help them understand healthy relationships

Creating national change – across nations, rights of women are often vastly different to that of men. To end the violence, we must protect the rights of women in law

Want to find out more about how you can support us in our work to violence against women? We all know that violence against women causes untold damage to individuals, families, communities and entire societies. It has to be addressed, both in the UK and abroad. At Plan UK, that is one of their many missions.