November 25 globally marks the day dedicated to the awareness of violence towards women. A perpetually relevant issue, this day is meant to raise women’s voices and condemn all forms of trauma imposed on women including but not limited to domestic abuse and sexual assault. The United Nations defines violence against women as "any act of gender-based violence that results in or is likely to result in, physical, sexual, or psychological violence which includes a range of controlling behavior such as finance, isolation from family members, humiliation, bullying. including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life."

Whether at home, on the streets or workplace violence against women takes place in public and private places.

Forms of Violence against Women

Sexual violence

•    Globally, 6 percent of women report they have been subjected to sexual violence from someone other than their husband or partner.
•    15 million adolescent girls worldwide, aged 15–19 years, have experienced forced sex. 
•    In the Middle East and North Africa, 40–60 percent of women have experienced street-based sexual harassment.

Intimate partner violence

•    Almost 26 percent of Jordanian wives ages 15 to 49 have been abused by their husbands, while only 1 percent of husbands have been abused by their wives, according to statistics published by the Department of Statistics (DoS).

Impact of Violence: For the women affected, violence can result in physical, psychological, and\ or social consequences or even death. This also applies to sexualized violence. They include physical injuries, infertility, sexually transmitted diseases, trauma, depression, anxiety, or panic attacks. Women who have experienced sexualized violence can pass on the traumatic experience to their children and grandchildren subconsciously as transgenerational trauma in the form of anxieties, stress, and defensive responses. 

 Prevention of Violence against Women: More programs are required which intend to address battered women's needs, including those that focus on building self-efficacy and livelihood skills. Mental health professionals have the potential to train people to address the needs of victims of domestic violence. Our hospital provides psychosocial support and psychological interventions for survivors of intimate partner violence and social empowerment programs, working with couples to improve communication and relationship skills.

Normalize the idea of seeking professional help and psychotherapy to cope with the different forms of trauma. We are here to help!

Resources

World Health Organization, on behalf of the United Nations Inter-Agency Working Group on Violence Against Women Estimation and Data (2021). Violence against women prevalence estimates, 2018. Global, regional and national prevalence estimates for intimate partner violence against women and global and regional prevalence estimates for non-partner sexual violence against women.

UNICEF (2017). A Familiar Face: Violence in the lives of children and adolescents, p. 73, 82.

Promundo and UN Women (2017). Understanding Masculinities: Results from the International Men and Gender Equality Survey (IMAGES) – Middle East and North Africa, p. 16.

UNODC (2020). Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2020, p. 31, 36.

 United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Statistics Division (2020). Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.

Global and regional estimates of violence against women, WHO, 2013;

Global Study on Homicide 2019, UNODC, 2019