Violence against women

Violence Against Women (VAW) describes types of abuse and violent acts that are primarily or exclusively experienced by women (also known as gender based violence).

The United Nations defines ‘Violence against Women’, as a ‘form of discrimination against women and a violation of human rights and shall mean all acts of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life’.

The main categories of abuse under the category of Violence Against Women are:

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)

FGM is illegal in the UK under the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003

Femicide

Femicide is generally understood to involve intentional murder of women because they are women, but broader definitions include any killings of women or girls

Forced Marriage (FM)

A forced marriage is where one or both people do not (or in cases of people with learning disabilities, cannot) consent to the marriage and pressure or abuse is used

'Honour' Based Abuse (HBA)

'Honour' Based Abuse (HBA) is a violent crime or incident which may have been committed to protect or defend the honour of the family or community