Violence against women

- In a WHO study, 30% of women experienced violence from an intimate partner.
- In the same WHO study, 7.2% of women reported non-partner sexual assault.
- Violence against women has adverse effects on victims' physical and mental health.
- Societal responses include restraining orders and mandatory arrest policies.
- More effective interventions are needed to reduce sexual violence against women.

Violence against women causes suffering and misery to victims and their families and places a heavy burden on societies worldwide. It mostly happens within intimate relationships or between people known to each other. Violence against women is a social construction based on a societal consensus about the roles and rights of men and women. Two prevalent forms of violence against women are physical and sexual victimization by an intimate partner, and sexual victimization outside intimate relationships. Explanations of why men engage in aggressive behavior toward women address different levels, including the macro level of society, the micro level of dyadic interactions, and the individual level of perpetrator characteristics. Prevention efforts are needed that address each of these levels.