Stop The Violence Against Women

Yesterday was 25th of November, in other words International Day of the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Women's activists have marked 25 November as a day against violence since 1981. This date came from the brutal assassination in 1960, of the three Mirabal sisters, political activists in the Dominican Republic, on orders of Dominican ruler Rafael Trujillo (1930-1961).

"Violence against women has been increasing at an alarming rate. According top UNIFEM, up to six out of every ten women experience physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetime around the world. It further maintains that violence against women and girls has far-reaching consequences, harming families and communities. “For women and girls aged 16-44 years old, violence is a major cause of death and disability,” it states.

The following are some of the facts of violence meted on women compiled by Amnesty International and Feminist.com from various researches done by individuals and/or organizations all over the world:

• An estimated 50,000 women and children are trafficked into the United States annually for sexual exploitation or labor (US Central Intelligence Agency, 2000).


• One in five women will be a victim of rape or attempted rape in her lifetime (WHO 1997).


• In USA a woman is raped every 90 seconds (US Department of Justice, 2000).


• Somewhere in America a woman is battered, usually by her intimate partner, every 15 seconds (UN Study on the Status of Women, Year 2000).


• Up to 70% of female murder victims are killed by their male partners (WHO 2008).


• In Kenya more than one woman a week was reportedly killed by her male partner while in Zambia, five women a week were murdered by a male partner or family member (Joni Seager, 2003).


• In the Russian Federation 36,000 women are beaten on a daily basis by their husband or partner, according to Russian non-governmental organizations (OMTC, 2003).


• More than 135 million girls and women have undergone female genital mutilation and an additional 2 million girls and women are at risk each year (6,000 everyday) (A, UN, 2002).


• 82 million girls who are now aged 10 to 17 will be married before their 18th birthday (UNFP).


• In India there are close to 15,000 dowry deaths estimated per year. Mostly they are kitchen knives designed to look like accidents (Injustice Studies, Vol. 1, November 1997).


• 4 million women and girls are trafficked annually.


• An estimated one million children, mostly girls, enter the sex trade each year (UNICEF).


• A study in Zaria, Nigeria found out that 16 per cent of hospital patients treated for sexually transmitted infections were younger than five (UNFPA)."

suite101