Gender-Based Violence

This collection of articles on gender-based violence (GBV) is aimed at development and humanitarian practitioners, policy makers, and academics. This book brings together some of the most interesting and innovative work being done to tackle GBV in various sectors, world regions, and socio-political contexts. Take as a whole, the articles cover a wide range of manifestations of GBV. These include femicide or the murder of women because they are women, domestic and sexual violence, female genital mutilation or cutting (FGM/FGC), the sexual exploitation of girls at school, and trafficking for prostitution. The localities covered are in South and East Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, and Central America. In many countries, there is little or no political will to address manifestations of GBV despite, or perhaps because of, its prevalence. Deep-seated and pervasive attitudes that condone or encourage GBV constitute, linked, factor that perpetuates indifference and inaction. These obstacles to change are mentioned in many of the chapters here. Several point out the necessity of working on both national, political levels and on personal levels in order to end the GBV pandemic.