Forms of Gender-based Violence and Their Consequences

Bias in Infancy & Early Childhoo: The Case of the 'Missing' Girls

Sexual Abuse of Children and Adolescents

Female Genital Mutilation

Child Marriage

Adolescence

Reproductive Years

Rape & Coerced Pregnancy

Rape in Wartime

Post-menopausal Years

Effects on Reproductive Health Decision-making

Effects on the Economics of Reproductive Health and Family Planning Service Delivery

Policy Reform Process

"They liked to punish us. They would ask women if they had male relatives in the city; I saw them ask this of one woman, and they brought her 14- year-old son and forced him to rape her.... On [another] occasion, I was raped with a gun by one of the three men already in the room.... [O]thers stood watching. Some spat on us. They were raping me, the mother and her daughter at the same time. Sometimes you had to accept ten men, sometimes three.... I felt I wanted to die... the Serbs said to us ‘Why aren’t you pregnant?’ ...I think they wanted to know who was pregnant in case anyone was hiding it. They wanted women to have children to stigmatize us forever. The child is a reminder of what happened." -Anonymous, Bosnia. (Center for Reproductive Law and Policy. 1996. Rape and Forced Pregnancy in War and Conflict Situations.)

Post-menopausal Years

Women tend to live longer than men and generally have a longer period of chronic disabilities. In many cultures older women are completely dependent on other members in the community for support, leaving them vulnerable to abuse. In cultures where women have low socio-economic status and no property rights the problem is further aggravated. The seriousness of reproductive health morbidity among women in the post-menopausal stage of their life cycle is indicated by the prevalence of breast and cervical cancer, as well as osteoporosis. Moreover, older women usually suffer from extreme poverty, are exposed to physical abuse, and lack any form of support services catering to their special needs.