The UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women defines violence against women as ‘any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life’ (1993).
Violence against women, based on the fact that they are women, can occur in the private sphere—for example, within the family—or in the public sphere, including the community, educational institutions, health entities, or work and recreational places.
This includes sexual abuse, sexual harassment and intimidation, exploitation, female genital mutilation and other traditional practices that are harmful for women, forced prostitution, kidnapping and torture, trafficking of women, rape, dowry-associated violence, and the violence exercised or tolerated by the State. Femicide represents the maximum expression of this type of violence.
This term is often used interchangeably with gender-based violence. However, the preferred use is violence against women or gender-based violence against women because they are included in international human rights instruments and they indicate the subject of rights referred to.