International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women: A Global Call to Action Against Gender-Based Abuse

International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women: History, Significance and Global Response

The International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, observed annually on November 25th, represents a crucial global initiative to address one of the most pervasive human rights violations worldwide. This observance serves as both a somber reminder of the enduring struggle against gender-based violence and a rallying point for activists, governments, and international organizations committed to creating a safer world for women and girls. The day marks the beginning of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, an international campaign that extends until December 10th, Human Rights Day, symbolically linking the fight against gender-based violence with the broader framework of human rights protection. The significance of this day extends far beyond a mere date on the calendar; it represents a global commitment to confronting a deeply entrenched social ill that transcends national boundaries, cultural contexts, and socioeconomic statuses.

The historical roots of this international day of observance are both profound and tragic, tracing back to 1960 in the Dominican Republic during the brutal dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo. On November 25th of that year, three political activists known as the Mirabal sisters Patria, Minerva, and María Teresa were brutally assassinated by Trujillo's regime. Codenamed "Las Mariposas" (The Butterflies) in their underground resistance activities, the sisters had become influential figures in the opposition movement against Trujillo's oppressive rule. Their political activism and outspoken criticism of the dictatorship made them targets of state violence, culminating in their ambush and murder after visiting their imprisoned husbands. The public outrage generated by their deaths significantly eroded support for the Trujillo regime and contributed to its eventual downfall the following year, transforming the Mirabal sisters into powerful symbols of both resistance and the devastating impact of political violence targeting women.

The legacy of the Mirabal sisters resonated globally, inspiring women's rights activists to commemorate their sacrifice through annual observances. Beginning in 1981, activists at the Latin American and Caribbean Feminist Encuentros designated November 25th as a day to combat and raise awareness about violence against women, establishing a tradition that would eventually gain international recognition. This grassroots movement culminated in a formal United Nations designation in 1999, when the UN General Assembly officially established November 25th as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women through resolution 54/134. This resolution invited governments, international organizations, and non-governmental organizations to organize activities designed to raise public awareness of the issue on this date each year, creating a unified global platform for advocacy and action. The journey from tragic assassination to international observance illustrates how personal stories of resistance can transcend their immediate context to inspire global movements for social change.

The historical context of this observance is further enriched by earlier United Nations initiatives that laid the groundwork for international recognition of gender-based violence as a human rights issue. Despite the adoption of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) by the UN General Assembly in 1979, violence against women and girls remained a pervasive problem worldwide. In response, the General Assembly issued the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women through resolution 48/104 on December 20, 1993, paving the conceptual and political foundation for a world free of gender-based violence. This declaration represented a significant milestone in explicitly defining 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." The formal designation of November 25th as an international day of observance must therefore be understood as part of a broader, decades-long evolution in international human rights law and advocacy focused on gender equality.

The Global Prevalence and Impact of Violence Against Women

The scale of violence against women represents nothing short of a global epidemic, with statistics painting a devastating picture of its pervasive nature across all societies, cultures, and economic systems. According to a landmark 2025 report by the World Health Organization, nearly one in three women worldwide approximately 840 million women globally have experienced physical and/or sexual violence from an intimate partner or sexual violence from a non-partner at some point in their lives. This figure has remained stubbornly consistent since 2000, demonstrating an alarming lack of progress despite increased awareness and policy attention to the issue. Even more distressing are the statistics on recent violence, with 316 million women 11% of those aged 15 or older subjected to physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner in just the past 12 months alone. The progress in reducing intimate partner violence has been painfully slow, with only a 0.2% annual decline over the past two decades, a rate of change that would require centuries to eliminate the problem entirely at the current trajectory.

Table: Global Prevalence of Violence Against Women (WHO 2025 Report)

Type of Violence	Number of Women Affected	Percentage of Women
Lifetime intimate partner or sexual violence	840 million	Nearly 1 in 3
Past-year intimate partner violence	316 million	11%
Non-partner sexual violence since age 15	263 million	Significant under-reporting
Adolescent girls (15-19) past-year intimate partner violence	12.5 million	16%

For the first time, the 2025 WHO report included national and regional estimates of sexual violence by someone other than a partner, revealing that 263 million women have experienced non-partner sexual violence since age 15. Experts caution that this figure represents significant under-reporting due to stigma, fear of reprisal, and normalization of such violence in many societies. The report further highlights that violence against women begins early and persists throughout life, with adolescent girls facing particularly high risks. In the past 12 months alone, 12.5 million adolescent girls aged 15-19 representing 16% of this demographic experienced physical and/or sexual violence from an intimate partner. This early exposure to violence creates lifelong consequences, often establishing patterns of abuse that can continue across the lifespan and creating intergenerational cycles of violence that affect entire communities.

The geographic distribution of violence against women reveals significant regional disparities, though no country is immune. According to the WHO report, the past-year prevalence of intimate partner violence among ever-married or partnered women aged 15 years and older varies dramatically across regions. Oceania (excluding Australia and New Zealand) reports the highest prevalence at 38% more than three times the global average of 11%. This is followed by Central and Southern Asia at 18%, Sub-Saharan Africa at 17%, and Northern Africa and Western Asia at 14%. In contrast, Europe and Northern America report the lowest rates at 5%, though this still represents millions of affected women. These regional variations reflect complex interactions between socioeconomic factors, legal frameworks, cultural norms, and the availability of support services for survivors. Particularly concerning is the disproportionate impact on women in least-developed, conflict-affected, and climate-vulnerable settings, where existing vulnerabilities are exacerbated by institutional instability and limited access to resources.

The consequences of violence against women extend far beyond the immediate physical and psychological trauma, creating ripple effects that impact families, communities, and entire societies. Women subjected to violence face increased risks of unintended pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections, depression, and other mental health disorders. The economic costs are equally staggering, encompassing healthcare expenses, lost productivity, and the intergenerational impact on children who witness violence. According to UN Women, the pervasive nature of this violence means that every 10 minutes, a woman is killed by a partner or family member somewhere in the world, translating to approximately 50,000 women and girls killed annually by those closest to them. This stark reality underscores the urgent need for comprehensive approaches that address not only the immediate protection of women but also the underlying social, economic, and cultural factors that perpetuate such violence across generations and geographic boundaries.

Manifestations and Forms of Violence Against Women

Violence against women manifests in myriad forms, each inflicting distinct harms while collectively constituting a systemic pattern of gender-based oppression. Physical violence encompasses acts ranging from slapping and pushing to severe beatings, burns, and even femicide the gender-motivated killing of women. Sexual violence includes rape, forced sexual acts, sexual harassment, and various forms of coercion that violate women's bodily autonomy and integrity. Psychological violence comprises behaviors aimed at eroding women's self-esteem and sense of safety, including intimidation, constant belittling, isolation from friends and family, and controlling access to resources. Economic violence represents another pervasive form of abuse, involving the denial of financial resources, prohibition from working or attending school, and deliberate sabotage of economic opportunities that would enable financial independence. These traditional categories, while useful for conceptualizing different forms of abuse, often intersect and reinforce each other in the lived experiences of survivors, creating complex webs of control and domination that can be difficult to escape.

In recent years, digital violence has emerged as a rapidly growing threat with particularly severe implications for women in public life. The 2024 UNiTE campaign focused specifically on this form of violence, highlighting how digital tools are increasingly weaponized to stalk, harass, and abuse women and girls. This includes image-based abuse through the non-consensual sharing of intimate images often called "revenge porn" or "leaked nudes" which can cause devastating social, professional, and psychological harm. Other forms of digital violence include cyberbullying, trolling, online threats, hate speech, doxxing (publishing private information), online stalking, catfishing, impersonation, and participation in misogynistic networks such as incel forums and manosphere communities. Perhaps most alarmingly, advances in artificial intelligence have enabled new forms of abuse, including AI-generated deepfakes such as sexually explicit images and digitally manipulated content that can damage reputations and cause significant psychological distress. According to UN Women, an astonishing 90-95% of all online deepfakes are non-consensual pornographic images, with approximately 90% of these depicting women, highlighting the profoundly gendered nature of this emerging threat.

The impact of digital violence extends far beyond the online realm, often spilling over into offline consequences that can include coercion, physical abuse, and even femicide. The harm can be long-lasting, affecting survivors over prolonged periods and creating a chilling effect on women's participation in public life. This is particularly true for women with public profiles, such as politicians, activists, journalists, and human rights defenders, who are disproportionately targeted by coordinated digital attacks aimed at silencing their voices. UN Women reports that 73% of women journalists have experienced online violence, creating significant barriers to their professional work and potentially depriving societies of vital perspectives. Similarly, 38% of women have personally experienced online violence, while 85% have witnessed digital violence against others, indicating the normalization of such behaviors in digital spaces. Despite these alarming statistics, fewer than 40% of countries have laws specifically protecting women from cyber harassment or cyber stalking, leaving an estimated 1.8 billion women and girls 44% of the world's female population without access to legal protection from digital gender-based violence.

The phenomenon of violence against women is further complicated by intersectional vulnerabilities that compound risks for women facing multiple forms of discrimination. Women from marginalized communities including indigenous women, migrants, refugees, women with disabilities, and those belonging to racial, ethnic, or religious minorities often experience violence at higher rates and face additional barriers to seeking help and accessing services. The WHO report specifically notes significant data gaps concerning these marginalized groups, particularly in fragile and humanitarian settings, where existing vulnerabilities are exacerbated by conflict, displacement, and institutional breakdown. This intersectional understanding reveals that while gender-based violence affects women across all demographics, its manifestations, frequency, and impacts are shaped by a complex matrix of social, economic, and political factors that must be addressed through equally nuanced and targeted interventions. The continuum of violence that women experience across physical and digital spaces, compounded by intersecting forms of discrimination, underscores the need for comprehensive approaches that address the full spectrum of gender-based violence in all its complexity.

Global Responses and Institutional Frameworks

The international community has developed a multifaceted institutional framework to address violence against women, with the United Nations playing a central coordinating and advocacy role. A significant milestone in this effort was the 2008 launch of the UNiTE to End Violence against Women initiative by then UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. This campaign aims to raise public awareness, strengthen policymaking, and increase resources dedicated to ending violence against women and girls worldwide. The UNiTE campaign employs the color orange as its signature hue, representing "a bright and optimistic future free from violence against women and girls." This visual identity has inspired the "Orange the World" initiative, which encourages individuals, organizations, and governments to illuminate buildings in orange and wear orange clothing during the 16 Days of Activism as a visible symbol of commitment to the cause. The campaign further designates the 25th of each month as "Orange Day," maintaining year-round momentum and awareness beyond the annual November observance.

Among the most significant developments in the global institutional response has been the 2017 launch of the Spotlight Initiative, a partnership between the European Union and the United Nations. This ambitious initiative represents one of the most substantial global efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls, with a particular focus on intimate partner violence, sexual and gender-based violence, harmful practices, femicide, and trafficking. The Spotlight Initiative aligns with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, specifically targeting Sustainable Development Goal 5.2, which aims to "eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation." Through comprehensive programming across Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, and the Pacific, the Initiative takes a holistic approach that addresses legislative frameworks, institutional capacities, prevention efforts, service provision, and data collection, recognizing that effective responses require coordinated action across multiple sectors and levels of governance.

At the regional level, the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, better known as the Istanbul Convention, represents a groundbreaking legal framework that establishes legally binding obligations for signatory states. Adopted in 2011 and entering into force in 2014, the Istanbul Convention establishes a comprehensive set of requirements across four critical pillars: preventing violence, protecting victims, prosecuting perpetrators, and developing integrated policies. The convention is notable for being the first legally binding instrument in Europe specifically targeting violence against women and domestic violence, and it creates a specialized monitoring mechanism (GREVIO) to ensure compliance with its provisions. The Istanbul Convention's comprehensive approach has established important precedents for regional cooperation on gender-based violence and serves as a model for other regions developing similar frameworks. During the 16 Days of Activism each year, GREVIO and Committee of the Parties members actively participate in events to promote the convention's work, share good practices already implemented by parties, and encourage additional states to ratify the convention.

The global response framework continues to evolve through evidence-based guidance such as the RESPECT Women framework, which offers governments and practitioners updated guidance for violence prevention, including in humanitarian contexts. The framework outlines seven strategic approaches represented by the RESPECT acronym: Relationship skills strengthening, Empowerment of women and girls, Services ensured, Poverty reduced, Enabling environments (schools, workplaces, public spaces) created, Child and adolescent abuse prevented, and Transformed gender attitudes, beliefs, and norms. This comprehensive framework, endorsed by 13 UN agencies and international partners, reflects growing consensus around the multi-sectoral approaches needed to effectively prevent and respond to violence against women. The framework emphasizes that successful interventions must address the root causes of violence, including gender inequality, harmful social norms, and economic disparities, while simultaneously strengthening systems for protection, service provision, and legal accountability. These coordinated international efforts represent significant advances in the global community's understanding of and response to violence against women, though implementation gaps and funding shortfalls continue to limit their impact in many contexts.

Contemporary Challenges and Persistent Obstacles

Despite increased global attention and growing international frameworks addressing gender-based violence, numerous formidable challenges persist in the effort to eliminate violence against women. One of the most significant obstacles is the chronic underfunding of prevention and response initiatives, which starkly contrasts with the scale and severity of the problem. According to the 2025 WHO report, in 2022, only 0.2% of global development aid was allocated to programmes focused on preventing violence against women, and this already inadequate funding has further decreased in 2025. This funding crisis occurs precisely when humanitarian emergencies, technological shifts, and rising socioeconomic inequality are exacerbating risks for millions of women and girls, creating a dangerous convergence of increasing need and decreasing resources. The underfunding of specialized services including crisis centers, helplines, legal aid, and healthcare responses leaves survivors with limited options for safety and support, often forcing them to remain in dangerous situations or return to their abusers due to lack of alternatives.

The legal protection gap represents another critical challenge in the global response to violence against women. Startling statistics reveal that only two out of three countries have specifically outlawed domestic violence, while 49 countries currently have no laws whatsoever protecting women from domestic violence. Even more alarming are the 37 countries that still maintain legal provisions exempting rape perpetrators from prosecution if they are married to or eventually marry the victim, effectively treating sexual violence as a matter between individuals rather than a societal concern and public crime. Similarly, fewer than 40% of countries have enacted laws specifically protecting women from cyber harassment or cyber stalking, leaving approximately 1.8 billion women and girls 44% of the world's female population without legal recourse against digitally-facilitated gender-based violence. These legislative gaps create environments where perpetrators can act with impunity, survivors have limited pathways to justice, and social norms condoning violence against women remain unchallenged by formal legal structures.

The data collection and research gap continues to hamper evidence-based responses, particularly concerning marginalized groups and emerging forms of violence. While more countries than ever are collecting data on violence against women, significant gaps remain especially regarding non-partner sexual violence, violence against indigenous women, migrants, women with disabilities, and data from fragile and humanitarian settings. Without comprehensive, disaggregated data that captures the experiences of diverse groups of women, policymakers and service providers struggle to develop targeted interventions that address the specific needs and vulnerabilities of different populations. This data gap is particularly pronounced in relation to digital violence, where rapidly evolving technologies and platforms outpace both research and regulatory responses. The lack of standardized methodologies for measuring violence against women further complicates cross-national comparisons and global assessments of progress, making it difficult to identify effective interventions and allocate resources where they are most needed.

Perhaps the most deeply entrenched challenge lies in the persistent social norms and attitudes that condone, excuse, or minimize violence against women. Despite decades of advocacy and awareness-raising, victim-blaming mentalities, gender stereotypes, and normalizations of violence continue to create social environments where abuse can flourish. The National Community Attitudes towards Violence Against Women Survey conducted in Australia, for instance, has tracked attitudes since 1995 and continues to identify concerning levels of endorsement for myths about domestic violence and sexual assault. These harmful attitudes are increasingly amplified through digital platforms, where misogynistic networks and communities actively promote ideologies hostile to gender equality and women's rights. Transforming these deeply embedded social norms requires long-term, sustained interventions that begin in early childhood and engage multiple sectors of society, including education systems, media, religious institutions, and community leaders. The persistence of these attitudes, even in contexts with strong legal frameworks and specialized services, underscores that legislative and policy interventions alone are insufficient without complementary efforts to shift the social and cultural underpinnings of gender-based violence.

The Path Forward: Strategies and Call to Action

Eliminating violence against women requires a comprehensive, multi-sectoral approach that addresses both the immediate needs of survivors and the root causes of gender-based violence. The RESPECT Women framework provides a strategic roadmap for action, outlining seven evidence-based intervention strategies that have demonstrated effectiveness across diverse contexts. First, Relationship skills strengthening involves implementing programs that teach communication, conflict resolution, and healthy relationship behaviors, particularly targeting young people before patterns of violence become established. Second, Empowerment of women and girls through economic interventions, education, and social support has proven effective in reducing vulnerability to violence and enhancing the ability to leave abusive situations. Third, ensuring accessible Services for survivors including health care, psychosocial support, legal aid, and protection services represents a critical component of any comprehensive response. Fourth, Poverty reduction addresses the well-established link between economic stress and increased risk of violence, while also expanding women's options for leaving abusive relationships.

The remaining three strategies focus on creating broader environmental and social change. Developing Enabling environments in schools, workplaces, and public spaces involves implementing policies and physical designs that reduce opportunities for violence and enhance safety for women and girls. Child and adolescent abuse prevention recognizes that early exposure to violence either as victims or witnesses significantly increases the likelihood of both perpetration and victimization later in life, making early intervention crucial for breaking intergenerational cycles of violence. Finally, perhaps the most fundamental strategy involves Transforming gender attitudes, beliefs and norms through public awareness campaigns, community dialogues, and educational programs that challenge harmful masculinities, gender stereotypes, and the normalization of violence against women. This comprehensive framework emphasizes that successful interventions must operate at multiple levels from individual relationships to broader social structures and engage diverse stakeholders across sectors to create synergistic effects that reinforce prevention and protection.

A critical priority for accelerating progress is significantly increased and sustained funding for both prevention programs and response services. Current allocation of just 0.2% of global development aid to preventing violence against women is grossly inadequate given the scale and severity of the problem. Governments, international donors, and private sector actors must prioritize funding for evidence-based interventions, ensuring that resources reach grassroots organizations and marginalized communities where needs are often greatest. This funding should support the full continuum of services from crisis intervention to long-term recovery while also investing in research and innovation to develop new solutions for emerging challenges such as digital violence. Particularly promising are initiatives that integrate violence prevention and response into existing systems and sectors such as health care, education, and social protection thereby leveraging established infrastructure and reaching women and girls through multiple touchpoints in their daily lives. The establishment of costed national action plans in countries like Ecuador, Liberia, Trinidad and Tobago, and Uganda provides models for other nations seeking to systematically address funding gaps and coordinate multi-sectoral responses.

The strengthening of legal and policy frameworks represents another essential component of an effective response. Governments must close critical legislative gaps by explicitly criminalizing all forms of violence against women—including domestic violence, marital rape, sexual harassment, and emerging digital forms of abuse—and ensuring that laws are consistently enforced. Beyond specific violence against women legislation, broader legal reforms are needed to advance gender equality in areas such as family law, property rights, and employment, recognizing that women's legal and economic empowerment provides important protection against violence. Simultaneously, technology companies must be held accountable for ensuring the safety of their platforms through transparent reporting mechanisms, prompt removal of harmful content, and design features that prioritize user safety. The development of international standards and regulatory frameworks for digital platforms is increasingly urgent as online violence continues to evolve and expand, often transcending national jurisdictions and creating enforcement challenges that require coordinated international responses.

Ultimately, creating a world free from violence against women requires the active engagement of all sectors of society, from governments and international organizations to community groups and individual citizens. The annual observance of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and the subsequent 16 Days of Activism provide strategic opportunities to mobilize this broad-based engagement, but sustained action is needed throughout the year. Every individual can contribute to this movement by educating themselves and others about gender-based violence, challenging sexist and victim-blaming language and behaviors in daily life, supporting local organizations that serve survivors, and advocating for stronger policies and funding at local, national, and international levels. As emphasized by Dr. Sima Bahous, Executive Director of UN Women, "Ending violence against women and girls requires courage, commitment, and collective action. Advancing gender equality is how we build a more equal, safer world for everyone, where every woman and every girl can live a life free from violence." This collective responsibility recognizes that violence against women is not merely a "women's issue" but a fundamental human rights concern that diminishes our shared humanity and requires our unified response.

Conclusion

The International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women stands as both a solemn commemoration and a powerful call to action honoring the memory of the Mirabal sisters and countless other women who have suffered from gender-based violence while mobilizing global efforts to prevent further victimization. The journey from their tragic assassination in 1960 to the establishment of this international day of observance illustrates how personal stories of resistance can transcend their immediate context to inspire worldwide movements for social change. Yet, more than two decades after the UN's official designation of November 25th, the pervasive reality of violence against women continues to represent one of the most widespread, persistent, and devastating human rights violations across the globe. The stark statistics including the 840 million women who have experienced intimate partner or sexual violence, the 50,000 women killed annually by intimate partners or family members, and the one in three women who will face violence in their lifetime paint a disturbing picture of the scale of this crisis and the urgent need for accelerated action.

The complex manifestations of violence against women from physical and sexual violence in the home to the rapidly expanding frontier of digital abuse demand equally sophisticated and multi-faceted responses that address both immediate protection needs and underlying causal factors. While significant progress has been made in developing international frameworks, legal instruments, and evidence-based prevention strategies, formidable challenges remain in the form of funding shortfalls, legal gaps, inadequate services, and persistent harmful social norms. The path forward requires sustained commitment, increased resources, and coordinated action across all sectors of society from governments and international organizations to technology companies and individual community members. As the 16 Days of Activism each year reminds us, the elimination of violence against women is inextricably linked to the broader pursuit of human rights for all, representing a fundamental prerequisite for achieving gender equality, sustainable development, and social justice. The continued observance of this international day serves not only to maintain visibility for this critical issue but to renew our collective determination to create a world where every woman and girl can live free from the threat of violence, fulfilling their potential and contributing fully to their communities and societies.

Photo from: iStock

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