Violence against women and international development

Violence against women is increasingly recognized not just as social, but also as health, legal, economic and development issue. This paper examines the links between violence against women and international development contributing to the growing momentum in the field. Studies from around the world demonstrate that the prevalence of different forms of gender-based violence is higher in developing countries. High human and socio-economic costs of gender-based violence stall growth and development by undermining human capital, reducing productivity and diverting scarce resources from productive spending. Violence against women also undermines other development efforts aimed at strengthening gender equality, eradicating poverty, ensuring access to education and improving health. Addressing this problem is a major challenge, as it requires multi-level cooperation between various stakeholders, as well as tackling social beliefs and attitudes at the grassroots level. This paper also reviews the response from various sectors and some of the promising initiatives.