- One in three women in the EU has experienced physical and/or sexual violence since the age of 15;
- 75 % of women in a professional job or in top management have experienced sexual harassment;
- One in ten women has experienced sexual harassment or stalking through new technologies.
Gender-based violence is a brutal form of discrimination and a violation of the victim’s fundamental rights. It is both a cause and a consequence of inequalities between women and men.
Gender-based violence happens everywhere, in every society and EU country, regardless of social background, whether at home, at work, at school, in the street or online.
Not only does it affect women's health and well-being, but it can hamper women's access to employment, thereby negatively affecting their financial independence and the economy in general.
What is gender-based violence?
It can be defined as violence directed against a person because of that person's gender (including gender identity/expression) or as violence that affects persons of a particular gender disproportionately. Women and girls, of all ages and backgrounds, are most affected by gender-based violence. It can be physical, sexual and/or psychological, and includes:
- Violence in close relationships;
- Sexual violence (including rape, sexual assault and harassment or stalking);
- Harmful practices, such as forced marriages, female genital mutilation (FGM) and so-called ‘honour’ crimes;
- Cyberviolence and harassment using new technologies.
What is the EU doing?
- The EU protects women and children from gender-based violence through legislation and practical measures on victims' rights ;
- The EU raises awareness, by co-funding campaigns run by national governments, and supports transnational projects run by non-governmental organisations combatting violence against women, children and young people ;
- The EU facilitates finding common solutions among EU countries, by organising exchanges of good practice ;
- The EU works to eliminate female genital mutilation ;
- The EU develops knowledge about the phenomenon of gender-based violence;
- Factsheet summarising key concrete actions aimed at eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls in the EU, published March 2014
Getting more and better evidence on gender-based violence
Violence is still regrettably under-reported: only about a third of women who are physically or sexually abused by their partners contact the authorities. In addition, complaints are not systematically recorded, and the collection of administrative data is not comparable between EU countries.
The European Commission works together with EU countries and other EU bodies to get more and better information, which will strengthen our policy responses to gender-based violence.
Eurostat is currently working with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on a joint data collection, the first results of which are expected in 2015. The data collected will include information on intentional homicide, rape and other sexual assault, and details of the victim's sex. For intentional homicide, data will also be collected on the victim's relationship to the perpetrator.