“Violence against women is a manifestation of historically unequal power relations between men and women” and “violence against women is one of the crucial social mechanisms by which women are forced into a subordinate position compared with men”

-The UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women “In South Asia, Violence Against Women is On the Rise” (Rashmi Sheila, in Fair Observer, 2017)

“China wants to stop domestic violence, but the legal system still treats it as a lesser crime” (Emily Rauhala, 2016)

‘Federal report finds 476 people died of domestic violence in Canada between 2010 and 2015’ and ‘At least 148 women were killed in Canada last year…’ (The Canadian Women’s Foundation, 2019)

“13-Year-Old’s Rape Case Dismissed Because Her Body Is ‘Well-Developed’ (Charlotte Lytton, 2015)

“A Kansas Law School Student Reported a Rape. Then Police Arrested Her.” (Emily Shugerman, 2019)

The above are just a few of the disturbing recent and not too recent headlines across the globe. With reports of courts acquitting the rapist of a 13-year-old girl in Sweden on the grounds that her body was ‘well-developed’ for her age” and so, the man couldn’t have known that the 13 year old was younger than she looked, the judiciary openly supported the idea that rape is okay if the victim is an adult. These headlines are not only screaming the absurdity of societal attitudes, but they remind us that we still don’t have much to show for all that have gone into advocacy for the prevention of Violence Against Women (VAW) or Gender-Based Violence (GBV).