Violence against Women Is a Social Illness and Never 'Normal' in Any Society

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BYLINE: Judith Smith Vialva and Roger-Claude Liwanga

Historically, power relations in society between men and women have often been unjustly unequal. This led to domination over and discrimination against women by society, as well as the prevention of the full advancement of women.

Violence against women has been and still is one of the pivotal mechanisms by which society used to force women into an inferior position compared with men. Today, the term "violence against women" is technically used to collectively refer to "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 most common forms of violence against women are domestic violence by an intimate partner, sexual abuse by intimate and non-intimate partners; trafficking of …