Gender-based violence (GBV) is one of the most pervasive human rights violations in the world. It cuts across geography, class, race, culture and age, but it does not affect everyone in the same way. Women, girls, and gender-diverse people are disproportionately targeted because of unequal power relations and rigid gender norms that shape families, communities, and institutions.
Global data show the scale of the problem. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that about 1 in 3 women worldwide (approximately 30%) have experienced physical and/or sexual violence from an intimate partner, or sexual violence from a non-partner, at some point in their lives. Most of this violence is perpetrated by current or former intimate partners.
These are not just numbers; they represent daily realities of fear, control, injury, trauma, and sometimes death. A joint UNODC–UN Women analysis for 2023 estimates that around 51,100 women and girls were killed by an intimate partner or other family member in that single year – roughly 140 women and girls every day, and often after a pattern of previous abuse.
Despite decades of advocacy and new laws, GBV remains deeply embedded in social structures. Legal reforms, shelters, hotlines, and awareness campaigns have saved lives, but they often struggle against powerful cultural beliefs about masculinity, femininity, and family honor. To understand why GBV persists, we need to look beyond individual acts of violence and explore broader systems: masculinity, patriarchy, unequal access to education, and the ways gender is taught and debated in classrooms around the world.
Masculinity in different cultures
“Masculinity” is not a fixed, universal trait; it is a set of expectations about how men and boys are supposed to behave. These expectations differ by region, religion, class, and historical experience, but several recurring patterns are closely linked to gender-based violence:
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Masculinity as dominance and control
In many societies, men are socialized to believe they must be strong, decisive heads of households. Masculinity is associated with authority, economic provision, and control over women’s sexuality and mobility. When this ideal is threatened—for example, if a partner earns more, refuses sex, or challenges decisions—some men respond with violence to reassert control. -
Masculinity as toughness and emotional restraint
Boys often grow up hearing that “real men don’t cry” or that expressing fear or hurt is a sign of weakness. This discourages men from seeking help for mental health issues, unemployment stress, or relationship problems. Instead of communicating, some turn to anger, substance abuse, or aggression—all risk factors for GBV. Programmes that help men name and manage emotions in healthy ways have been shown to reduce violent behaviour, precisely because they soften this rigid notion of toughness. -
Masculinity is tied to honour and family reputation
In contexts where family honour is heavily invested in women’s behaviour—how they dress, who they marry, whether they remain virgins before marriage—men may feel responsible for “guarding” female relatives. This can lead to controlling behaviour (restricting movement, monitoring phones, arranging marriages) and, in extreme cases, so-called “honour-based” violence if women transgress social norms. -
Alternative and transforming masculinities
It is important to note that not all masculinities are violent. Around the world, men’s movements, religious leaders, and community elders are promoting more caring, egalitarian models. These emphasise shared decision-making, non-violence, caregiving, and respect for consent. When boys grow up seeing men cooking, caring for children, listening, and apologizing, they learn that masculinity can include empathy rather than domination.
Because masculinity is socially constructed, it can be changed. Interventions in schools, sports clubs, religious institutions, and media that question harmful norms and celebrate nurturing, non-violent masculinities are crucial for long-term reductions in GBV.
Gender inequality in education globally
Education is one of the strongest tools for preventing gender-based violence and shifting social norms—but educational opportunities themselves are shaped by gender inequality.
Across the world, there has been major progress in getting girls into school. Many countries have reached or are approaching gender parity in primary education, and in some regions, girls now outnumber boys in secondary and even tertiary education. However, these averages can hide deep regional and social inequalities:
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In low-income and conflict-affected countries, girls are still more likely than boys never to start school, drop out early, or be pulled out for marriage, domestic work, or caregiving.
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Even where enrollment is balanced, subject choices remain gendered: boys are pushed towards STEM fields and leadership roles, while girls are nudged towards care-oriented fields such as teaching, nursing, or unpaid domestic labor.
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Safety and dignity at school are not guaranteed. Sexual harassment and abuse by peers, teachers, or authorities, long and unsafe routes to school, and lack of menstrual hygiene facilities all contribute to absenteeism and drop-out among girls.
This inequality intersects with GBV in several ways:
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Education as a protective factor
When girls stay in school longer, they are less likely to be married as children, less likely to experience early pregnancy, and more likely to access information about rights, consent, and health. Studies consistently show that higher educational attainment is associated with lower risk of some forms of GBV and greater ability to leave violent relationships—though education alone is not a shield where norms heavily condone male control. -
Education systems reproducing gender norms
Textbooks, teacher attitudes, and school rules often reinforce stereotypes. If books show only male leaders and female caregivers; if teachers excuse boys’ aggression as “normal”; or if schools punish girls more harshly for sexual behavior, the education system subtly teaches that male privilege and female shame are natural. This normalizes the power imbalances that underlie GBV. -
The digital and hidden curriculum
In the age of social media and online learning, young people receive mixed messages about gender. While they can access empowering narratives and feminist role models, they are also exposed to misogynistic influencers, online harassment, and non-consensual sharing of images. Schools and universities that ignore the digital dimension leave a major gap in prevention.
Thus, gender equality in education is not only about number of girls and boys sitting in classrooms; it is about what they are taught regarding power, respect, consent, diversity, and rights. Where education systems take this seriously, they can become powerful allies in reducing GBV.
How patriarchy works in different societies
Patriarchy is a social system in which men as a group hold more power than women and gender-diverse people, especially in key institutions such as politics, religion, the economy, and the family. It does not mean all men are powerful or all women are powerless, but it describes the overall pattern of privilege and disadvantage.
Patriarchy operates differently across societies, but some common mechanisms include:
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Control over resources and decision-making
In many contexts, men are more likely to own land, inherit property, control family finances, and make major decisions (where to live, whether women can work, when to have children). This economic power makes it harder for women to leave abusive relationships or negotiate safer conditions. -
Legal and institutional bias
Laws and justice systems often reflect patriarchal values. In some countries, women still need a male guardian’s permission for basic activities, or marital rape is not clearly criminalized. Elsewhere, laws may be more equal on paper, but police, courts, and community leaders trivialize domestic violence, blame victims, or push for “family reconciliation” even in severe cases. This undermines survivors’ trust in the system and reinforces impunity. -
Cultural and religious narratives
Patriarchal cultures frequently draw on religious or traditional narratives to justify male authority: men as “heads” and women as “helpers”; women as inherently nurturing but irrational; men as natural leaders. These stories are powerful because they are woven into rituals, ceremonies, and everyday sayings. At the same time, many religious and cultural traditions also contain egalitarian, compassionate interpretations that activists and scholars use to challenge GBV. -
Social policing and stigma
Patriarchy is maintained not only by powerful leaders but also by ordinary people. Neighbors who gossip about divorced women, relatives who discourage reporting abuse, and colleagues who laugh at sexist jokes all contribute to a climate in which violence is minimized or normalized. Survivors often face victim-blaming, ostracization, or economic retaliation if they speak out. -
Intersection with class, race, and other inequalities
Patriarchy does not operate in isolation. Women from marginalized groups—such as ethnic minorities, migrants, refugees, or low-income communities—may face multiple layers of discrimination, and their experiences of GBV are often more severe while protection is weaker. In some places, state violence, conflict, or displacement amplify domestic and sexual violence in homes and camps.
Recognising patriarchy as a system does not mean resigning ourselves to it. It helps identify where change is needed: redistributing resources, reforming laws, transforming institutions, and reshaping everyday norms so that violence is neither tolerated nor hidden.
Gender studies curriculum around the world
Gender studies and women’s studies courses emerged in many universities in the late 20th century as activists and scholars pushed back against male-centred knowledge. Today, some form of gender-related teaching exists in universities—and increasingly in schools—in every region of the world, though its scope and political acceptance vary widely.
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Core themes in gender studies
Typical gender studies curricula examine:-
The social construction of gender, femininity, and masculinity
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Systems like patriarchy, capitalism, colonialism, and heteronormativity
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Gender-based violence, reproductive rights, and care work
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Intersectionality: how gender interacts with race, class, sexuality, disability, and nationality
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Feminist, queer, and trans theories, and global women’s movements
Through these topics, students learn to see GBV not only as isolated incidents, but as part of broader patterns of power and inequality.
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Regional variations
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In North America and Western Europe, Gender studies is relatively institutionalised, though still subject to political backlash. Courses often include debates on LGBTQ+ rights, body politics, and digital cultures.
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In Latin America, vibrant feminist movements have influenced curricula that foreground femicide, reproductive justice, and the impact of dictatorship and neoliberalism on women’s lives.
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In parts of Africa and Asia, gender studies is often embedded in development studies, sociology, or law programmes, focusing on issues like bride price, dowry, child marriage, and post-conflict violence.
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In some countries, conservative political forces portray gender studies as a threat to “traditional values,” leading to defunding, censorship, or outright bans.
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School-level gender education
Beyond universities, gender content increasingly appears in school curricula, teacher training, and life skills programmes. Where implemented well, students learn about:-
Consent and healthy relationships
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Recognizing and reporting harassment
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Sharing household tasks and challenging stereotypes
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Respecting diverse identities
However, in many places this content remains superficial, optional, or contested. Teachers may lack training or fear backlash from parents and authorities.
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Why gender studies matters for GBV
Gender studies provides the conceptual tools to name and analyze gender-based violence: terms like “coercive control,” “victim-blaming,” “rape culture,” and “intersectionality” help make visible things that were previously normalized or dismissed. Graduates of these programmes go on to design policies, work in NGOs, conduct research, teach in schools, or lead social movements that directly challenge GBV.Crucially, gender studies also centers survivors’ voices and experiences, recognizing them not just as victims but as agents of change. This shift—from silence and shame to voice and collective action—is one of the most powerful antidotes to GBV.
Conclusion
Gender-based violence statistics worldwide tell a stark story: millions of women and girls live with the risk—or the reality—of physical, sexual, and psychological harm. Approximately one-third of women experience such violence in their lifetimes, and tens of thousands are killed each year by partners or family members.
But numbers alone cannot explain why this continues. For that, we must look at how masculinity is defined, how patriarchy distributes power, how education opens or closes doors, and how gender is taught and contested in classrooms and public debates worldwide.
Transforming these structures requires coordinated efforts: legal reform, survivor-centred services, economic empowerment, and long-term investments in education and gender studies. It also requires everyday acts of courage and care—parents teaching their children consent and respect; teachers challenging stereotypes; men calling out violence among peers; communities creating safer spaces.
Gender-based violence is not inevitable. It is a product of human choices, institutions, and norms—and therefore it can be changed by human action. Understanding the statistics and the systems behind them is a critical step toward building societies where everyone can live free from violence, with their dignity and rights fully respected.
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References
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World Health Organisation. Violence against women: Key facts. Geneva: WHO; updated fact sheet. World Health Organization
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United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) & UN Women. Femicides in 2023: Global estimates of intimate partner/family member femicides. Vienna/New York: UNODC & UN Women. UNODC
