Gender and Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Gender and Development - Essay Example ever, as 60 million girls disappear each year (many from Asian countries) as a result of sexual crimes, and one third of the population of women around the world experience some form of violence. In addition to this 4 million women and girls are trafficked every year, while approximately one million girls enter the sex trade. Before delving further into the issue of violence against women, it is important that a firm definition of what the subject matter is be established. There is actually no universally accepted definition of violence against women. Some advocates of human rights prefer broad definitions that include poverty and unequal access to education and health to describe acts of violence against women. Some however prefer a more narrow definition so that the actual descriptive power of the term is not lost (Kapoor, 2000). According to Dean Kilpatrick, Director of the Medical University of South Carolina’s National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Centre, the debate as to whether to define violence against women broadly or narrowly is â€Å"old, fierce and unlikely to be resolved in the future† (DeKeseredy, 2011). Likewise, debates about terminologies are also prevalent. Whatever the case maybe, the need for a concrete and specific definition is important so that research, monitoring and policy-making can become more specific as well as applicable cross-culturally (Kapoor, 2000). According to the World Health Organization (2011), the United Nations defines violence against women as â€Å"any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or mental 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 above definition has recognized that violence against women is one of the most fundamental social mechanisms wherein women are forcibly placed on lower positions as compared with men. In addition it has also