My Body is Mine

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Sonali's story

Sonali was just 18 days old when a man threw acid over her and her parents at their home in Bangladesh. She was one of 400 people in the country who were attacked with acid that year – 70% of them women or girls.

Despite going through such a traumatic experience, Sonali refuses to let the attack define her, and she doesn't shy away from telling her story.

To me, My Body Is Mine means that it’s my right to do what I want and to think what I want.”

Read Sonali's blog

Sonali stands with all survivors of violence to say #MyBodyIsMine

ActionAid

Why standing up for women's rights matters

From the moment they’re born, many girls are seen and treated as less than boys: there is no country in the world where women and girls as a group are not disadvantaged in relation to men and boys

Girls are less likely to go to school than their brothers. Millions of girls worldwide are married as children, often to much older men. And one in three women worldwide will experience violence in their lifetime, most likely at the hands of someone they know.

All over the world women and girls have less social, economic and political power, which can lead to their human rights being denied.

That's why at ActionAid, we put women and girls at the heart of all we do. 

Violence against women and girls in numbers

65%
65% of girls say they've faced some form of sexual harassment in the last six months5

15m
15 million girls are married as children every year6

1/3
One in three women will experience violence in their lifetime7

Footnotes

  • 5https://www.actionaid.org.uk/blog/news/2019/01/29/girls-worry-about-sexual-harassment-every-day
  • 6https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/adolescent-pregnancy
  • 7http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs239/en/
Top image: Christie, an activist from Nigeria, campaigns against violence and harassment. Other: ActionAid; Ruth McDowall/ActionAid; Praveesh Palakeel on Unsplash; Kathleen Prior/ActionAid UK

Page updated 27 June 2023