Destined to Fail: How Violence Against Women is undoing development

Violence against women remains a persistent problem because of women’s unequal status in society.

Executive summary

Violence against women remains a persistent problem because of women’s unequal status in society. Indeed, violence against women and girls is both a cause and a consequence of gender inequality. Violence against women is a means of social control that maintains unequal power relations between women and men and reinforces women’s subordinate status. Violence against women is also an abuse of the power imbalance between women and men. Women are at risk of violence because they do not have enough power in society to protect themselves from more powerful men or to access justice.