Nor do states recognise that the systems they have put in place inadequately address or resolve gender-based violence. For example, there is the presumption that cases of domestic violence are provided for under the country's respective penal laws. Police will hardly ever intervene and society at large will not interfere with the internal running of a home, despite the fact that a felony has been committed. Consequently, the violent abuse of women remains entrenched in society and largely unaddressed by state authorities. The scope of gender-based violence is fairly wide, encompassing violence against persons on the basis of their gender.
Gender is about both men and women.
Specifically, gender is about power relations between men and women. Gender-based violence, therefore, covers those incidents in which one sex asserts power by using sexual or similar acts to achieve submissiveness and fear in another person and in the process, commits an offence against the dignity or privacy of that person. Such behaviour is the result of the offenders strong desire to exercise power and control over his victim. Violence provides a very effective method of maintaining this control. Research finds that abusers and violators tend to be those in positions of power relative to their victims.