Around the world women suffer extreme physical and emotional harm inflicted by people who have power over them, including police, soldiers, village leaders and their own fathers and husbands. All too often this suffering occurs because governments have failed to take basic steps necessary to protect women from physical and sexual abuse such as investigating allegations and bringing the torturers to justice. The torture of women is rooted in a global culture that denies women equal rights with men, and legitimizes the violent appropriation of women's bodies for individual gratification or political ends. In recent decades, significant advances have been made by women's groups and other human rights activists around the world. Yet women worldwide still earn less than men, own less property than men, and have less access to education, employment and health care.
Pervasive discrimination continues to deny women full political and economic equality with men.
Violence against women feeds off this discrimination and serves to reinforce it. The torture of women will not be eradicated until discrimination on the grounds of gender is addressed. Violence against women is compounded by discrimination on the grounds of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, social status, class and age. Poor and socially marginalized women are particularly liable to torture and ill-treatment. Such multiple discrimination further restricts women's choices, increases their vulnerability to violence, and makes it even harder for them to gain redress.