In recent years, the definition has been expanded to include more structural forms of gender-based violence . Certain cultural practices, like son-preference, dowry customs and virginity tests , for example, are highlighted as denigrating or objectifying women. Increasingly, violence against women is also understood to encompass all forms of discrimination that create an environment in which such violence can be perpetrated with impunity and sometimes even with social sanction. A survey in Barbados revealed that one in three women was sexually abused during childhood or adolescence. Throwing acid to disfigure a woman's face is so common in Bangladesh that it warrants its own section of the penal code.
Women are much more likely than men to be victims of elder abuse.
The UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women serves as a moral statement on behalf of the international community to tackle gender-based violence as a human rights concern. The Women's Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women is an important human rights mechanism in combating violence against women because it defines such violence as a form of gender-based discrimination. The appointment of the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, its Causes and Consequences by the UN Commission on Human Rights in 1994, is an example of a concrete achievement on the part of the global women's movements.