While the world has achieved progress towards gender equality and women’s empowerment under the Millennium Development Goals (including equal access to primary education between girls and boys), women and girls continue to suffer discrimination and violence in every part of the world.
Women and girls around the world continue to experience violence and cruel practices that strip them of their dignity and erode their well-being. Intimate partner violence affects women of all ages and ethnicities, regardless of their socioeconomic status and educational level, in all countries. According to the latest available data from 106 countries, 18 per cent of ever-partnered women and girls 15 to 49 years old experienced physical and/or sexual violence by a current or former intimate partner in the 12 months prior to the survey.