Investing in Gender Equality: Ending Violence against Women and Girls

As gender equality improves, the prevalence of violence against women is lower. Data available shows the inverse relationship between gender equality and violence by an intimate partner. This is borne out for both physical and sexual forms of abuse. Countries with greater equality between women and men tend to have lower levels of violence against women, based on the leading global indices for gender equality. These measure equality based on: life expectancy; sex ratio at birth; adult literacy; primary, secondary and tertiary education enrollment rates; participation in the formal labour force; estimated earned income; wage equality; shares of seats in legislative, ministerial and senior political positions; and shares in management and technical positions.