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Study: Violence and discrimination against women is a major cause of death, ranking with disease, hunger and war, study says
EDITH M. LEDERER
2005-11-22

Violence against women is one of the four major causes of death in the world today along with disease, hunger and war, according to the head of a Swiss defense institute that recently published a major study entitled Women in an Insecure World.

Swiss Ambassador Theodor Winkler, director of the Geneva Center for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces, said the number of women who die because of gender-related violence, deprivation and discrimination is larger than the casualty toll in all the wars of the 20th century combined.

The deeply rooted phenomenon of violence against women is one of the great crimes of humanity, he told reporters Thursday, in launching the study.

Winkler said the 335-page study by 60 authors brings together data on violence against women in daily life, in war and post-conflict situations for the first time. The United Nations is also doing a study on the issue which is expected to be published next summer.

Violence against women is one of the four key reasons why women die on this planet, the other ones being war, hunger and disease, he said. We need to confront the world with what it does in order to get enough political momentum to confront this issue.

According to U.N. estimates, Winkler said, there are up to 200 million fewer women in the world than there should be, based on demographic data which show that for every 103 boys born there are 100 girls.

If we have a population deficit globally of 200 million women, the reason why they are not here is simply that they have been killed, Winkler said. It's as straightforward as that - and that's for gender-related reasons.

The reasons include abortions for sex selection, infanticide of girls, limited access to medical care and food for young girls, honor killings, dowry killings, violence in domestic life, and deaths of girls and women in conflict and post-conflict situations, he said.

The report did not list how many women were killed for each reason.

But Winkler said that roughly 80 million of the 200 million missing women are the result of abortions of female fetuses in societies where boys have a higher value.

The report notes that medical testing for sex selection, although officially outlawed, has become a booming business in China, India and South Korea, which have significantly fewer girls than boys.

Winkler said if the number of missing women remains at 200 million, this would mean that 2 to 3 million women per year are being killed for gender-related reasons.

He said that number of deaths compares with the 2.8 million people dying annually from AIDS and the 1.27 million dying every year from malaria and should not be ignored. He cited figures tallying 190 million total casualties on all the 20th century's wars.

Globally, women aged between 15 and 44 are more likely to be injured or die as a result of male violence than through cancer, traffic accidents, malaria and war combined, Winkler said.

The victims are claimed in conflicts, but also in everyday life, Winkler wrote in the study. The causes are multiple, but eventually boil down to the simple fact that for all too many, a woman's life and dignity are worth less than a man's. This situation is simply intolerable.

In addition to the women who are killed, he said, scores are physically or psychologically wounded, if not maimed for life.

The World Health Organization estimates that globally one woman in five will during her lifetime be the subject of rape or attempted rape, and one in three will be the victim of violence, Winkler said.

That means 700 million women have been or will be raped during their lifetime, including 25 million in the United States, he said.

Switzerland's Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey said in a forward to the report that much more attention must be given to the consequences of war for women and children, who comprise the majority of refugees and internally displaced people and endure rape and sexual abuse.

The Geneva Center was established in 2000 at the initiative of the Swiss government to support the democratic control of armed forces and security sector reforms. It is supported by 46 countries including the United States.

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