At least one in three women worldwide has been beaten, coerced into sex or abused in other ways, usually by her husband or another male family member. In France, one woman is beaten to death by her partner every four days. A survey conducted in Santiago, Chile, indicates that 80%
of women admit to having experienced abuse, either by a male family member or their partner. In a study conducted in Bangladesh, 18% of female deaths result from injuries, intentional or not, and 52% occur during or immediately after pregnancy. The authors conclude that the underlying causes of these deaths are clearly social, and can be
viewed as the result of men’s strict control over women’s sexual and reproductive lives.
