ASTHA Project

Gender based violence (GBV) manifests in an ever growing number of ways, such as; early marriage, rape, trafficking, domestic violence, acid attack, dowry repayment related violence etc. In Bangladesh the prevalence of GBV is extremely high, according to the latest national Violence against Women (VAW) Survey conducted by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics in 2015, approximately 73 percent of ever-married women in Bangladesh have experienced some form of partner violence in their lifetime, and more than half (54.7 percent) have experienced violence in the last 12 months prior to the survey. Amongst non-married women, 35 percent reported non-partner physical violence and 3 percent were exposed to sexual violence. Such high prevalence rates are not only detrimental to women and girls, especially as survivors face long term health and psychosocial implications, but also it is a social and development concern for Bangladesh. Read more