EAST MEDINIPORE DISTRICT MEETING
Attaining equality between women and men and eliminating all forms of discrimination against
women are fundamental human rights and United Nations values. Women around the world
nevertheless regularly suffer violations of their human rights throughout their lives, and realizing
women’s human rights has not always been a priority. Every day, in every country in the world,
women are confronted by discrimination and inequality. They face violence, abuse and unequal
treatment at home, at work and in their wider communities – and are denied opportunities to
learn, to earn and to lead. They have fewer resources, less power and less influence compared to
men, and can experience further inequality because of their class, ethnicity and age, as well as
religious and other fundamentalism. Domestic violence (also named domestic abuse or family
violence) is violence or other abuse in a domestic setting, such as in marriage or cohabitation.
Domestic violence is often used as a synonym for intimate partner violence, which is committed
by one of the people in an intimate relationship against the other person, and can take place in
heterosexual or same-sex relationships, or between former spouses or partners.