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“… When she tried to run away from the union with the 60-year-old man, she was forced in by the younger brother she nursed ever so carefully and beaten to submission by the father she had served meals under the moon… Sadly, a few months later, I received news that Amina had died during childbirth… another dream buried”.
According to the United Nations, violence against women is "any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual, or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life." For this article, I want to explore how violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a problem that has a general impact on every member of society, and how to ignite change in everyone. It is deeply alarming to note that 35% of women have experienced a form of physical and or sexual violence in their lifetime. The economic costs of VAWG involve the lost number of years girls would have spent in school, with the potential of becoming professionals contributing meaningfully to society like doctors, teachers, engineers, chefs, therapists, etc.
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