Did you know that in India, in one year (1986) there were 32 million “missing” women and in China 36 million because of preference for sons rather than daughters, infanticide, human trafficking.

But it is not just happening in India and China alone, and it is not just happening to adult women or young teenage women. It begins before birth - in some countries, with sex-selective abortions, or at birth when female babies may be killed by parents who are desperate for a son, it continues to affect women throughout their lives. Each year, millions of girls undergo female genital mutilation. Female children are more likely than their brothers to be raped or sexually assaulted by family members, by those in positions of trust or power, or by strangers. In some countries, when an unmarried woman or adolescent is raped, she may be forced to marry her attacker, or she may be imprisoned for committing a "criminal" act. Those women who become pregnant before marriage may be beaten, ostracized or killed, even if the pregnancy is the result of a rape (see below for the Amina Lawal story, and what you can do to prevent her from being stoned to death).

Each year, thousands of women throughout the world are tricked, coerced, abducted or sold into slavery-like conditions and forced to work as prostitutes, domestic workers, sweatshop labourers or wives. In South-East Asian countries alone, at least 200-225,000 women and children are trafficked annually. Women and girls who are victims of this international trade are at an increased risk of further violence, as well as unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted infection, including infection with HIV/AIDS.

After marriage, the greatest risk of violence for women continues to be in their own homes where husbands and, at times, in-laws, may assault, rape or kill them. When women become pregnant, grow old, or suffer from mental or physical disability, they are more vulnerable to attack. Women who are away from home, imprisoned or isolated in any way are also subject to violent assaults. During armed conflict, assaults against women escalate, including those committed by both hostile and "friendly" forces

Violence against women takes on many forms and it has a terrible impact on women.

Do you would like to read more! Most of the information above is taken from the source's of World Health Organization and http://www.womenaid.org/events/16days/weman.html