ABSTRACT
Over the past decade, national and international programmes, including those of multilateral agencies such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and non-government organisations, have expanded their operational interests in women’s health to include violence against women. As defined at the Fourth World Conference on Women (Koch and Basu 1996), the term refers to ‘any act of genderbased violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life’. Such acts may occur within the family or household, within the community, or as perpetrated or condoned by the state. Acts specified as occurring in the household include battering, sexual abuse of children, dowry-related violence, marital rape, nonspousal violence and violence related to exploitation, and ‘traditional practices harmful to women’. This latter category refers to a range of practices, one of which is female genital mutilation.2 As this chapter argues, this issue raised important concerns about how rights action can inadvertently jeopardise the rights of some communities, and cause further stereotyping, stigmatisation and marginalisation.
