Short definitions for terms used in our research pages and knowledge base. Each entry names the source so you can verify wording in the original material.
Jump to letter
Showing terms starting with F. Show all letters
Showing 7 of 27 terms in this view.
Page 2 of 2
Forced marriage happens when one or both people do not freely consent to the marriage. Pressure may be emotional, financial, physical, or based on threats.
Forced marriage is a human rights violation and disproportionately affects women and girls. Consent must always be freely given.
This occurs when parents or others arrange for and force a minor to marry someone. Force may occur by exerting pressure or by ordering a minor to get married, and may be for dowry-related or other reasons. Forced marriage is a form of GBV because the minor is not allowed to, or is not old enough to, make an informed choice.
Marriage that takes place without the free and informed consent of one or both individuals getting married, and sometimes occurs through emotional coercion, threats, physical violence or abduction. Forced marriage is not the same as arranged marriage, in which the individuals consent to the marriage
Forced marriage is a marriage in which one and/or both parties have not personally expressed their full and free consent to the union. A child marriage is considered to be a form of forced marriage, given that one and/or both parties have not expressed full, free and informed consent
Forced sterilization occurs when a person is sterilized after expressly refusing the procedure, without her knowledge or is not given an opportunity to provide consent. These procedures are related to an individual’s ability to reproduce through surgical procedures such as tubal ligation which is a surgical procedure for female sterilization.
Forced sterilization is a human rights violation and can be considered an act of genocide, gender-based violence, discrimination, and torture.
- The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women (UN, 1993) listed some forms of violence as
follows:
• Physical, sexual and psychological violence occurring within the family, including harmful battering, sexual
abuse of female, non-spousal violence and violence related to exploitation and other traditional practices which
are harmful to women.
• Physical, sexual and psychological violence occurring within the community, including rape, sexual abuse, and
sexual harassment in the workplace, educational institutions or elsewhere, trafficking in women by forcing
them into prostitution.
• Physical, sexual and psychological violence perpetrated or condoned by the state, wherever it occurs.
- The two terms "forms" and "types" of gender-based violence (or abuse) are often used interchangeably, even
in the international literature. However, it has been approved in the discussion sessions on the use of the word
"form" referring to the framework in which violence occurs and the word "type" to refer to the means used to
impose authority. For example, if we say Ms X was beaten by her husband, physical violence would be the type
of violence and domestic or marital violence would be the form.
A sexual deviancy which involves bumping, touching, or rubbing against others for sexual satisfaction against
a non-consenting person, typically taking place in a crowded place from which the perpetrator can easily
escape (National Center on Sexual Behavior of Youth, 2003).