When Romantic Partners Become The Biggest Threat to Women

The home, often seen as a sanctuary, remains the most dangerous place for women and girls worldwide.

A report by the World Health Organisation (WHO) reveals that 840 million women globally, almost one in three, have been subjected to violence by a romantic partner or sexual violence at least once in their lives.

These figures demonstrate a disturbing stagnation in progress, with the prevalence of violence remaining largely unchanged over the last decade.

The data exposes a systemic failure to protect women, particularly in high-prevalence regions, including South Asia, where cultural stigma often silences survivors.

We explore the depth of this human rights violation, examining the prevalence of intimate partner violence, the shadowed reality of femicide, and the specific statistical landscape of Desi communities.

The Pervasiveness of Intimate Partner Violence

The most common perpetrator of violence against women is a current or former romantic partner.

According to the WHO report, 25.8% of ever-partnered women aged 15-49 globally have experienced physical and/or sexual violence within their relationship.

This violence is not a momentary lapse but often a persistent pattern of coercion and harm.

For the South Asian diaspora and those living in the region, the statistics present a grim reality.

The WHO report classifies the region of ‘Central and Southern Asia’ as having some of the highest prevalence rates globally.

In this region, 30.8% of women have experienced intimate partner violence in their lifetime. More alarmingly, the prevalence of violence in the past 12 months stands at 20.1%, suggesting that for one in five women in this demographic, abuse is a current, ongoing reality.

Breaking down these regional figures using the report’s national estimates provides a clearer picture of the crisis in specific South Asian nations.

Bangladesh reports one of the highest lifetime prevalence rates globally, with 48.9% of ever-partnered women aged 15-49 having been subjected to physical or sexual violence.

In Afghanistan, the figure rises to 50.9%. India records a lifetime prevalence of 29.9%, with a notably high past-12-month prevalence of 22.4%. Pakistan reports 24.8% lifetime prevalence, while Nepal and Sri Lanka report 26.1% and 17.2% respectively.

These numbers indicate that violence is deeply entrenched within the domestic sphere.

The report highlights that violence starts early; globally, 23.3% of adolescent girls aged 15-19 who have been in a relationship have already experienced violence.

This early onset of abuse points to the intergenerational transmission of trauma and the normalisation of control within young relationships.

The Fatal Conclusion of Control

While the WHO report focuses on prevalence, data from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and UN Women confirm the lethal consequences of unchecked domestic abuse.

In 2024, 83,000 women and girls were killed intentionally worldwide.

The breakdown of these killings reveals a distinct gendered pattern.

Of those victims, 50,000 (60%) were killed at the hands of intimate partners or family members. This equates to one woman or girl being killed by someone she knows and likely trusts every 10 minutes, an average of 137 deaths every single day.

By stark contrast, only 11% of male homicides are perpetrated by partners or family members.

John Brandolino, acting Executive Director of UNODC, stated: “The home remains a dangerous and sometimes lethal place for too many women and girls around the world.

“The 2025 femicide brief provides a stark reminder of the need for better prevention strategies and criminal justice responses to femicide, ones that account for the conditions that propagate this extreme form of violence.”

In the context of South Asia, ‘honour’ based violence and dowry-related deaths often fall under this statistical umbrella.

The family unit, paramount in Desi culture, can become a mechanism for enforcing patriarchal control, sometimes with fatal results.

The 2025 report estimates that while Africa held the highest rate of femicide relative to population, Asia recorded a rate of 0.7 per 100,000 women.

However, due to population size, the absolute number of women killed in Asia remains tragically high.

Sarah Hendriks, Director of UN Women’s Policy Division, emphasised the trajectory of this violence:

“Femicides don’t happen in isolation.”

“They often sit on a continuum of violence that can start with controlling behaviour, threats, and harassment, including online.”

This highlights the importance of recognising early warning signs, such as coercive control and digital surveillance, before they escalate to lethal harm.

Facing Sexual Violence

Beyond the domestic sphere, women face a significant risk of sexual violence from non-partners, including relatives, acquaintances, authority figures, and strangers.

The WHO report estimates that globally, 8.2% of women aged 15 and older have been subjected to non-partner sexual violence (NPSV) at least once in their lifetime.

The data regarding NPSV in South Asia is particularly complex due to intense social stigma, the concept of ‘shame’ (sharam), and fear of social ostracisation.

The reported lifetime prevalence for NPSV in the Central and Southern Asia region is 4.3%.

Specifically, India reports a 4.1% lifetime prevalence, while Bangladesh reports 2.8%. However, the report authors caution that these figures likely represent a substantial underestimation.

In many South Asian communities, reporting sexual violence can lead to victim-blaming, unmarriageability, and damage to family reputation. Consequently, many survivors remain silent.

The methodology of surveys also plays a role; many data collection instruments focus on rape and attempted rape, failing to capture other forms of sexual coercion, non-contact abuse, or technology-facilitated sexual violence.

The variation in data collection is evident when comparing regions.

High-income regions such as Australia and New Zealand report a lifetime NPSV prevalence of 18.7%.

This disparity does not necessarily mean sexual violence is less common in South Asia, but rather that women in regions with higher gender equality and better support services may feel safer disclosing their experiences.

In conservative societies, the silence is not an absence of violence, but a presence of fear.

Stagnation in Progress

Perhaps the most sobering finding of the report is the lack of progress.

The annual rate of change in the prevalence of physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence is minimal, sitting at just -0.2%.

This indicates that despite decades of activism, legal reforms, and awareness campaigns, the lived reality for millions of women has barely shifted.

The infrastructure required to tackle this issue remains under-resourced.

Funding for women’s rights organisations is shrinking, and in many countries, the political will to enforce existing laws is weak. Furthermore, data gaps persist.

The WHO report notes that fewer surveys collect data on violence against women aged 50 and older, leaving the abuse of older women, often by adult children or carers, largely invisible in global statistics.

This is relevant for South Asian families where multigenerational living is common, and older women may face specific forms of financial or emotional abuse.

Additionally, the digital dimension of violence is an emerging threat that current data struggles to quantify.

As Sarah Hendriks noted: “The United Nations’ 16 Days campaign this year underscores that digital violence often doesn’t stay online.

“It can escalate offline and, in the worst cases, contribute to lethal harm, including femicide.”

For women navigating strict social codes, online harassment can have devastating offline consequences, yet this remains an area requiring urgent methodological development in data collection.

The findings present an undeniable truth: violence against women remains a global emergency.

From the high prevalence of partner violence in Bangladesh and India to the universal risk of femicide, the data confirms that structural inequality and patriarchal norms continue to endanger women.

The marginal reduction in violence rates over 20 years suggests that current strategies are insufficient.

Accurate data is the first step toward visibility, but as the numbers show, recognition of the problem has not yet translated into safety for the world’s women.