This evidence brief presents key findings about the impact of VAWG on national economies and society in Ghana, South Sudan and Pakistan. It demonstrates that VAWG causes a drag on economic activity at the level of individuals, families, businesses and national economies. This economic drag is the cost that governments incur by failing to invest in the prevention and prosecution of VAWG and the protection of victims and survivors. Further, VAWG impedes important activities for social reproduction typically performed by women, including caring for others, sustaining relationships and networks, and participating in a wide range of community, social and political activities, and thus impacts on women’s empowerment and capabilities.
This evidence brief presents key findings about the impact of VAWG on national economies and society in Ghana, South Sudan and Pakistan. It demonstrates that VAWG causes a drag on economic activity at the level of individuals, families, businesses and national economies. This economic drag is the cost that governments incur by failing to invest in the prevention and prosecution of VAWG and the protection of victims and survivors. Further, VAWG impedes important activities for social reproduction typically performed by women, including caring for others, sustaining relationships and networks, and participating in a wide range of community, social and political activities, and thus impacts on women’s empowerment and capabilities.
Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a widely recognised human rights violation with serious consequences for the health and well-being of women, with ramifications for households, businesses, communities and society overall. Even though violence against women is widely accepted as a fundamental human right and public health issue, its wider impact on development is being recognised only recently. There are only few studies that estimate the costs of VAWG.
It is well established that violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a human rights violation and public health issue. Worldwide, one in three women report experiencing some form of physical and/or sexual violence, predominantly perpetrated by a partner or ex-partner, over their lifetime (WHO 2013). More recently, there is a growing recognition of the wider economic and social costs of VAWG for individuals, the community, businesses, society and the economy.
Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a widely recognised human rights violation with serious consequences for the health and well-being of women and their families. However, the wider ramifications of violence against women for businesses, communities, economies and societies are only recently being recognised. Despite this recognition, there are few studies exploring how economic and social impacts of VAWG affect economic growth, development and social stability. In this paper, applying the social accounting approach, we outline the ripple effects of VAWG from the individual micro-level impacts to the macroeconomy.
Alvarado, G., Fenny, A. P., Dakey, S., Mueller, J. L., O’Brien-Milne, L., Crentsil, A. O., ... & Schwenke, C. (2018). The health-related impacts and costs of violence against women and girls on survivors, households and communities in Ghana. Journal of public health in Africa, 9(2).
Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is widely recognised as a violation of human rights and a challenge to public health. VAWG also has economic and social costs that have not been adequately recognised. These costs not only impact individual women and their families but ripple through society and the economy at large. The threat VAWG poses to the social fabric of the country and its impacts on economic development have not been adequately investigated, analysed or quantified in Pakistan.