DOIW on International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women
November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, is a historic achievement in women’s struggles around the world to achieve a life free from violence. Living a life without violence is a fundamental human right emphasized in international human rights treaties and declarations. Nevertheless, violence—especially against women—continues to be exercised in various ways across the world, depriving women of a life free from harm. According to international statistics, only 40% of women who experience violence seek help, meaning many cases—particularly domestic violence—are never made public.
The UN Women’s Global Campaign report marking the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration in 2025, states, “For all women and girls,” the International Women’s Day is a collective call to action in three key areas:
- Advancing women’s rights: Continuous struggle for women’s human rights and confronting all forms of violence, discrimination, and exploitation.
- Promoting gender equality: Removing systemic barriers, dismantling patriarchy, and transforming deep-rooted inequalities.
- Strengthening women’s empowerment: Ensuring universal access to education, employment, leadership, and open decision-making spaces. It also calls for a campaign against digital violence—a rapidly growing form of harm disproportionately targeting women and girls—emphasizing that “digital safety is an integral part of gender equality.”
Major sources of violence against women are war, insecurity, and military conflict. The intersection of war and violence results in catastrophic sexual and gender-based violence, inflicting irreversible harm on women. According to the United Nations, increasing warfare and armed conflict have intensified violence against women.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres warns in his 2025 report titled “Women, Peace, and Security”: Currently, 676 million women live within 50 kilometres of deadly armed conflict— the highest number since the 1990s. Civilian casualties among women and children have quadrupled compared to the previous two-year period, and sexual violence during wars and armed conflicts has increased by 87%.
Sima Bahous, Deputy Secretary-General of the UN and Executive Director of UN Women, adds: An unprecedented number of women and girls are being killed, excluded from peace tables, and abandoned without support as conflicts rise. While global military spending in 2024 exceeded 2.7 trillion dollars, women’s organizations in war-torn regions received only 4% of humanitarian aid.
She further states: These are signs of a world choosing to invest in war rather than in peace.
Additionally, violence now extends beyond the human sphere, affecting the environment as well. Environmental crises and their destructive consequences disproportionately impact women and children, especially those from lower-income communities and war-affected regions.
This year, November 25 arrives while the Middle East remains engulfed in war, insecurity, and rampant violence. A vast humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding, and its primary victims are children—including infants—and women.
The inhumane crimes committed by the racist Israeli regime in recent years, backed by imperialist powers—especially the United States—have violated international law and displayed unprecedented violence before the eyes of a shocked world. These actions have sparked massive global protests by peace activists and human rights defenders.
The deadly conflict in Gaza and Israel has created a disastrous situation. According to published reports, thousands of innocent civilians in Gaza and Israel have been killed (with deaths in Gaza estimated to exceed 67,000) and tens of thousands injured. The intense bombardment of Gaza has left hundreds of thousands homeless, displaced, and forced into slow death through starvation and disease.
The ongoing bloody repression of the Palestinian people by the far-right Israeli government against a backdrop of 56 years of brutal occupation—along with American military aid of 650 million dollars—demonstrate the support of imperialism led by the United States for Israel. This support represents blatant violence against humanity and the denial of the most basic human right: the right to life.
Ending this horrific bloodshed and the displacement of Gaza’s population is an urgent humanitarian priority. A lasting peace in Gaza, the establishment of two independent states—Palestine and Israel—and respect for national sovereignty are the only guarantees for justice in Palestine and the broader Middle East region. From the perspective of peace advocates, the Trump peace plan—designed in full coordination with Netanyahu—serves merely as a cover for the realisation of Israeli demands and the consolidation of the status quo in Israel’s favour.
In countries ruled by political Islam—including our own Iran—religious law, reactionary patriarchal beliefs, and outdated norms are used to justify and normalize violence against women. These are tools for systematic repression, imposing increasing restrictions, and stripping women of their rights, all to uphold male dominance over political, economic, and social life.
Documents of international conferences as well as the UN—such as UNESCO’s 2030 Agenda and the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which Iran has refused to sign—clearly state that gender inequality is a major barrier to eliminating violence against women. Women in Iran have faced more than a century of structural violence under patriarchal authoritarian regimes—both monarchical and religious—and have continuously struggled against it since the Constitutional Revolution, in early 20th century, paying a heavy price.
The blatant violence by Iran’s security forces against women protesting mandatory hijab, the symbol of political Islam; the repression of various popular movements, including the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement; the passing of medieval laws; beatings, arrests, torture, and executions—all demonstrate persistent structural violence.
Following the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, mandatory hijab laws were not abolished, but their enforcement has been inconsistent and contested. Their strict enforcement has been halted at the highest security levels—a clear sign of severe internal divisions regarding their implementation and an indication of the regime’s retreat and stalemate.
The renewed pressure for enforcing hijab—such as the creation of the “Modesty and Hijab Status Room” on Oct 16, 2025, by the Secretary of the “Enjoining Good and Forbidding Wrong” authority—is a clear example of giving the green light for violence against women to impose mandatory veiling.
Structural violence and discrimination against women extend far beyond hijab laws. Gender apartheid places women in vastly unequal positions in the job market. According to World Bank and ILO estimates, women’s participation in the labour force in Iran in 2024–25 was only 13.4%, one of the lowest rates globally.
Furthermore, early-retirement laws for women, inhumane legislative proposals such as the “Family Bill,” changes to civil law, refusal to pass the bill on women’s security, gender-based quotas in universities, and exclusion of women from management roles all demonstrate institutionalized discrimination.
In traditional, conservative religious societies, harmful practices such as child marriage, discriminatory custody laws, unequal inheritance and courtroom testimony, and widespread honour killings and femicide remain alarmingly high. Domestic violence, suicide, acid attacks, arrests for “bad hijab,” torture, and even executions—all these inhumane punishments—reflect the painful reality of a violent, patriarchal society.
Creating a world free from violence requires establishing a just political, social, and economic system—one built on preserving peace and protecting the environment. Let us mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women by combining the struggle for global peace with the demand for a complete end to war in the Middle East and worldwide.
21 November 2025
