What is Gender-Based Violence?
Gender-based violence is violence that is committed against someone based on their gender identity, gender expression or perceived gender. Violence often increases during emergencies and times of economic hardship. It can include, but is not limited to, family violence, sexual assault, sexual harassment, intimate partner violence, human trafficking, and female genital mutilation. Gender inequality is consistently recognized as a root cause of all forms of gender-based violence.
Some Albertans have an increased risk of experiencing gender-based violence, including women and girls aged 15-24, Indigenous women and girls, persons with disabilities and LGBTQ2S+ people.
While women and girls have an increased risk of experiencing gender-based violence, men and boys can also experience gender-based violence. For example, two in three females and one in three males in Alberta have experienced sexual violence in their lifetime.
Alberta ranks third among provinces for rates of police-reported family violence and intimate partner violence.
Alberta has the fourth highest rate of police-reported sexual assault among all provinces; however, 95% of survivors do not report their assaults to the police, making sexual violence the most under-reported crime in Canada.
To learn more about ending gender-based violence, see: https://www.alberta.ca/violence-against-women.aspx