1 in 3 women have experienced some sort of violence against them.  That is a staggering figure. And there is more. Personally I am against violence full stop. Against men, women, children, animals, our planet. "violence against women and girls is rooted in centuries of male domination. Let us not forget that the gender inequalities that fuel rape culture are essentially a question of power imbalances." — UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

Each and every life is important and deserves respect. Adults make decisions for their children because they think they know best and that is often true especially when those children are very young. Sending a child to grow up on a monastery because you can't feed them may seem like a good idea as long as you know that child will be well treated. But over the centuries we have learned that that is not always true. 

Women do seem to get the worst of it

Currently, Worldwide, almost 750 million women and girls alive today were married before their 18th birthday; while 200 million women and girls have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM) 

1 in 2 women killed worldwide were killed by their partners or family in 2017; while only 1 out of 20 men were killed under similar circumstances,

71% of all human trafficking victims worldwide are women and girls, and 3 out of 4 of these women and girls are sexually exploited 

Violence against women is as serious a cause of death and incapacity among women of reproductive age as cancer, and a greater cause of ill health than traffic accidents and malaria combined.

The United Nations' (UN) International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women is an occasion for governments, international organizations and non-governmental organizations to raise public awareness of violence against women. It has been observed on November 25 each year since 2000."  Awareness may have been raised and there are lots of small initiatives, many womens refuges etc. but I wonder how much has actually be achieved in these 20 years?