CSS Gender Studies Gender-Based Violence Syllabus

Gender-Based Violence syllabus — full chapter and topic list

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for Gender-Based Violence in CSS Gender Studies, not a summary of it.

1. 1

   Concepts and Theories

   2 topics

   • Defining Gender-Based Violence
   • Theories of Violence Against Women
2. 2

   Forms and Responses

   2 topics

   • Structural and Direct Forms of Violence
   • Strategies to Eliminate Violence Against Women

Gender-Based Violence flashcards for CSS Gender Studies

18 of 50 cards from the Gender-Based Violence deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. What is the definition of Gender-Based Violence (GBV)?

   Any harmful act directed against an individual based on their gender, rooted in gender inequality, the abuse of power, and harmful norms. It includes physical, sexual, psychological, and economic harm, whether in public or private life.

2. How does the UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women (1993) define violence against women?

   Any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual, or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats, coercion, or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, in public or private life.

3. What three broad spheres does the 1993 UN Declaration identify as sites of violence against women?

   Violence in the family, violence within the general community, and violence perpetrated or condoned by the State.

4. Distinguish between 'violence against women' and 'gender-based violence' as terms.

   GBV is the broader term covering violence rooted in gender norms against anyone (women, men, transgender/non-binary people), while violence against women specifically targets women and girls; in practice the terms are often used interchangeably because women are disproportionately affected.

5. What does the term 'femicide' (or feminicide) mean?

   The intentional killing of women or girls because they are female; it is the most extreme form of gender-based violence and includes 'honour' killings, dowry deaths, and intimate-partner homicide.

6. Define 'intimate partner violence' (IPV).

   Behaviour by a current or former partner that causes physical, sexual, or psychological harm, including physical aggression, sexual coercion, psychological abuse, and controlling behaviours.

7. What is meant by 'honour-based violence'?

   Violence (including killing, mutilation, or forced marriage) committed to defend or restore the perceived honour of a family or community, usually against women accused of bringing shame through behaviour such as choosing a marriage partner.

8. Define 'dowry-related violence'.

   Abuse, harassment, or killing of a woman by her husband or in-laws over disputes about dowry payments, common in parts of South Asia including Pakistan.

9. What is 'economic violence' or economic abuse as a form of GBV?

   Controlling a person's ability to acquire, use, or maintain economic resources — e.g., denying access to money, preventing employment, or seizing earnings — to create financial dependence and limit autonomy.

10. What does the WHO estimate as the global lifetime prevalence of physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence against women?

    Approximately 1 in 3 (about 30%) of women worldwide have experienced physical and/or sexual intimate partner or non-partner violence in their lifetime.

11. What is 'structural violence' as theorised by Johan Galtung?

    Harm built into the structure of society — through unequal institutions, laws, and distribution of resources — that prevents people from meeting basic needs, even with no identifiable perpetrator. It is indirect and often invisible.

12. What is 'direct violence' in Galtung's typology?

    Visible, intentional physical or verbal harm with an identifiable actor and victim — e.g., beating, rape, or murder — as opposed to indirect structural violence.

13. What is 'cultural violence' in Galtung's framework?

    Aspects of culture (religion, ideology, language, art) that legitimise and justify direct and structural violence, making them appear natural or acceptable.

14. How do Galtung's three forms of violence relate to one another?

    They form a 'violence triangle': cultural violence legitimises direct and structural violence; structural violence creates conditions for direct violence; direct violence is the visible expression. Each reinforces the others.

15. What is the core claim of feminist theory regarding violence against women?

    That violence against women is a product of patriarchy and unequal gender power relations, functioning as a means to maintain male dominance and female subordination, not as isolated individual pathology.

16. What does the 'patriarchy' theory explain about GBV?

    That a social system organised around male authority and control normalises men's power over women, making violence a tool to enforce gendered hierarchies and discipline women's behaviour.

17. What does the 'cycle of violence' theory (Lenore Walker) describe?

    A recurring three-phase pattern in abusive relationships: (1) tension-building phase, (2) acute battering/explosion incident, and (3) honeymoon/reconciliation phase, which then repeats.

18. What is 'learned helplessness' in the context of domestic violence?

    A psychological state, described by Lenore Walker, in which a victim subjected to repeated, unpredictable abuse comes to believe escape is impossible and stops trying to leave or resist.

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