Patriarchy and its hurtful symptoms endure around the world. Hence, it is not surprising that multi-country research consistently shows that one in three women globally will be physically or sexually assaulted in their lifetime. Undoubtedly, violence against women is one of this planet’s most compelling social problems, but some groups of women are at much more likely to be targeted than others.

Rates of victimization

Rural women are especially vulnerable, and their high rates of victimization add further empirical support to the claim that rural rates of crime, in general, may be higher than urban rates in particular types of rural places and for specific types of crime. Consider United States National Crime Victimization Survey data showing that the rates of all types of intimate violence in non-metropolitan districts are higher than those of their urban and suburban counterparts. Furthermore, the national Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health found that rates of violence against young women are the highest for those living in remote/ very remote areas and the lowest for those living in major cities. There is also ample evidence from smaller-scale investigations done around the world that rural women experience higher and more severe rates of sexual and physical violence than those who live in more densely populated locales. A few studies, too, reveal that rural women experience the highest rates of police-reported intimate violence victimization.

Types of violence

Violence against rural women, however, is not limited to acts of interpersonal violence such as forced penetration and beatings. It also consists of non-physical behaviours such as online stalking, as well as corporate and state–corporate violence against women. Corporate violence is any behaviour undertaken in the name of the corporation by decision makers or other persons of authority within the corporation that endangers the health and safety of employees or other persons who are affected by that behaviour.

Even acts of omission, in which various decision makers refuse to take action to reduce or eliminate known health and safety risks, must be considered corporate violence. State–corporate violence involves violent behaviours resulting from political institutions pursuing a goal in direct cooperation with corporations.