survivor of gender-based violence

This term is often used interchangeably with the more conventional term victim. The term survivor may, however, be misleading when used about a woman who has been raped, since it might imply that her actions could have made a difference and thus be consistent with victim-blaming.

Despite the current debates on terms ‘victim’ and ‘survivor’ − for the sake of clarity and consistency − in all definitions in the Gender Equality Glossary related to gender-based violence we use term ‘victim’ as the same term is used in European and international sources.