Business of LifeThese are very startling figures from the UN. The study has been published as a book, "Women in an Insecure World."
There is a shortfall of some 200 million women in the world -- "missing' due to what a three-year study on violence against women calls "gendercide."
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Theodore Winkler, head of the research center that directed the project said:
"The deeply rooted phenomenon of the violence against women is one of the great crimes of humanity. We cannot close our eyes to it and hope it simply goes away,"
Gender-related abortions and infanticides were the leading causes for the shortfall in the female population. Another factor was domestic violence, including so-called honor killings in some cultures.
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Winkler said violence against women was the fourth-leading cause of premature death on the planet, ranking behind only disease, hunger and war.
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The book uses U.N., World Heath Organization and government reports and photographs to examine the plight of women. According to a study based on 50 surveys from around the world, "at least one out of every three women has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime."