Why violence against women continues to rise despite policy protections in Southeast Asia
Why legal reforms alone are insufficient in addressing the deeply rooted social, cultural, and institutional barriers that continue to shape violence against women across Southeast Asia.
The issue of Violence Against Women (VAW) is one that is pervasively unique, given that it requires an excessive amount of mental, physical, and emotional labor from its victims to prove that the crime committed is one that is valid in the first place. Based on statistics reported by UN Women (2021), Southeast Asia bears witness to a prevalence of 33% of married or partnered women between the ages of 15-49 experiencing sexual and/or physical violence at the hands of current or former male partners at least once in their lives. The ASEAN has established a specific plan of action, one that requires a multi-faceted and multidimensional approach that begins with addressing the root of the problem through implementing preventative measures that approach gender-based violence on a unit-level basis. Specifically, preventative measures against VAW focus on education and building on proven strategies of awareness and empowerment-building amongst both young men and women in how consciousness regarding VAW is framed, emphasizing the way cases significantly harm their victims. The development of protection services for survivors through improving post-harm support systems, including ones that go beyond medical and psychological services, as well as the strengthening of legal structures that provide an improved sense of justice for victims, including the institutionalization of quality assurance, are some of the other regional plans of action that tackle the elimination of VAW in Southeast Asia. While these frameworks present a comprehensive approach to eliminating violence against women, they often fall short in implementation, given that the burden of their execution falls on national governments, which often prioritize other countries’ interests, thus paying less attention to pressing VAW issues. This does not suggest that VAW is not considered a critical concern; rather, it indicates that recognition of a problem alone is insufficient without proper implementation tools.
Southeast Asia and violence against women, presented through statistics
To illustrate, Timor-Leste, as reported by CoWater International in 2024, reports a prevalence of 58.8% experiencing Intimate Partner Violence within their lifetime, reporting one of the highest frequencies of VAW globally. Comparatively, Indonesia reports a prevalence of 11.8%, with a study conducted in 2025 also recording a concerning number of reproductive-age women justifying marital violence, which is greatly influenced by educational attainment, socio-economic class, and cultural norms. These statistics do not imply that the women themselves are to blame for the perpetuation of such cultural norms, but are rather embedded in them in adapting to patriarchal norms reinforced by longstanding institutional structures.
In the cases of Vietnam and Cambodia, both boast an increasing decline in physical violence reports, but see a rise in sexual violence cases alongside it. This may be due to the fact that both countries have been somewhat successful in enforcing protections for victims of physical violence, due mostly to how visible a crime it is perceived to be, as opposed to how difficult it is to detect when sexual violence occurs. Rape kits are commonly utilized in the analysis of victims’ bodies to determine whether an assault has taken place, but these examinations also have their limitations in the way that samples are handled or retrieved. Specifically, there have been accounts of needed samples being collected from victims, but not being examined properly or at all.
In contrast, Malaysia reports significantly less cases when it comes to physical violence, but comparatively exhibits a higher prevalence of psychological and emotional forms of intimate partner violence, with these statistics relating significantly to lower educational background, lower socio-economic status, and exposure to substance abuse within the household. Similar to Vietnam and Cambodia’s rising sexual violence cases, emotional and psychological abuse are less detectable by a legal system, thus making it difficult to prove in open court, which goes along with socio-structural tolerance for gender based violence. Despite a lower prevalence in reported cases within Southeast Asia, Malaysia observes a concerning rise in reported VAW cases every year.
Thailand and Singapore, on the other hand, report a significantly lower prevalence in VAW — this, however, does not make them exempt from having any cases at all. In Thailand, despite extensive collaboration with the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, data from the Ministry of Public Health’s One Stop Crisis Center indicates that out of approximately 30,000 reported cases of violence, only 5,000 proceeded to police investigation, and just 1,500 resulted in arrests—illustrating a significant drop-off between reporting and legal accountability. Similarly, Singapore reports comparatively low prevalence of intimate partner violence, yet recorded an increase in reported cases, rising from 1,741 in 2022 to 2,008 in 2023.
A more complex case comes from the Philippines, where the Republic Act 9262: Violence Against Women and Children Act of 2004, characterizes intimate partner violence into four specific categories: physical, psychological, economic, and sexual. For physical violence, victims are required to submit a medico-legal form, issued by a certified doctor, or at the very least, detailed documentation with the victim’s identifiable face and injuries sustained from the abuse. However, for most cases, filing a case for VAW under physical violence without a medico-legal will result in the evidence being less credible. Additionally, psychological violence also requires a psychological report from an accredited mental health facility, which states that the victim undoubtedly has sustained mental trauma from the abuse. 17.5% of Filipina women between the ages of 15 and 49 have experienced intimate partner violence within their lifetimes, and even through addressing this concern, these numbers continue to grow.
What these patterns tell us
Finding the courage to report intimate partner violence cases is complex in its foundations. Considering the psychological turmoil that comes with retraumatization and a legal system that operates through patriarchal lenses, the process itself can be profoundly draining, both physically and emotionally. Often, the reporting of VAW cases to the proper authorities require complex processes that force victims to re-live some of the most devastating moments of their lives — these procedures include creating detailed written accounts of the abuse; rehashing these experiences verbally for law enforcement, lawyers, mental health practitioners, even before speaking before the court; and dealing with the risk of evidence not being sufficient enough on every level of the reporting process; to name but a few. In assessing the percentages presented above, one must take into account other limiting factors that contribute to the retrieval of this data, given also how not all cases of VAW are reported immediately or at all. This restricts accurate accounts for true frequency, as rampancy is, for the most part, higher than what is recorded. For lower-prevalence countries in VAW cases, their figures suggest that lower rates do not necessarily reflect lower incidence of violence, but may instead reflect variations in reporting mechanisms, institutional responsiveness, and survivor willingness to seek formal assistance.
Another element that complicates the reporting of these cases is how embedded modern society still is in patriarchal norms, which continue to show up even with significant development in women’s empowerment. These complications bleed into the way unit-level interactions address survivors, with subtle victim-blaming language being present even during the reporting process and earlier. Harmful questions such as “Why did you not choose a better partner?” or “Why did you not fight back?” place far too much responsibility onto the victim, overlooking the complexities of the abuse perpetrator and victim dynamic, which, most of the time, begin with the perpetrator projecting kindness before gradually displaying coercive and abusive tendencies. These small, subtle ways that victims find themselves discredited and shamed for actions that were committed toward them play a significant role in the dissuasion of participating in the reporting process, as survivors often anticipate further humiliation and fear that, despite engaging in formal mechanisms within the legal process, the outcome may still leave them vulnerable or at a disadvantage.
Additionally, the rampant rise of red pill content consumption amongst impressionable young men, on top of their engagement in actions that perpetuate rape and VAW culture through “locker room talk” and joking about domestic violence, plays a significant role in sustaining inequality and further victim-blaming behaviors. In this way, patriarchal norms are not only preserved but actively reproduced, undermining both prevention efforts and the effectiveness of existing legal protections.
What is the future of VAW policies in Southeast Asia?
The reality is, we can not reach the total elimination of Violence Against Women until society has reached a specific level of gender equality, where women’s issues are dealt with proper urgency and care. The issue with VAW frameworks does not just lie with policy, but a reflection of deeply entrenched social norms that continue to shape attitudes, behaviors, and institutional responses. The quest for eliminating all forms of VAW requires multiple phases of social reform, which should simultaneously proceed alongside sustained policy development. Significant effort must be directed toward challenging the normalization of abusive behaviors among women, while simultaneously reinforcing the unacceptability of such conduct among men.
This may be further advanced through strengthened policy measures, including the imposition of more stringent penalties for sexual violence and emotional abuse. Policymakers must also sustain collaboration with women-centered organizations to develop more responsive and adaptive frameworks, particularly those that address emerging forms of digitally facilitated abuse. These efforts should be complemented by the continued transformation of law enforcement institutions into safe, accessible, and survivor-centered spaces for reporting, grounded in sustained training that promotes trauma-informed and non-victim-blaming language. However, moving forward, a key question remains whether existing institutional reforms are sufficient to keep pace with the rapidly evolving methods of VAW. Equally pressing is the extent to which policy frameworks can meaningfully shift deeply embedded socio-cultural standards that continue to shape reporting behavior and institutional responses. As Southeast Asia continues to expand its legal and policy architecture on violence against women, future attention must be directed not only toward legislative strengthening but also toward assessing implementation gaps, vulnerabilities, and the persistence of cultural norms that mediate how violence is recognized, reported, and addressed.
This article reflects reporting and analysis made by The Southeast Asia Pacific Frontier. If you have additional context, a different take, or a perspective we’ve missed — whether you’re a researcher, a policy practitioner, or someone living with these realities on the ground — this is an evolving story and we’d like to hear from you. Drop a comment below or get in touch.
About Marianne Zabine Generoso
Marianne Zabine “Zabi” Generoso is a graduating senior under the Asian Studies program at the University of Sto. Tomas. She was the former Vice President for External Affairs at the UST Asian Studies Society, a position that allowed her to facilitate community development programs such as “Girl Talk,” and “Sagip Kita Kaibigan: A Disaster Risk Reduction Initiative.” She specializes in wartime feminist research, and has a special interest in the role of Gender in international politics.