Why Marginalized Women Face Increased Risks of Violence

Violence against women is not a single-story issue. For millions of women around the world, their experiences of violence are shaped not just by their gender, but by multiple, overlapping systems of oppression. When a woman belongs to a marginalized community-whether because of her caste, economic status, sexual orientation, disability, or tribal identity-her vulnerability to violence increases dramatically. Understanding why marginalized women face heightened risks requires examining how different forms of discrimination intersect and compound one another, creating barriers that make both violence more likely and justice harder to access.

How intersecting identities amplify vulnerability 🔗

The concept of intersectionality, introduced by legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw, helps explain how different social identities overlap to create unique experiences of oppression. For marginalized women, gender discrimination does not exist in isolation. It interacts with other forms of marginalization to create compounded vulnerabilities.

Consider the situation of Dalit women in India. These women face a dual burden of discrimination rooted in both their gender and their position at the bottom of the caste hierarchy. Research shows that 62.4% of Dalit women report experiencing verbal abuse, 54.8% physical assault, 46.8% sexual harassment, and 23.2% rape. This violence is not random. It serves to maintain social hierarchies and is used as a tool to punish women who attempt to assert their rights or challenge discrimination.

Class further intensifies these vulnerabilities. Women from economically disadvantaged backgrounds often lack the resources to escape abusive situations. They may depend on their abusers for survival, have limited access to education about their rights, and face economic barriers that prevent them from seeking legal help. The intersection of poverty with gender and caste creates what researchers describe as a triple burden of marginalization.

Sexuality adds another layer of complexity. LGBTQ+ women experience violence both because of their gender and their sexual orientation or gender identity. Studies in India reveal that LGBTQ+ individuals face higher rates of domestic violence than their heterosexual counterparts, fueled by societal stigma and inadequate legal protections. Transgender women are particularly vulnerable, facing high rates of physical and sexual assault alongside social exclusion and economic marginalization. Their gender identity places them at the intersection of multiple forms of violence that heteronormative society refuses to acknowledge.

Systemic barriers to accessing justice 🔗

Even when marginalized women experience violence, numerous systemic inequalities prevent them from seeking or obtaining justice. The legal system itself often reflects and reinforces the same prejudices that make these women vulnerable in the first place.

Police apathy and institutional discrimination 🔗

Policing remains inconsistent in cases of gender-based violence, with some officers either taking no action, failing to register cases, or actively encouraging reconciliation. For Dalit women and other marginalized groups, this problem is magnified. Police officers may harbor caste-based prejudices that lead them to dismiss complaints or blame victims. Barriers include lack of access to legal resources, police apathy, social stigma, and victim-blaming attitudes within the community and among law enforcement.

Women from tribal communities face additional obstacles. Many live in remote rural areas where police stations and courts are physically inaccessible. Tribal women typically avoid bringing matters to formal justice systems due to their complexity and failure to provide assistance. Many lack awareness of legal avenues for seeking justice, and when they do attempt to demand their rights, they face high risks of community backlash.

Economic and social barriers 🔗

Legal proceedings require resources that many marginalized women simply do not have. Court fees, transportation costs, and the need to miss work create insurmountable barriers for women living in poverty. Even when legal aid is theoretically available, navigating bureaucratic systems requires literacy and knowledge that many marginalized women lack due to educational discrimination.

Social stigma compounds these challenges. In many communities, reporting violence-especially sexual violence-brings shame upon the victim and her family. For women whose survival depends on community support networks, the fear of social ostracism can be more powerful than the desire for justice. This is particularly true for women who challenge social norms, such as Dalit women who marry outside their caste or LGBTQ+ women whose very existence is seen as transgressive.

The disability dimension 🔗

Women with disabilities face particularly acute barriers to justice. Women and girls with disabilities are up to ten times more likely to experience violence than their non-disabled peers. In India alone, 11.8 million women and girls with disabilities face compounded vulnerabilities.

For these women, violence often occurs within their homes, perpetrated by trusted family members or caregivers. The fear of losing essential care keeps many survivors silent. Even when they attempt to seek help, inaccessible facilities and untrained staff often fail to meet the needs of disabled survivors. Police stations without ramps, courts without sign language interpreters, and shelters without accessible bathrooms all send a clear message: the justice system was not designed with you in mind.

Targeted violence against specific marginalized groups 🔗

LGBTQ+ women 🔗

LGBTQ+ women face violence that is specifically targeted at their sexual orientation or gender identity. This includes so-called corrective rape, physical assault by family members attempting to enforce heteronormative behavior, and denial of basic services. Research shows high levels of mental health burden among LGBTQ+ individuals linked to stigma, discrimination, and violence victimization.

Transgender women experience particularly severe forms of violence. Nearly half of hijra participants in one study reported physical violence in the previous six months and experiences of rape in the previous year. Many transgender individuals avoid accessing healthcare due to discrimination, preferring to self-medicate rather than face abuse from medical professionals.

Tribal women 🔗

Tribal women face abhorrent amounts of gender-based violence, including ostracism, verbal abuse, physical assault, and rape. This violence is often used to obstruct women from owning land and regularly goes unreported because cultural norms allow offenders to evade guilt. For single women, particularly widows, the violence can be even more extreme. Cultural beliefs in spirits and black magic lead to witch-hunting and torture, sometimes culminating in murder.

The dual system of statutory and customary law creates additional complications. While national laws may guarantee equality, customary practices in tribal areas often deny women inheritance rights and legal standing, effectively making them invisible to the formal justice system.

Women with disabilities 🔗

Beyond facing extraordinarily high rates of violence, women with disabilities encounter harmful stereotypes that undermine their autonomy. Beliefs that disabled women are incapable of consent or asexual contribute to their exclusion from sexual and reproductive health programs, depriving them of vital resources that could protect them from abuse.

Geographic isolation compounds these risks. Rural areas, where many disabled women live, often lack accessible healthcare, education, and transportation, trapping vulnerable individuals in abusive situations with no means of escape.

Pathways toward justice and protection 🔗

Addressing the increased vulnerability of marginalized women requires comprehensive, intersectional approaches that recognize how different forms of oppression interact.

Legal frameworks must be strengthened and, critically, enforced with an understanding of intersectional discrimination. Laws like India’s Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act exist on paper, but implementation remains weak. Police and judicial officers need training that goes beyond general gender sensitivity to address specific forms of discrimination faced by Dalit women, tribal women, LGBTQ+ individuals, and women with disabilities.

Service delivery systems-including police stations, courts, shelters, and helplines-must become genuinely accessible. This means physical accessibility for women with disabilities, but also cultural accessibility for tribal women, safety for LGBTQ+ individuals, and caste-sensitive approaches for Dalit women. Healthcare providers, police officers, and judicial personnel must receive training to identify violence and provide appropriate support without perpetuating the very prejudices that made women vulnerable in the first place.

Community-based support systems play a crucial role. Grassroots organizations led by marginalized women themselves often understand the specific barriers their communities face better than top-down interventions. Supporting these organizations, amplifying the voices of marginalized women in policy-making processes, and ensuring their meaningful participation in designing interventions creates more effective and sustainable solutions.

Data collection must improve dramatically. Without disability-disaggregated data, caste-specific reporting, and information on violence against LGBTQ+ individuals, the full scope of the problem remains invisible. What gets measured gets addressed-and marginalized women have been left uncounted for too long.

What do you think? How can societies better protect marginalized women who face multiple, overlapping forms of discrimination? What role should community organizations led by marginalized women themselves play in designing solutions to gender-based violence?

References

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intersectionality
2. https://www.socialstudiesjournal.com/archives/2025/vol7issue1/PartI/7-1-95-204.pdf
3. https://www.jusscriptumlaw.com/post/shattering-boundaries-navigating-the-intersections-of-gender-caste-and-class-in-india-s-quest-for
4. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12119-025-10440-2
5. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/india-country-policy-and-information-notes/country-policy-and-information-note-women-fearing-gender-based-violence-india-august-2025-accessible
6. https://equalitynow.org/resource/reports/justicedenied/
7. https://www.landesa.org/indias-tribal-women-left-behind-in-progress-toward-gender-equality/
8. https://india.unfpa.org/en/news/united-efforts-required-end-violence-against-people-disabilities
9. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10118178/
10. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9895954/