CRSV’s Gender Gap Explained
A Woman’s Issue
In 2025, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General reported 381 cases of CRSV. Of these 381 people:
240 were women
124 were men
17 were minors (girls and boys)
Whether it happens in Ethiopia or Ukraine, throughout history Conflict Related Sexual Violence overwhelmingly affects women and girls.
This impact is amplified by female survivors having to also contend with potential pregnancies and miscarriages.
However, classifying CRSV as a women’s issue erases the devastating and complex impacts it has on men and boys.
In South Sudan, one female survivor recounted the story of a male survivor who committed suicide soon after his rape.
The truth is CRSV is not a respecter of gender or age - it can and does happen to anyone.
Since CRSV contains both penetrative and non-penetrative acts - that means there are many more survivors of CRSV than initially thought.
Survivors don’t just extend to those who were physically assaulted, but also include the people who may have been forced to watch.
These secondary survivors’ lives are forever marked by circumstances like:
The screams they could do nothing to stop.
Having loved ones they no longer know how to interact with.
Being the children born from conflict-related rape.
CRSV has a destructive toll on the family unit, the communal unit, and a survivor’s connection to their homeland.