Woman who has been subjected to 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.
European Parliament, Policy Department C: Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs (2013). Overview of the Worldwide Best Practices for Rape Prevention and for Assisting Women Victims of Rape.
The concepts and definitions found in this glossary were published in 2016, and some may be out-of-date. EIGE is currently looking into which terms may need to be updated in the future.