Impact of Trauma on the Rights and Well-Being of Women and Girls across the Lifespan

Trauma-informed care represents a crucial element to improving care and decreasing the significant morbidities associated with trauma across the lifecycle of women. Since women are disproportionately victims of certain types of trauma and because the victims' reactions frequently also follow sex and gender-specific patterns, it is necessary to address trauma from a sex and gender perspective. The experiences of women and girls may include a single traumatic event or complex events involving domestic violence, sexual violence, child abuse, mental illness, suicide, homelessness, community violence, school violence, war, religious conflict, natural disasters, emergencies, or human-caused disaster. The violations of women's rights associated with many of these traumas alone justify intervention. Moreover, research findings suggest that if left unchecked, trauma-affected women and girls become vulnerable to other traumatic events, PTSD, depression, anxiety, substance abuse problems and elevated rates of chronic disease, including, but not limited to heart disease. Given the gravity of these health outcomes, the presented collaborative effort has developed and implemented initiatives that address the lack of information regarding exposure to trauma, the impact of trauma on women and girls, and the need to provide trauma-informed care. Some examples include efforts to increase awareness among caregivers and informing policy. Trauma-informed care thus offers a vital framework for alleviating the physical and mental health burdens of trauma for women and girls, increasing sensitivity of medical professionals and their capacity to appropriately serve victims of trauma, and preventing retraumatization.