Gender-based definition
Gender-based violence: means any act of violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivations of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life. Gender- based violence includes: physical, sexual and psychological violence within the family; child sexual abuse; dowry-related violence; marital rape; female genital mutilation; rape and sexual abuse; sexual harassment in the workplace and educational institutions; trafficking in women; and forced prostitution (UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women, 1993).
Gender-based means that the behaviour relates specifically to gender. In other words, the offensive behaviour references gender (e.g. overt sexual solicitation) or the behaviour occurs because of the gender (e.g. an offensive joke does not refer to sex, but the joke is played to embarass the person because she is a woman).