The top 5 hidden ways Christian women are persecuted

When Batoul*, a young woman now in her late 20s, chose Jesus, she had no idea what she was getting into. Where she lives in North Africa, leaving Islam is seen as betrayal of family and tribe. Batoul’s mother and sisters repeatedly beat and ostracized her.

After converting from Islam, Jorina, a young woman in northern Bangladesh, and her family were ostracized and subjected to humiliating rituals. Messaging from radical Islamic leaders gives her community the freedom to publicly humiliate her, even to the point of threatening Jorina’s life.

For Christians like Batoul and Jorina, their identity as a Christian and a woman puts them at risk. In addition to being doubly vulnerable on account of their faith and gender, they might also be targeted for their ethnicity, age, or for being displaced. Throughout the world, those opposed to God’s people and the gospel use whatever tool is most effective and accessible to destroy individuals in ways that ripple out to the family and community—ultimately attempting to cripple the church.

For Christian women, these tools take multiple forms but they are typically hidden, often behind closed doors. On the surface, a woman’s persecution experience may not always show, but as Jorina’s and Batoul’s stories reveal, Christian girls and women live with hidden, internal wounds.



In places where women are seen as second-class citizens or are totally dependent on male relatives, they can be confined to the home by family members and forbidden from seeking Christian community. In Batoul and Jorina’s cultures, women can be singled out for mistreatment, causing them so much shame that they may doubt or even give up on faith. Ensuing feelings of isolation, discouragement, hopelessness and oppression only compound the situation.

  Batoul’s status as an unmarried woman adds an extra layer of difficulty for her. “The pressure on us as women doubles in the society,” she explains. “[One] difficulty for Christian women is how they can attend church; a man can leave the house with no issue whatsoever… but a girl will be interrogated [about] where she’s going … she’ll go through intensive questioning. A lot of girls can’t go to church because their family doesn’t allow the girl to go out unless accompanied by the whole family.”

Based on five years of research for the World Watch List (from 2019 to 2024), we have identified the top five unique and specific ways women are suffering for their faith and gender in our world today. It is rare that one of these five forms of persecution is experienced in isolation. Christian women and girls most often experience a myriad of factors that combine to form a complex web of pressure and violence.

The findings are difficult and the stories even more so, but it’s important to understand what’s happening and how we, as God’s people, can pray with and support our sisters.
 

Forced marriage

The idea of being forced by your family or culture to marry someone may seem archaic, but is a concerningly common practice throughout the world, often used to persecute a girl or woman for her decision to follow Jesus. Based on seven years of data from our Open Doors research unit, forced marriage is one of the most prevalent persecution tactics women endure for their faith.

Forced marriage is a specific form of exploitation, intimidation and control used throughout the world. In North Africa, for example, young female Christian converts from a Muslim background can be forced into marriage to keep them from dishonoring their families for leaving the family religion, as well as prevent them from pursuing their faith. Often, families force women to marry much older men with the hope that her husband will force her to return to Islam.

While not a possibility for many, women who resist being pressured into marriage risk significant conflict and even house arrest. And women who are forced into marriages encounter a set of unique and long-term challenges to their faith, alongside the human rights violations associated with all forced marriages. This includes having to follow Jesus in secret, being unable to meet with other believers, or raise their children as Christians.


 

Sexual violence

The horrific crime of sexual violence also ranks in the top five of the most prevalent persecution tools against Christian women. In sub-Saharan Africa, physical violence, often highly visible, is the main weapon against men during an extremist attack, while sexual violence—against women and girls—is widespread.

A regional expert notes that in the Central African Republic (where at least 100 Christians were raped or suffered sexual harassment last year), “Christian women and girls face heightened risks of rape … and forced marriage during militant attacks. Instances of sexual slavery for abducted girls are reported.”

Former Boko Haram captive Habiba* knows that pain firsthand. She was only 13 when militants attacked her village in Burkina Faso and kidnapped her, along with others including her mother and younger sister. She shares her pain: “The pastor’s granddaughter and I were forced to get married there. I was 13 years old, but she was only 11. They raped us. I was just waiting for my turn to be killed. Sometimes I even thought about doing it myself to be free from this suffering.”

In places like Egypt, Pakistan and other places where female Christians are seen and treated as second-class citizens, our teams and local partners continue to share reports of sexual violence, often committed by small groups of community members or extremists as a warning to other Christians and as a means to intimidate and generate fear.
 

Physical violence

Christian women also endure physical violence. Years of reports and data show that where Christian persecution is already prevalent, situations with high levels of violence can create further opportunities for targeting Christians. From acid attacks in Pakistan and beatings in Vietnam by family members to violent torture by extremist groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, women are targets.

  While both male and female converts face pressure if their faith is discovered, female converts are more vulnerable to domestic violence, placing them under extreme pressure to give up their faith in Jesus. In northern Vietnam, for example, Chu* was beaten severely when tribal leaders pressured her husband to “bring his wife back to our beliefs.”

“When my husband returned home from the meeting, I asked what the government said,” she says. “He said, ‘It’s because of you that we’re being threatened, because you follow Jesus.’ Then he picked up the stick.”
 

 

Psychological violence

Across the 50 countries on the World Watch List, psychological violence has been used in a targeted and specific way against women over the past five years. Whereas men commonly experience stress and coercion in the public sphere, women and girls are placed under immense pressure behind closed doors. While this tactic may not leave physical scars, the intentional use of words or actions—such as intimidation, threats, criticism and isolation— can do irreparable harm.

When a woman leaves the family religion to follow Jesus—and it’s discovered—the most immediate consequence for what they see as “betrayal” is rejection or control from her family. If she is married, she may be expelled from her home and will likely lose custody of her children. Many women in this situation may face forced divorce. If she is unmarried, she might be placed under house arrest where she’ll be isolated from family members and confined to a room with little to eat—all in a cruel attempt to bring her back to the family’s religion.

Jorina shares that in Bangladesh where she lives, the main persecution drivers are families and communities. So when a woman becomes a Christian, she will be excommunicated. Their family will stop all interactions with them and keep them isolated.
 

Abduction

The idea that a girl or woman would be viciously abducted from her home and family for her faith is difficult to fathom. And yet, abduction has been identified as one of the most prevalent ways that women experience persecution. Without warning, groups of women can suddenly be abducted in extremist attacks on their communities, as well as individually in covert kidnappings. These abductions are devastating for the individuals affected, and such tactics are commonly used as a weapon against Christian communities.

In Nigeria and throughout sub-Saharan Africa, for example, the pattern is all too familiar. In the last decade—since the kidnapping of 276 girls in Chibok, which gained national headlines—Nigeria has seen more than 1,700 children abducted, according to Amnesty International. Often, abduction and forced marriage go hand-in-hand. Women who are abducted can face death, slavery (sexual and physical) and forced marriage to their abductors. In the case of the Chibok girls, at least 20 women were reportedly forced into marriage to Boko Haram fighters.

Additionally, according to Open Doors research, Nigeria is the country with the largest number of faith-related kidnappings in the world. During the 2025 World Watch List reporting period, at least 2,830 people (women and men) were kidnapped in Nigeria.

The effect of this threat on the church is difficult to overstate. Families, communities and churches are severely weakened when women and girls are kidnapped, even if they are later released or recovered. Women and girls who were forcibly married, impregnated or survived sexual assault can face ripple effects through the rest of their lives, including shame and rejection at home.

An Open Doors field partner and trauma care worker shares that “there is a lot of shame and stigma around Christian women who were kidnapped and forced into marriage. When they finally escape or are released with their children, they do not just return to their previous lives. Not only do they sometimes face rejection from their husbands, but often their wider communities.” For example, In Central African Republic, social ostracism has historically extended to calling survivors “Seleka women” while in Nigeria, babies born of rape might be called “Boko babies”—both terms referencing the militant groups that kidnap and sexually assault women.

While survivors who return to their homes face challenges such as these, many women and girls who are abducted never return at all. The loss of daughters, wives and mothers shatters Christian communities.


 

Strength in resilience

While the stories of Batoul and Jorina, plus many others’, reveal the cost of following Jesus as a woman, they also show us God at work even in the most difficult environments—how He has empowered and chosen those who are often regarded as weak or outcasts and given them the right to be called daughters of God.

In John 20, we read that Jesus chose Mary Magdalene to announce His resurrection to His 12 disciples. In the same way, Jesus empowered Mary to tell the Good News, Open Doors wants to see every woman equipped and empowered to live as a powerful witness for Christ and His Kingdom, knowing their status and identity as daughters of God.

While it might be easy to reduce persecuted Christian women and girls to an identity of victimhood, the reality is that they should be recognized as agents of change who can bring about meaningful impact in their communities.

Through your prayers and support, women are learning to be salt and light where they are, as our teams and local partners offer and lead women's conferences, systematic discipleship programs, SED (Socio-Economic Development) programs, persecution preparedness programs and psycho-social or emotional health assistance.

With support from Open Doors local partners, Jorina and her husband lead a house church, helping others come to faith. She also empowers women through a discipleship program, teaching them their value in God's eyes. Despite ongoing threats, she is determined to continue sharing the gospel and prays for her family's safety, the church's growth, and opportunities for women to serve the Lord.

Batoul is also teaching women like her through a ministry supported by our local partners. She offers them prayers and guidance and uses her experience and knowledge of God as her Heavenly Father to show them the truth of Jesus.

  Through these women and thousands of others following Jesus in places hostile to their faith and gender, we see powerful examples of perseverance and courage in the face of adversity. Their stories of faith, sacrifice and hope serve as a reminder of the strength found in resilience, even when confronted with seemingly overwhelming challenges. As they continue to navigate the complexities of their faith in a hostile environment, their lives stand as a testimony to God's sustaining grace and power.

“It’s through prayer that I can get through this,” Batoul says. “I have hope that the Lord will leave no one in the dark.”


 

Pray with your sisters on International Women’s Day (March 8)

Father, we thank you for how you love your people. Right now, we pray for all our sisters who risk so much to follow you. We pray they feel your comfort and know your Truth. We pray they sense their stories being told, and that they would bring about change in their communities … Finally, we pray that they know the prayers and love of their worldwide family. In your Son’s name, Amen.

*Name changed for security reasons