Study
Exposes Extent of Abuse of Women
FRIDAY,
OCTOBER 6, 2006
An international study has found that violence against women committed by
their live-in spouses or partners is widespread, common in both the developed
and developing world, as well as in both rural and urban areas.
In interviews with nearly 25,000 women at 15 sites in 10 countries, researchers from the World Health Organization found that rates of partner violence ranged between 15 percent in Yokohama, Japan, to 71 percent in rural Ethiopia.
At six of the sites, 50 to 75 percent of women said they had been subjected to moderate or severe violence in the home. At 13 of the sites, more than a quarter of all women said they had suffered such violence in the past year.
"Violence by an intimate partner is a common experience worldwide," the authors wrote of the findings, which are being published in this week's issue of The Lancet, the British medical journal.
"In all but one setting, women were at far greater risk of physical or sexual violence by a partner than from violence by other people."
The report says that rural areas tended to have higher rates of abuse than cities. But no area was immune.
The study adds an important dimension to a growing body of research on violence toward women, a topic that has been fueled more by emotion than hard data in the past.
Previous studies had focused mostly on developed countries, mostly on the United States, said Claudia Garcia- Moreno, a researcher with the World Health Organization, the study's coordinator.
Because of a serious lack of scientific data on the magnitude of such violence, particularly in poorer countries, "there had been a lot of skepticism about whether it was a serious problem" or just a pet peeve of women's groups, Garcia-Moreno said.
Most partner abuse is hidden, and only a tiny fraction is reported to the authorities.
"We have always known that violence is part of women's lives," said Adrienne Germain, director of the International Women's Health Coalition in New York.
"But when we've talked about it before we were mostly dismissed - in the past we've often heard, 'Prove it. Prove that it's happening in our country.'"
She added, "I cannot emphasize how important this study is, and how crucial it is for the UN to be sponsoring something like this."
The researchers tried to look at the problem for the first time in a broad range of countries, using meticulously designed surveys and statistical techniques. Their work took root more than a decade ago, after organizers of the 1996 International Women's Conference in Beijing rued the lack of hard data on the issue and asked the World Health Organization for help.
For the study, 1,500 interviews each were conducted at sites in Bangladesh, Brazil, Ethiopia, Japan, Namibia, Peru, Samoa, Serbia, Thailand and Tanzania. In a few of the countries, researchers selected urban and rural sites for comparison.
The rate of abuse by partners is estimated to be around 20 to 25 percent in the European Union, studies have found, although the problem is reported to the police in only a tiny fraction of cases.
In the United States, national surveys by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have found that about 25 percent of women said they had been physically or sexually assaulted by a spouse, partner or date.
In the World Health Organization survey being issued Friday, one-fifth to two-thirds of women interviewed said it was the first time they had ever spoken of the abuse to anyone, Garcia- Moreno said.
The next step is to determine what puts women at risk for violence, the researchers said.
In urban sites like Belgrade or Yokahama, Japan, women were far less likely to have experienced violence from a partner in the previous 12 months - just 4 percent. One explanation, the researchers wrote, was that urban women might be better able to leave an abusive relationship because they often had an independent income and access to shelters for abused women, for example.
At all sites, from Bangkok to rural Peru, the presence of a controlling partner - a man who tried to restrict a woman's movements or was jealous of her outside contacts - was associated with a higher likelihood of abuse.
In the coming months, the researchers will be trolling through the huge data set for more answers.
But in the meantime, Garcia-Moreno said, widespread publicity of the findings in many of the countries has already "really got the ball rolling and made people much more aware of this hidden problem."
In interviews with nearly 25,000 women at 15 sites in 10 countries, researchers from the World Health Organization found that rates of partner violence ranged between 15 percent in Yokohama, Japan, to 71 percent in rural Ethiopia.
At six of the sites, 50 to 75 percent of women said they had been subjected to moderate or severe violence in the home. At 13 of the sites, more than a quarter of all women said they had suffered such violence in the past year.
"Violence by an intimate partner is a common experience worldwide," the authors wrote of the findings, which are being published in this week's issue of The Lancet, the British medical journal.
"In all but one setting, women were at far greater risk of physical or sexual violence by a partner than from violence by other people."
The report says that rural areas tended to have higher rates of abuse than cities. But no area was immune.
The study adds an important dimension to a growing body of research on violence toward women, a topic that has been fueled more by emotion than hard data in the past.
Previous studies had focused mostly on developed countries, mostly on the United States, said Claudia Garcia- Moreno, a researcher with the World Health Organization, the study's coordinator.
Because of a serious lack of scientific data on the magnitude of such violence, particularly in poorer countries, "there had been a lot of skepticism about whether it was a serious problem" or just a pet peeve of women's groups, Garcia-Moreno said.
Most partner abuse is hidden, and only a tiny fraction is reported to the authorities.
"We have always known that violence is part of women's lives," said Adrienne Germain, director of the International Women's Health Coalition in New York.
"But when we've talked about it before we were mostly dismissed - in the past we've often heard, 'Prove it. Prove that it's happening in our country.'"
She added, "I cannot emphasize how important this study is, and how crucial it is for the UN to be sponsoring something like this."
The researchers tried to look at the problem for the first time in a broad range of countries, using meticulously designed surveys and statistical techniques. Their work took root more than a decade ago, after organizers of the 1996 International Women's Conference in Beijing rued the lack of hard data on the issue and asked the World Health Organization for help.
For the study, 1,500 interviews each were conducted at sites in Bangladesh, Brazil, Ethiopia, Japan, Namibia, Peru, Samoa, Serbia, Thailand and Tanzania. In a few of the countries, researchers selected urban and rural sites for comparison.
The rate of abuse by partners is estimated to be around 20 to 25 percent in the European Union, studies have found, although the problem is reported to the police in only a tiny fraction of cases.
In the United States, national surveys by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have found that about 25 percent of women said they had been physically or sexually assaulted by a spouse, partner or date.
In the World Health Organization survey being issued Friday, one-fifth to two-thirds of women interviewed said it was the first time they had ever spoken of the abuse to anyone, Garcia- Moreno said.
The next step is to determine what puts women at risk for violence, the researchers said.
In urban sites like Belgrade or Yokahama, Japan, women were far less likely to have experienced violence from a partner in the previous 12 months - just 4 percent. One explanation, the researchers wrote, was that urban women might be better able to leave an abusive relationship because they often had an independent income and access to shelters for abused women, for example.
At all sites, from Bangkok to rural Peru, the presence of a controlling partner - a man who tried to restrict a woman's movements or was jealous of her outside contacts - was associated with a higher likelihood of abuse.
In the coming months, the researchers will be trolling through the huge data set for more answers.
But in the meantime, Garcia-Moreno said, widespread publicity of the findings in many of the countries has already "really got the ball rolling and made people much more aware of this hidden problem."
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