The Measurement of Violence Against Women VAW Angela

The Measurement of Violence Against Women (VAW) Angela Me UNECE Statistics Division

Beijing Platform for Action VAW is an obstacle to the achievement of the objectives of equality, development and peace. VAW violates and impairs or nullifies the enjoyment by women of their human rights and fundamental freedoms. VAW is a violation of human rights

How VAW can be defined? General Assembly “Any act of gender-based 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 deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life”

How VAW can be defined? It includes a broad range of acts Physical, sexual and psychological violence occurring in the family (including battering, sexual abuse of female children, dowry-related violence, marital rape) Physical, sexual and psychological violence occurring within the general community (including rape, sexual abuse, sexual harassment, trafficking in women and forced prostitution) Physical, sexual and psychological violence perpetrated or condoned by the State, wherever it occurs

How VAW can be measured? “Traditional sources” Police Statistics Types of crimes (VAW), Only reported crimes information on victims Only physical and offenders and their sexual relationship Homicide Statistics Information on victims Only physical and offenders and their sexual relationship Court statistics Cases of VAW processed, conviction, Only reported crimes Only physical and sexual

How VAW can be measured? Shortcoming of “traditional sources” Coverage They do not cover all form of VAW (psychological) They cover ONLY REPORTED crimes This is a limitation particularly for domestic violence (among the most common form of VAW)

Use of criminal justice and social services by female victims of spousal violence Source: Johnson, 1999 Canadian General Social Survey on Victimization, Statistics Canada

How VAW can be measured? Data on VAW based on police records Provide a biased view Give the wrong message for advocacy and policy making

Other existing sources? Service-based Data § § § Health records Welfare services Shelters Support services for survivors of violence Women lawyers’ associations

Other existing sources? Service-based Data Can provide a valuable source to show the limited number of cases covered by police records for example Can be used to monitor women that come forward for help Can provide case studies to study the root causes of violence and the circumstances Can help to estimate the cost to society to responding to VAW Can be used to estimate the need for training among service providers

Other existing sources? HOWEVER …. . Service-based Data They can NOT be used to measure the prevalence of violence in a country or community They suffer the same problem of undercounting (not all women report to services and those that do report tend to be the most seriously injured)

Other existing sources? Health Services Potentially they could become a more effective source of data by increasing disclosure through routine enquiry about violence and developing capacity to record, analyze and report the data on VAW Obligatory reporting of VAW by health workers? The effectiveness of these two issues is still under debate

Population-based Sample Surveys Reach women to ask about their experience on VAW They reflect actual occurrences of victimization rather than what is reported to officials They are the MOST RELIABLE method for collecting information on the extend of VAW

Population-based Sample Surveys Examples of National Surveys carried out within the framework of official statistics: Canada, Australia, Finland, France, United States, Italy Examples of International Surveys: WHO Multi-Country Study, International Violence against Women Surveys (IVAWS)

Ad-hoc Module in Surveys An ad-hoc module on VAW could be included in on-going surveys under the following conditions: • A full instrument has to be added (not • • only a limited number of questions) The safety of the women is not compromised The on-going survey should deal with similar topics (health, victimization)

Ad-hoc Module in Surveys Examples National Surveys: Canada, UK, USA International Surveys: Demographic and Health Survey Module, MICS Module (only to measure attitudes over VAW)

Percentages of all women and currently married women (age 15 -49) reporting violence from DHS Source: Kishor, DHS Country By anyone ever Spousal violence Ever Past year Cambodia 23 18 15 Colombia 41 44 - Dom. Rep. 17 22 11 Egypt 35 34 13 Haiti 35 29 21 India 21 19 10 Kenya 49 47 28 Nicaragua 33 30 13 Peru 53 42 - Zambia 59 48 27

Considerations in planning VAW Surveys • What type of violence to cover • • • Intimate partner violence Sexual abuse and rape Incest Emotional abuse Child abuse Abuse of domestic workers Violence by members of the extended family Economic violence Stalking Important to define what acts are considered violence

Considerations in planning and use VAW Surveys • How to ask women about their experience with violence (questionnaire design) • • Single direct questions or multiple behaviorally specific questions (“Have you ever been slapped, kicked, or beaten? ”). Behavior-based questions are considered more effective. Important to avoid words such as rape, abuse Reference period of victimization • • • Lifetime (used particularly for rape and sexual abuse) Previous 5 years, previous 12 months, previous 6 months The shorter the period, the more accurate are the data

Considerations in planning and use VAW Surveys • Reference population • 15 -49 • 15 or 18 years and plus • Only married or with partner • Some studies cover men as well • What to collect • Perpetrators (relationship with the victimized woman) • Injuries (very difficult to standardize it)

Considerations in planning and use VAW Surveys • What to report • Prevalence (example: percent of women 15 -49 who were victimized in the previous 12 months) • Severity (Number of beating by 1, 000 women 15 -49) • The Questionnaire needs to be properly tested

Considerations in planning and use VAW Surveys • Safety of women at first • Protect confidentiality of the data • • • During the interview In the storage and dissemination of the data Specialized training of interviewers • • • Technical Gender-sensitization Emotional (dealing with sensitive issues) Select proper women interviewers Filed staff should be trained to refer women requesting assistance to available sources of support

Considerations in planning and use VAW Surveys • Safety of women at first WHO Ethical and Safety Guidelines for Researching Domestic Violence against Women