Facts About Domestic Violence

Violence against women is a prevalent and well-documented social problem in Canada.  If this is happening to you, remember that you're not alone.  There are thousands and thousands of women who have been through similar experiences to yours, and there is help available to you.

• One in four Canadian women have experienced violence at the hands of a current or past marital partner, since the age of sixteen.  (Violence Against Women Survey, Statistics Canada, 1993).



• A 1993 Statistics Canada national survey (n=12,300) on violence against women reported that 51% of Canadian women experienced at least one incident of physical or sexual violence since the age of sixteen, and that almost half of these incidents resulted in the woman being injured.



• Women with disabilities are 34% more likely than non-disabled women to be physically or sexually assaulted by their intimate partner (Family Violence Against Women with Disabilities, 1993, Health Canada).

Medical attention

• Eleven to thirty percent of women seeking care in the emergency room for any reason, have injuries as a result of domestic violence (J. Campbell 2002).



• Women who have been abused do not present with obvious trauma in the emergency room (Campbell 2002).



• 33 - 46% of women who were victimized by a spouse also reported sexual assault (Barkley-Burnet & Adler, 2005).



• 21% of women abused by a partner were assaulted while pregnant.  Of the women who were abused, 43% said that the abuse began during the pregnancy (Canadian Centre For Justice Statistics).



• One in six pregnant women are abused during pregnancy (Middlesex-London Health Unit, 2000).

Severity

• Women are more frequently subjected to severe forms of violence from men than men are from women.  For example, in 2004, twice as many women than men were beaten by their partners, and four times as many were choked.  As well, twice as many female as male victims of spousal assault reported chronic, ongoing assaults of ten or more. (Statistics Canada 2006).



• It is 9 times more likely that a woman will be killed by her partner than by a stranger (Statistics Canada).



• The percentage of men who were charged with first degree murder in spousal killings has risen over the past 30 years from 24% in the period 1975 to 1984 to 49% in the most recent decade (Statistical Trends Statistics Canada 2006).

Shelters

• In 1999-2000 96,359 women and dependent children were admitted to 448 shelters for abused women across Canada.  In comparison, 90,792 women and dependent children were admitted to 413 shelters in 1997-1998. (D. Locke, R. Codee; Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics 2001).



• On April 17, 2,000, 895 shelters turned away 476 people; 254 women and 222 children. More than 7 in 10 of these shelters (71) turned women and children away because the shelters were full. (D. Locke, R. Codee; Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics 2001).



• The majority of shelters offer in-house services including; individual short term counseling, specialized services for women aged 55 and older, housing referrals and parenting skills.

Children witnessing violence

• Children witnessed violence against their mothers in almost 40 percent of violent marriages (Violence Against Women Survey 1993, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics).



• 30-60%-children of abused women are likely to be abused (Jaffe et al 2002).