Below are some statistics in regards to violence against women:

On the average, more than three women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends every day. ^[1]

92% of women say that reducing domestic violence and sexual assault should be at the top of any formal efforts taken on behalf of women today. ^[2]

1 out of 3 women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused during her lifetime. ^[3]

1 in 5 female high school students reports being physically and/or sexually abused by a dating partner. Abused girls are significantly more likely to get involved in other risky behaviors. They are 4 to 6 times more likely to get pregnant and 8 to 9 times more likely to have tried to commit suicide. ^[3]

1 in 3 teens report knowing a friend or peer who has been hit, punched, slapped, choked or physically hurt by his/her partner.

As many as 324,000 women each year experience intimate partner violence during their pregnancy. ^[5]

Violence against women costs companies $72.8 million annually due to lost productivity. ^[6]

Ninety-four percent of the offenders in murder-suicides were male. ^[7]

Seventy-four percent of all murder-suicides involved an intimate partner(spouse, common-law spouse, ex-spouse, or boyfriend/girlfriend). Of these, 96 percent were females killed by their intimate partners. ^[7]

Most murder-suicides with three or more victims involved a “family annihilator” — a subcategory of intimate partner murder-suicide.Family annihilators are murderers who kill not only their wives/girlfriends and children, but often other family members as well,before killing themselves. ^[7]

Seventy-five percent of murder-suicides occurred in the home. ^[7]

Violence and Teens

Approximately one in three adolescent girls in the United States is a victim of physical, emotional or verbal abuse from a dating partner – a figure that far exceeds victimization rates for other types of violence affecting youth.13 One in five tweens – age 11 to 14 – say their friends are victims of dating violence and nearly half who are in relationships know friends who are verbally abused. Two in five of the youngest tweens, ages 11 and 12, report that their friends are victims of verbal abuse in relationships.

Teen victims of physical dating violence are more likely than their non-abused peers to smoke, use drugs, engage in unhealthy diet behaviors (taking diet pills or laxatives and vomiting to lose weight), engage in risky sexual behaviors, and attempt or consider suicide.

Consequences of Violence

Women who have experienced domestic violence are 80 percent more likely to have a stroke, 70 percent more likely to have heart disease, 60 percent more likely to have asthma and 70 percent more likely to drink heavily than women who have not experienced intimate partner violence.

In the United States in 1995, the cost of intimate partner rape, physical assault and stalking totaled $5.8 billion each year for direct medical and mental health care services and lost productivity from paid work and household chores.21 When updated to 2003 dollars, the cost is more than $8.3 billion.

Sexual and domestic violence are linked to a wide range of reproductive health issues including sexually transmitted disease and HIV transmission, miscarriages, risky sexual health behaviour and more.

Photos (L to R)
Highlands Community Services. (2009). Retrieved on February 20, 2010, from http://www.highlandscsb.org/images/family-arguing.jpg

Mimouna, Mary. (2007). Retrieved on February 20, 2010, from http://elementaryteacher.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/parents-arguing-in-front-of-the-children-prp022.jpg


Information was researched from
Fungkeblakchick.com. (2009). October is domestic violence awareness month. Retrieved on February 12, 2010, from http://www.fungkeblakchik.com/2009/10/01/october-is-domestic-violence-month/

Family Violence Prevention Fund. (2009). Get the Facts: The Facts on Domestic, Dating and Sexual Violence. Retrieved on October 31, 2009, from http://endabuse.org/content/action_center/detail/754

[1] Bureau of Justice Statistics Crime Data Brief, Intimate Partner Violence, 1993-2001, February 2003.
[2] Progress & Perils: New Agenda for Women, Center for the Advancement of Women. June 2003.
[3] Silverman, Jay G., Raj, Anita, and Clements, Karen. “Dating Violence Against Adolescent Girls and Associated Substance Use, Unhealthy Weight Control, Sexual Risk Behavior, Pregnancy, and Suicidality.” Pediatrics, August 2004.
[4] Teenage Research Unlimited. Findings from study commissioned by Liz Claiborne Inc. to investigate the level of and attitudes towards dating abuse among American teenagers aged 13 to 18 [online] 2005 Feb [cited 2006 Mar 20]. Available from: URL: www.loveisnotabuse.com/statistics_abuseandteens.htm
[5] Gazmararian JA, Petersen R, Spitz AM, Goodwin MM, Saltzman LE, Marks JS. “Violence and reproductive health; current knowledge and future research directions.” Maternal and Child Health Journal 2000; 4(2):79-84.
[6] Costs of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in the United States. 2003. Center for disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Atlanta, GA
[7] Violence Policy Center (VPC), American Roulette: Murder-Suicide in the United States, April 2006.