Measuring Violence Against Women

Violence against women includes physical, sexual and psychological violence that can occur anywhere, including within the family unit.

Spousal Assault

• According to the 2004 General Social Survey (GSS), 7% of women living with a spouse, in either common-law or marital relationship, reported being physically or sexually assaulted by their partner at least once during the previous five years.  This represents 653,000 women in Canada and is an 8% decrease from 1999. 
• Age is found to be a risk factor for spousal homicide.  Young couples have the highest spousal homicide rates.
• Alcohol abuse at the time of spousal assault incidents tends to result in more frequent assaults and higher levels of injury.  According to the 2004 GSS, 44% of female victims of spousal assault were more likely than male victims (24%) to indicate that their spouse had been drinking at the time of the assault.  Although alcohol abuse is highly correlated with spousal abuse, it cannot be said to be the direct cause of violence.

Sexual Assault

• The 2004 GSS indicates that 3% of women reported being sexually assaulted in the previous 12 months period; this same survey, however, suggests that only 8% of sexual assaults are reported to police.
• While interviewing sexual assault survivors, the reasons behind women’s decisions not to report the assault to police include: 
  • believing that the police could not do anything to help them;
  • wanting to keep the incident private;
  • feeling ashamed or embarrassed;
  • being reluctant to become involved with the police and courts;
  • fearing that she would not be believed;
  • not being sure the incident was a crime;
  • not having sufficient proof;
  • fearing the perpetrator;
  • not wanting the perpetrator arrested or jailed (Kong et al. 2003; Lievore 2003).
• Women under the age of 25 show the highest rates of sexual assault and criminal harassment.  These rates decline as the age increases.
• In 2004, 86% of victims of sexual assaults reported to police were female.  Only 38% of cases of sexual assault and 37% of sexual offences resulted in a conviction.
• About 6 in 10 convictions for sexual assault (63%) and sexual offences (61%) received a period of incarceration; however, conditional sentences were used more often in sexual assaults than in other violent crime cases.

Criminal Harassment

• In 2004, 75% of all criminal harassment incidents reported to police were directed at women. Half of these reports were from women being stalked by a person with whom they had an intimate relationship.  In 2004, 2,030 male partners were reported for stalking to police.

Psychological Impacts of Violence

• The GSS indicates that among those who use public transit, 58% of women were worried about their safety after dark while waiting or using public transit.  There was also another 27% of women that were worried about being alone at night in their home and 16% felt unsafe walking alone after dark.

Physical Consequences

• Women are more than twice as likely as male victims to be physically injured by partners; six times more likely to receive medical attention; five times more likely to be hospitalized due to injuries; three times more likely to have to take time off work due to consequences of violence and are twice as likely to report chronic, ongoing assaults.

Note:  Figures may not add up to 100% due to multiple responses.
Source:  Statistics Canada, General Social Survey, 2004

Source:  Statistics Canada, Measuring Violence Against Women, Statistical Trends 2006.