Violence Against Women

A Significant Public Health Problem 

Women are five times more likely than men to be victims of intimate partner violence; and from 1992 to 1998, "violent victimization by an intimate partner" accounted for 22 percent of the violence experienced by women.

The consequences of this violence can be both psychological (including depression, anxiety, suicide attempts and re-victimization) and physical (including broken bones, bruises, sexually transmitted diseases and miscarriages).  Slightly more than half of female victims of intimate partner violence are physically injured by the attack, but just four in ten of these women seek professional medical treatment.

The economic consequences of violence against women is estimated to be as high as $67 billion annually based on the costs of medical treatment, lost worker productivity and quality of life, according to a report published by the Institute for Women's Policy Research. 

In 1998 there were approximately 2.8 million aggravated and simple assaults on women.  Women who are assaulted "are more likely" to be younger, separated or divorced, of lower socioeconomic status, and unemployed, finds a report published in the Journal of the American Women's Association.

Pregnancy also is a period of increased risk for women to be assaulted by an intimate partner.

Homicide

Women are more likely than men to be killed by someone they know, and nearly one-third of women are killed by an intimate partner compared to approximately four percent of men.  On average, over recent decades, the number of male victims of intimate partner homicide has fallen four percent while the number of female victims has only declined by one percent.

Elder Mistreatment    

Elder abuse can include physical, psychological, sexual or financial abuse.  It is a particularly important health problem for women; the majority of studies have concluded that women are more likely to be victims of elder abuse than men.  There were 227,000 cases of elder mistreatment reported in 1991 an increase of 94 percent since 1986, according to an article published in the Journal of the American Women's Association.

Note

The full text of The Women's Health Data Book: A Profile of Women's Health in the United States, including the chapter on violence against women, was produced jointly by the Jacobs Institute of Women's Health and the Henry J.  Kaiser Family Foundation. Edited by Dawn Misra, Ph.D., The Women's Health Data Book brings together the most important statistics and trends on women's health today.  It also highlights the latest statistics on the prevalence of violence using data from a variety of independent, academic and federal sources including the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).