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Preface

This publication presents results from the national Women's Safety Survey conducted in February to April 1996. The survey provides information on women's safety at home and in the community and, in particular, on the nature and extent of violence against women in Australia.

Information is presented about the prevalence of physical and sexual violence experienced by women and the nature of this violence, including: relationship to the perpetrator (male and female), where the violence occurred, and whether or not injuries were sustained. Additional information is reported about the actions taken in response to occurrences of violence, women's fears of violence and incidents of stalking and other forms of harassment.

The survey was funded by the Office of the Status of Women (OSW) and the Commonwealth Department of Health and Family Services, both of which have responsibility for developing and implementing policies relating to women.

A Survey Reference Group, comprising experts in the field of crime and violence against women, provided the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) with advice on the information to be collected and on some aspects of survey methodology. Members of the group included representatives from State and Commonwealth health departments, crime research agencies, women's services providers, women's health research organisations, academics and OSW.

The ABS was solely responsible for the development and conduct of the survey. As for all ABS surveys, extensive testing was carried out to ensure that the survey would collect objective and high quality data.

The ABS would like to thank the 6,300 women who completed the survey. Their participation has ensured the production of results which will be valuable for informing public debate about violence against women and the further development of policies and programs aimed at prevention.

INTRODUCTION

POLICY CONTEXT

Violence in society takes many forms. Men, women and children can all be victims as well as perpetrators of violence. Also, the nature and prevalence of violence experienced by different groups is known to differ, depending on age, gender, the closeness of the relationship between perpetrator and victim, and whether it occurs in private or public domains. However, governments, at Commonwealth and State levels, and community service groups have in recent years given increasing attention to the development of laws, policies and programs designed to assist women subjected to physical and sexual violence and to minimise the level of violence against women, with violence between partners a major area of concern.

Actions taken over the last two decades include:

• the establishment of various support services such as rape crisis centres and, for women escaping domestic violence, temporary housing and other support services;
  
• the formation of specialised police and medical service units with expertise in investigating complaints, collecting evidence and treating women who are victims of violence; and
  
• the reform of laws enabling women to obtain protection from domestic violence through the police and courts.
  

• whether violence against women was an issue of significant government and community interest;
  
• whether objective and high quality data could be collected; and
  
• whether the information collected would inform public debate and discussion.
  

2.1 WOMEN'S EXPERIENCE OF VIOLENCE(a) DURING THE LAST 12 MONTHS

(a) A woman could have experienced both physical and sexual violence, as well as both assault and threat. A woman could have experienced violence by both a male and female perpetrator. The components when added may therefore be larger than the total.

Younger women were more at risk of violence than older women. 19% of women aged 1824 had experienced an incident of violence in the previous 12 month period, compared to 6.8% of women aged 3544 and 1.2% of women aged 55 and over.

2.3 WOMEN'S EXPERIENCE OF PHYSICAL VIOLENCE BY A MAN DURING THE LAST 12 MONTHS,
Type of Physical Violence in the Last Incident

48% of women who were physically assaulted by a man in the previous 12 month period (140,900) sustained physical injuries in the last incident. The most common injuries were bruises, cuts and scratches (see table 3.14).
More women experienced physical violence from a current or previous partner than from a stranger or another man known to them (such as a relative, friend, work colleague or professional). In the previous 12 month period, 104,600 women experienced physical violence by their current partner, 75,800 by a previous partner and 67,300 by a stranger.

2.4 WOMEN WHO EXPERIENCED VIOLENCE BY A MAN DURING THE LAST 12 MONTHS,
relationship to perpetrator

2.5 WOMEN WHO WERE PHYSICALLY ASSAULTED BY A MAN DURING THE LAST 12 MONTHS,
Actions taken After the Last Incident

table 4.8). The main reason given for not contacting the police after the last incident of physical assault was that women wished to deal with the incident themselves (42%). A further 27% said they did not regard the incident as serious (see table 4.6).

VIOLENCE BY CURRENT PARTNERS

2.6% of women who were married or in a de facto relationship (111,000) experienced an incident of violence by their partner in the previous 12 month period, while 8.0% (345,400) reported an incident of violence at some time during their current relationship. Women were more at risk of physical violence than sexual violence by their partner. 7.6% of married women (329,700) reported an incident of physical violence by their partner at some time during the relationship and 1.0% (43,900) an incident of sexual violence (see table 6.4).

Half of the women who had experienced violence by their current partner said there had been more than one incident, 7.4% said it occurred often, while 26% said it occurred only rarely (see table 6.7).