MEDIA RELEASE
25 February 2014	Embargo: 11.30 am (Canberra Time)	21/2014

Women were two and half times more likely than men to have experienced violence by a partner in the past 12 months, according to the Gender Indicators report released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). ABS Director of Living Conditions, Caroline Daley, said that 1.5 per cent of women (133,000) aged 18 years and over had experienced violence by a partner in 2012 compared to 0.6 per cent of men (52,000).

Women were also more than twice as likely as men to have experienced sexual violence - 1.2 per cent (102,000) of women compared to 0.5 per cent (41,000) of men. Ms Daley welcomed the new data showing a decrease between 2005 and 2012 in the proportion of men who had experienced violence in the past 12 months (from 11 per cent of men in 2005 to nine per cent in 2012) but noted no statistically significant change for women (from six per cent of women in 2005 to five per cent in 2012). Ms Daley added, "While the number of men experiencing physical violence in 2012 has declined by around 18 per cent since 2005, men remain nearly twice as likely as women to experience physical violence." Of the 1.2 million Australians aged 18 years and over in 2012 who had experienced some form of violence in the last 12 months, two thirds were men (737,000) and one third were women (467,000). The Gender Indicators publication also looked at carer responsibilities and found that twice as many women as men were providing primary care to a person with a disability (536,000 and 233,000 respectively). However, women with a job were more likely to manage their caring responsibilities through part-time work than men. More information can be found in Gender Indicators (cat. no. 4125.0) available for free download from the ABS website (www.abs.gov.au). Media notes: When reporting ABS data you must attribute the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or the ABS) as the source. The Personal Safety Survey collected information from men and women aged 18 years and over about their experience of violence since the age of 15. Violence is defined as any incident involving the occurrence, attempt or threat of either physical or sexual assault experienced by a person since the age of 15. Physical assault involves the use of physical force with the intent to harm or frighten a person. Physical threat is an attempt to inflict physical harm or a threat or suggestion of intent to inflict physical harm, made face-to-face where the person believes it is able to and likely to be carried out. Sexual assault is an act of a sexual nature carried out against a person's will through the use of physical force, intimidation or coercion, and any attempts to do this. Sexual threat is the threat of an act of a sexual nature, made face-to-face where the person believes it is able to and likely to be carried out. The term 'partner' in the Personal Safety Survey is used to describe a person the respondent lives with, or lived with at some point, in a married or de facto relationship.