Violence hurts 2 in 3 women
Two-thirds of West Australian women aged between 18 and 34 have experienced physical or sexual violence in the past year, new Australian Bureau of Statistics research shows, sparking fears about the State’s burgeoning violent underbelly. The West Australian
12th August 2006, 14:30 WST
The bureau’s latest personal safety survey shows an alarming number of women have been stalked, assaulted, threatened or victimised.
One in five women surveyed said they had been stalked at some stage, having been followed or had people loiter with the intention to harm or frighten them.
About 18 per cent had been harassed by obscene phone calls, subjected to inappropriate comments about their body or sex life and unwanted sexual touching in the past year.
And 17 per cent of respondents had been subjected to violence at the hands of a previous partner, while 15 per cent said they had been sexually assaulted.
Thirty-five per cent of respondents said they felt unsafe walking alone in their neighbourhoods at night and a quarter said they did not use public transport alone after dark because of safety fears.
Women’s Council for Domestic and Family Violence Services executive officer Angela Hartwig said data provided in the new survey was the tip of the iceberg and the issue needed to remain on the agenda of State and Federal governments.
“For us (these statistics are) not surprising given one in two women are turned away from women’s refuges in WA,” Ms Hartwig said. “Seeing these sorts of statistics is alarming for us because there’s a lot of State and national interventions in place and it’s not serving to reduce things in any sort of way.”
Victims’ advocate Georgia Prideaux said she was not surprised by the data that showed an overwhelming percentage of women — as many as one in four — had endured physical and sexual violence.
Ms Prideaux said violent outbursts were often prompted by emotional issues and compacted by alcohol or drug abuse or mental health problems.
“It would be a large majority (of incidents) that would be quite severe,” Ms Prideaux said. “Really it is a huge problem and it can escalate to the point where people lose their lives over it.”
Advocates for Survivors of Child Abuse spokeswoman Michelle Stubbs encouraged women who had been sexually assaulted to report incidents to police in an effort to minimise the risk of reoffending.
Nicole Cox
