More than quarter of women experience intimate partner violence in their lifetime: study

Of these, 13% experienced this violence within the past year.

Evidence from a global database of surveys conducted between 2000 and 2018 suggests intimate partner violence starts early with 24% of women aged 15 to 19 experiencing violence from an intimate partner at least once since the age of 15.

The authors highlight an urgent need to strengthen the public health response to intimate partner violence in post-Covid-19 reconstruction efforts.

The data they used is from the World Health Organisation Global Database on the Prevalence of Violence Against Women, which covers 90% of women worldwide.

Intimate partner violence of ever-partnered women (which is defined as women who are or have been married, co-habit, or have a long-term sexual partner) refers to physically, sexually, and psychologically harmful behaviours in the context of marriage, cohabitation, or any other form of union.

It can have major short- and long-term impacts on the physical and mental health of the victim, leading to substantial social and economic costs for governments, communities, and individuals.

The study comes as the Minister for Justice outlined plans to establish a new statutory agency on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence.

Helen McEntee also said that the creation of 72 family refuge spaces and 10 replacement places in 10 locations will be prioritised.

It follows the publication of a review of accommodation for victims of domestic abuse carried out by the Child and Family Agency Tusla.

The UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has called for an end to violence against women in its Sustainable Development Goals.

“Whilst progress has been made in the past 20 years, it is still grossly insufficient to meet the sustainable development goals target for eliminating violence against women by 2030,” says study senior author Claudia García-Moreno, World Health Organisation.

She added: “Intimate partner violence affects the lives of millions of women, children, families, and societies worldwide.

"Although this study took place before the Covid-19 pandemic, the numbers are alarming.

"Research has shown the pandemic exacerbated issues leading to intimate partner violence such as isolation, depression and anxiety, and alcohol use, as well as reducing access to support services.

"Preventing intimate partner violence from happening in the first place is vital and urgent.

"Governments, societies, and communities need to take heed, invest more, and act with urgency to reduce violence against women, including by addressing it in post-Covid reconstruction efforts.”

In 2013, the WHO published the first global and regional estimates on the prevalence of physical and or sexual intimate partner violence, and non-partner sexual violence with existing survey data up to 2010.

It found that one in three women experience physical and/ or sexual violence from partners and non-partners.

This new study uses population-based surveys, improved quality of data, and updated methods to provide current prevalence estimates of intimate partner violence around the world, up to and including the year 2018, reporting that one in four ever-partnered women experience violence from intimate partners alone.

The study only estimated physical and sexual violence and work is underway by WHO to strengthen measures of reporting psychologically harmful behaviours by partners.

This present analysis reveals that governments are not in line to meet targets for eradicating violence against women.