Knowledge Hub

Every year the Women’s Aid Annual Impact Report serves as a harrowing and poignant reminder of the level of domestic violence and abuse against women and children that prevails in homes and relationships across Ireland. Unfortunately, 2023 was no different. This report provides an insight into the coercive and controlling emotional, physical, economic, and sexual abuses inflicted upon women and their children at the hands of current and former intimate partners, whom we supported during just...

This paper assesses the methodologies of the new national surveys of violence against women, including those in the US, Canada, Australia, Finland and the Netherlands, as well as the British Crime Survey. The development of large‐scale quantitative survey methodology so as to be suitable for such a sensitive subject has involved many innovations. The paper concludes with recommendations for further improvements including: the sampling frame, the scaling of both sexual assaults and range of...

Initial research into new questions aimed at identifying controlling or coercive behaviour. These crimes are less likely to be reported to the police, therefore it is important we find an effective way to measure these offences. This will provide insight for policymakers, service providers and charities.

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) is a representative population survey that since the early 2000s has provided ongoing measurement of domestic abuse via a dedicated domestic abuse module, with regular publication of headline prevalence and other descriptive data. At the same time the measurement of domestic violence in the CSEW has also been the subject of ongoing debate and critique, in particular whether it is appropriate to use catch-all prevalence measures in the context of...

To better understand online violence in the Arab States, a subsequent research project explored its prevalence, impact and consequences and the barriers to services and reporting. Three complementary exercises comprised a quantitative web-based survey in eight countries with nearly 12,000 respondents, examining the prevalence, perceptions and implications of online violence; qualitative research to explore experiences of online violence through the lens of civil society organizations, women’s...

This report is based on interviews with 42,000 women across the 28 Member States of the European Union (EU). The survey asked women about their experiences of physical, sexual and psychological violence, including incidents of intimate partner violence (‘domestic violence’), and also asked about stalking, sexual harassment, and the role played by new technologies in women’s experiences of abuse. In addition, it asked about their experiences of violence in childhood.

This report presents a detailed overview of the research methods used by FRA when collecting survey data on women’s personal experiences of various forms of violence. FRA started to develop the survey through desk research and stakeholder consultations in 2010, followed by a pre-test study in six EU Member States in 2011 to test a draft questionnaire. The full-scale survey in the EU-28 was carried out in 2012.