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What is Domestic Violence in the workplace?
Domestic violence doesn't stay home when its victims go to work.
It can follow them, resulting in violence in the workplace. Or it
can spill over into the workplace when a woman is harassed by threatening
phone calls, absent because of injuries or less productive from
extreme stress. Domestic violence in the workplace includes all
types of behavior that affect a person's ability to perform a job.
With one out of every four American women reporting physical abuse
by an intimate partner at some point in their lives, it is a certainty
that in any mid-to-large sized company, domestic violence is affecting
employees.
The National Workplace Resource Center on Domestic Violence
A program of the Family Violence Prevention Fund, the National Workplace
Resource Center on Domestic Violence was created to address this
critical problem affecting our workplaces. The National Resource
Center is a groundbreaking collaboration between the FVPF, employers
and unions across the nation. Through the project, employers and
unions offer information to employees and union members, develop
workplace policies, and strive to ensure that workplaces across
America are supportive of the special needs of employees who are
facing domestic violence. The FVPF's Workplace Resource Center is
the founder and coordinating force behind Work to End Domestic Violence
Day every October.
We hope you'll find all the tools you need on this website to help
you create a workplace that is supportive of employees facing domestic
violence. This website offers materials for supervisors to aid them
in managing employees who are abused, along with tips for improving
security, program recommendations, legal guidelines, best practices,
sample policies, information on what unions can do, and more.
Domestic violence is a solvable problem. By taking the time to review
and utilize the information here, you will be taking your first
steps to reduce your health care costs, absenteeism and lost productivity
due to stress and injuries from domestic violence. You can also
have a profound impact on the lives and well-being of your employees
and members.
Fact Sheet
Violence
and Its Impact on Women’s Lives
The YWCA of the USA advocates for policies that will prevent and
help eliminate violence against women. Through its programs, the
YWCA of the USA builds communities in which all people are ensure
safety and equal protection under the law. However, violence against
woman takes shape in a multitude of forms including but not limited,
domestic violence, stalking, rape, sexual assault, the trafficking
of women and children, date rape, verbal abuse and harassment, and
hate crimes. The statistics contained in this fact sheet illustrate
that violence does not discriminate. All women, regardless of class,
ability, age, race, ethnicity, education, immigration status, sexual
orientation, and religion can be affected by violence.
Violence Against Women Statistics
The fact that numerous studies and reports are done on violence
against women and have resulted in equally numerous statistics emphasizes
that violence against women is a serious problem plaguing the world’s
women and girls. Some statistics are more relevant, reliable or
telling than others and similar statistics from different studies
or reports can seem to conflict with one another. This is because
there are several variables that affect the collection of data and
the formulation of statistics: the size of a study’s sample,
the duration of the study, how recent the study is, the location
of the study, the words used in the questions, the definitions of
key terms, among many others factors. So, when using any statistics,
cite them accurately, use them in the appropriate context, and be
aware of their vulnerabilities.
Following
are a selection of the best web sites at which to find and verify
violence against women statistics:
* World Health
Organization
* Department of
Justice
* Department of Justice's
Violence Against Women Office
* Department of Justice's
On-line Resources
* RAINN
* Feminist.com
* Family Violence
Prevention Fund
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Domestic Violence is primarily a crime against women, although men
and women alike are affected by it each year. According to estimates
from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), of the 691,710
non-fatal attempts of violence committed by current or former spouses,
boyfriends, or girlfriends of the victims during 2001, about 588,490
or 85% were perpetrated against women by their partners.
1. Black women between the ages of 20-24 experience domestic violence
at a higher rate than their White counterparts. For this age group,
there were 29 acts of domestic violence per 1,000 Black women and
20 per 1,000 White women.
2. Both Black and White women experience domestic violence at similar
rates for every other age group. According to the National Violence
Against Women Survey, Latinas
* experience about the same level of physical assaults, and stalking
as White women. However, Latinas report rape at higher levels. Latinas
report rape at 2.2% higher levels than their White counterparts.
Approximately 7.9% of Latinas will be raped, 21.2% will be physically
assaulted, and 4.8% will be stalked by a spouse, boyfriend or ex-boyfriend
during their lifetime.
3. RAPE
A woman is raped every two minutes and an attempted rape is committed
every three minutes.
4. Women age 12 or older experienced an annual average of 131,950
completed rapes, 98,970 attempted rapes, and 135,550 sexual assaults.
5. Rape affects women of all races and ethnicities. In a lifetime,
17.7% of White women, 18.8% of Black women, 6.8% Asian/Pacific Islander
women, 34.1% Native American and Alaskan Native women, and 24.4%
of mixed race women reported that they had experienced a completed
or attempted rape at some point.
6. This fact sheet was prepared by Desiree Hoffman-Hizi, Advocacy
Associate for the YWCA of the USA.
Angela Arboleda, Advocacy Director, reviewed the brief and provided
substantive comments. Elizabeth Graettinger, and Shelly Schnupp,
Co-Chairs of the Advocacy Committee, Kay Phillips, Co-Chair of the
Communications Committee, and Joan Durant of the National Coordinating
Board provided technical assistance.
*The term “Latina” and “Hispanic” are used
interchangeably in this fact sheet, and refer collectively to people
of Latin American descent.
Page 2
Black women have higher rates of sexual assault per 1,000 persons.
Approximately 40% of Black women report coercive contact of a sexual
nature by age 18.
7. Hispanic and Native American women experience rape and sexual
assault in alarming numbers each year. There were 8,320 rapes and
2,250 sexual assaults against Hispanic women reported to law enforcement
in 1998.
8. During 1992-1996, Native American women age 12 or older experienced
an annual average of 8,400 rapes or sexual assaults.
9. Most rapes and sexual assaults against women are not reported
to police. Only 36% of
rapes, 34% of attempted rapes, and 26% of sexual assaults were reported
to police between 1992-2000.
10. STALKING
Women from all backgrounds, regardless of race, ethnicity, class
background, sexual orientation, marital status, and age are stalked
each year in the United States.
• 1 out of every 12 women will be stalked during her lifetime.
• 1,006,970 women are stalked annually
11. According the National Center for Victims of Crime, American
Indian and Alaska Native women reported more stalking victimization
than female victims of other racial or ethnic background.
12. Seventeen percent of Native American and Alaskan Native women
reported being stalked in their lifetime while 8.2% of White women,
6.5% of African American women, 4.5% of Asian-Pacific Islander women,
7.6% of Hispanic women, and 10.6% of women from mixed racial backgrounds
reported being stalked.
13. CHILDREN
Young children are most at risk for being abused and neglected.
In 2001, approximately 903,000 children were found to be victims
of child maltreatment. More than half, 57% of child victims suffered
neglect.
14. Child abuse costs the United States approximately $94 billion
dollars every year.
15. Thousands of children die each year as a result of neglect and
abuse. In 2001, approximately 1,300 children died of abuse or neglect,
a rate of 1.81 children per 100,000. Younger children were the most
vulnerable. Children younger than 1 year old accounted for 41% of
child fatalities, and 85% of child fatalities were children younger
than 6 years old.
16. YOUNG WOMEN
Increasingly, teenage girls are getting involved in violent relationships.
Between 12% and 35% of teenagers have experienced some form of violence--
from pushing and shoving, to hitting-- in a dating relationship.
17. Young women experience domestic violence at higher rates than
women of all other ages. While the overall per capita rate of domestic
violence was 5.8 acts of violence per 1,000 in 1999 for women in
all age groups, it was 15.6 acts of violence per 1,000 among females
age 16 to 24.
18. Each year in the United States, college women are at risk to
various forms of violence including rape, sexual assault, harassment,
and stalking.
19. A National Institute of Justice
(NIJ) survey of women attending colleges and universities revealed
that 2.9% had experienced a completed or an attempted rape in the
first 7 months of the 1996-1997 school year or 27.7 rapes per 1,000
female students. Twenty-two percent of the victims reporting had
been victimized more than once which raised the incidence rate to
35.3 rapes per 1000 female students. When this Victimization rate
is calculated for a twelve-month period, it suggests that 4.9% of
college women
experience a completed or an attempted rape in the calendar year.
20. ELDERLY WOMEN
Acts of violence against the nation’s elderly go unrecognized
every year and lead to gross underreporting. According to the National
Elder Abuse Incidence Study, more than 500,000 Americans ages 60
and over were victims of domestic abuse in 1996. Experts estimate
that only 1 out of 14 domestic elder abuse incidents comes to the
attention of authorities.
21. The majority of elder abuse cases are women. In 1990, 68.3%
of all reports of abuse involved women of all ages, while in 1996,
67.3% of all reports of abuse involved elderly women.
22. IMMIGRANT WOMEN
Immigrant women are at higher risk of domestic violence due to their
sex, race, and immigration status.
Immigrant women face unique barriers in accessing social services
and leaving their partners, these include:
• language barriers
• threats of deportation and separation from her children
• withdrawal of her petition to complete her legalization
status
• intimidation by destroying important documents such as an
identification card or passport
• threats to report her immigration status to her employer
23. Increasing evidence indicates that there are large numbers of
immigrant women trapped and isolated in violent relationships, afraid
to turn to anyone for help. A survey conducted by the Immigrant
Women's Task Force of the Northern California Coalition for Immigrant
Rights revealed that 34% of Latinas and 25% of Filipinas surveyed
had experienced domestic violence either in their country of origin,
in the U.S., or both.
24. Many immigrant women flee to the United States to escape domestic
violence and the courts are stepping in. A recent decision by a
federal appeals Court in San Francisco suspended the deportation
of a Mexican woman citing the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)
which allows undocumented immigrants who have been battered by a
U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident, and who meet certain other
criteria, to stay in the U.S. by adjusting their immigration status.
25. Since March of 1996, the INS has received more than 11,000 VAWA
self-petitions, and has approved over 6,500.
26. WELFARE RECIPIENTS AND LOW-INCOME WOMEN
Low-income women are at higher risk of being physically assaulted
by an intimate partner than other women with higher socio-economic
statuses. As many as 60% of women receiving welfare have been subjected
to domestic violence as adults as compared with 22% of women in
the general population.
27. Women with lower annual household incomes experience domestic
violence at significantly higher rates than women with higher annual
household incomes. Among females ages 16 to 19 with a household
income of $7,500 or less, were twice as likely to experience domestic
violence than those females in the same age category with higher
household incomes.
28. HOMELESS FAMILIES
A significant number of women and their children who leave abusive
situations become homeless. In a survey by the U.S. Conference of
Mayors, 56% of cities surveyed cited domestic violence as a primary
cause of homelessness.
29. LESBIAN AND GAY COUPLES
Domestic violence is not absent in same-sex relationships. According
to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) survey,
the prevalence of domestic violence in LGBT? *Relationships was
similar to that in heterosexual couples, between 25% and 33%.
30. HATE CRIMES
Hate crimes are carried out against individuals because of their
real or perceived identity. During 2001, of the 9,721 single-bias
incidents, 44.9% were motivated by racial prejudice, 21.6% were
driven by a bias toward an ethnicity/national origin, 18.8% motivated
by religious intolerance, 14.3% by sexual-orientation bias, and
0.4% by disability bias in 2001.
31. Students are also hate crimes targets. Twelve percent of students
between the ages of 12 and 18 reported that they had been the subjects
of hate-related insults at school during the 6 monthsprior to a
2001 survey. Insults included comments about their race, religion,
ethnicity, disability, gender and/or sexual orientation.
32. TRAFFICKING
The trafficking of women and children is yet another form of violence
that affect women and children. Each year, an estimated 800,000
to 900,000 women and children are bought, sold or forced across
the world's borders.
33. Recent figures project that between 18,000 and 20,000 of those
women and children are trafficked into the United States annually
for sexual exploitation or forced labor. Others estimate that the
actual number of women and children trafficked into the United States
is closer 50,000.
34.
1. Rennison, Callie Marie. (February 2003) Intimate Partner Violence,
1993-2001. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs.
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/ipv01.pdf
2. Bureau of J ustice Statistics. (October 2001) Intimate Partner
Violence and Age of Victim, 1993-1999. U.S. Department of Justice,
Office of Justice Programs.
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/ipva99.pdf
3.Tjaden, Patricia and Nancy Thoennes. (July 2000) Full Report of
the Prevalence, Incidence, and Consequences of Violence Against
Women: Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey.
U.S.
Department of Justice. http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/nij/181867.pdf
4. Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network. http://www.rainn.org/statistics.html
5. Rennison, Callie Marie. (August 2002) Rape and Sexual Assault:
Reporting to Police and Medical Attention, 1992-2000. U.S. Department
of Justice. Office of Justice Programs.
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/rsarp00.pdf
6. Tjaden, Patricia and Nancy Thoennes. (November 2000) Full Report
of the Prevalence, Incidence, and Consequences of Violence Against
Women: Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey.
http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/nij/183781.pdf
The term “LGBT” is the acronym that collectively describes
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
A hate crime is an act of violence, intolerance or bigotry, intended
to hurt or intimidate someone because of her or his real or perceived
race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, religion, sexual orientation,
or disability.
7. Russo, N., Denious, J., Keita, G., & Koss, M. Intimate Violence
and Black Women’s Health. Women’s Health: Research on
Gender Behavior and Policy 3 (1997): 315-348.
8. Sourcebook on Criminal Justice Statistics. (1999) Bureau of Justice
Statistics.
9. Greenfeld, Lawrence A. (1997) Sex Offenders: An Analysis of Rape
and Sexual Assault. Bureau of Justice Statistics.
10. Rennison, Callie Marie. (August 2002) Rape and Sexual Assault:
Reporting to Police and Medical Attention, 1992-2000. U.S. Department
of Justice. Office of Justice Programs.
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/rsarp00.pdf
11. Stalking Fact Sheet. The National Center for Victims of Crime.
http://www.ncvc.org/pdf/src/stalking_factsheet.pdf
12. Tjaden, Patricia and Nancy Thoennes. (April 1998) Stalking in
America: Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey.
U.S Department of Justice. http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles/169592.pdf
13. Tjaden, Patricia and Nancy Thoennes. (April 1998) Stalking in
America: Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey.
U.S Department of Justice. http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles/169592.pdf
14. National Clearinghouse and Child Abuse and Neglect, Administration
for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
(2001) Child Maltreatment 2001: Summary of Key Findings. http://nccanch.acf.hhs.gov/pubs/factsheets/canstats.pdf
15. Prevent Child Abuse America. (2001) Total Estimated Cost of
Child Abuse and Neglect in the United States: Statistical Evidence.
http://www.preventchildabuse.org/learn_more/research_docs/cost_analysis.pdf
16. National Clearinghouse and Child Abuse and Neglect, Administration
for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
(2001) Child Maltreatment 2001: Summary of Key Findings.
http://nccanch.acf.hhs.gov/pubs/factsheets/canstats.pdf
17. Cohall, Alwyn; Cohall, Rene; Bannister, Hope; Northridge, Mary.
(1999) "Love Shouldn’t Hurt: Strategies for Health Care
Providers to Address Adolescent Dating Violence." Journal of
the American Medical Women’s Association, 54 (3).
18. Bureau of Justice Statistics. (October 2001) Intimate Partner
Violence and Age of Victim, 1993-1999.U.S. Department of Justice,
Office of Justice Programs. http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/ipva99.pdf
19. Fisher, Bonnie S., Francis T. Cullen & Michael G. Turner.
(2000) The Sexual Victimization of College Women. See http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/nij/182369.pdf
20. Bureau of Justice Statistics [BJS]. December 2000. The Sexual
Victimization of College Women. Washington, DC: U.S. Department
of Justice. National Institute of Justice
21. National Center on Elder Abuse. http://www.elderabusecenter.org/default.cfm?p=abusestatistics.cfm
22. National Center on Elder Abuse. (May 1996) Trends in Elder Abuse
in Domestic Settings. NCEA Fact Sheet. http://www.elderabusecenter.org/pdf/basics/fact2.pdf
23. Family Violence Law Center. http://www.fvlc.org/gethelp_immigrantwomen.html
24. Family Violence Prevention Fund. See
http://endabuse.org/programs/immigrant/
25. Davila, Florangela. (October 9, 2003) Court Forbids Deporting
Woman Who Suffered Domestic Violence. Seattle Times. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2001761870_domviolence09m.html
26. Shetty, Sudha and Janice Kaguyutan. (February 2002) Immigrant
Victims of Domestic Violence: Cultural Challenges and Available
Legal Protections. Immigrant Women Program. NOW Legal Defense and
Education Fund. http://www.vaw.umn.edu/documents/vawnet/arimmigrant/arimmigrant.pdf
27. Tolman R. and Raphael, J. (2000) A Review of Research on Welfare
and Domestic Violence. http://www.ssw.umich.edu/trapped/jsi_tolman_final.pdf
28. Bureau of Justice Statistics. (October 2001) Intimate Partner
Violence and Age of Victim, 1993-1999.U.S. Department of Justice,
Office of Justice Programs. http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/ipva99.pdf
29. The United States Conference of Mayors. (1999) A Status Report
on Hunger and Homelessness in America’s Cities. http://www.usmayors.org/uscm/homeless/hunger99.pdf
30. NCAVP. (2003) Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Domestic
Violence in 2002. http://www.avp.org/
31. Federal Bureau of Investigation. 2002. Crime in the United States,
Uniform Crime Reports, 2001. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of
Justice.
32. Bureau of Justice Statistics. November 2002. Indicators of School
Crime and Safety: 2002. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice
33. U.S. Department of State, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking
of Persons. http://www.state.gov/g/tip/
34. Richard, Amy O’Neil. (April 2000) International Trafficking
of Women to the United State: A Contemporary Manifestation of Slavery
and Organized Crime. Central Intelligence Agency.
http://www.cia.gov/csi/monograph/women/trafficking.pdf
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