Around the World, Similar Levels of Domestic Violence Seen Between Men and Women

PRESS RELEASE

Rebecca Hain

Telephone: +1-513-479-3335

Around the World, Similar Levels of Domestic Violence Seen Between Men and Women

May 16, 2023 – A recent article in the Daily Mail recounted the saga of American lawmaker Katie Porter, who reportedly dumped boiling potatoes on her husband’s head and called him “too dumb” to have a cell phone. Former staff members also accused Porter of yelling incidents and being “short-tempered.” (1)

The story of Katie Porter is not unique. The Domestic Abuse and Violence International Alliance (DAVIA) has recently compiled the results of hundreds of research studies conducted around the world (2). The surveys reveal similar levels of physical domestic violence among men and women.

Europe: A series of studies in 19 countries found that 15.3% of males and 14.7% of females report being victims of domestic violence in the past year (3).
North America: In the United States, 6.5 million men and 5.7 million women report being victims of partner violence in the past year (4). In Canada, “2.9% of men and 1.7% of women reported experiencing physical and/or sexual [intimate partner violence] in their current relationships in the last 5 years.” (5)
Australia: A review of seven surveys found comparable rates of perpetration and victimization among males and females (6).
Africa: Surveys conducted in eight countries concluded, “14% of men (weighted based on 1,294/8,113) and 18% of women (weighted based on 2,032/11,063) reported being a victim of partner physical violence in the last year.” (7)
Asia: Studies carried out in nine countries found that abuse perpetrators were more likely to be female: Male: 23.5%, Female: 34.4%. In addition, abuse victims were more likely to be female: Male: 16.5%, Female: 19.1%. (8) These findings can be explained by the higher rates of domestic violence among female same-sex couples (9).
Latin America and the Caribbean: A series of studies conducted in eight countries concluded, “Over half of the comparisons showed symmetry in abuse rates between the sexes. Of the 16 comparisons that showed lack of symmetry between the sexes, most indicated higher rates of female perpetration and male victimization.” (10)

Despite these well-documented findings, feminist groups such as UN Women have not yet acknowledged the existence of female perpetrators or male victims of domestic violence (11).

The Domestic Abuse and Violence International Alliance – DAVIA — consists of 86 member organizations from 32 countries in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, Latin America, and North America. DAVIA seeks to ensure that domestic violence and abuse polices are science-based, family-affirming, and sex-inclusive. https://endtodv.org/davia/

Citations: