One in four women worldwide experience domestic violence before the age of 50, according to a recent study by researchers from McGill University and the World Health Organization (WHO).
The analysis, “the largest of its kind”, according to the researchers, brings together 366 studies involving more than two million women in 161 different countries.
The results published in the journal The Lancet indicate that one in seven women (13%) experienced spousal violence in 2018, i.e. during the last year of the period studied (2000 to 2018). In addition, 24% of women aged 15 to 19 have experienced spousal violence.
“These figures are alarming, but the scale of violence is probably even greater,” said the researchers, since the studies in question are based only on self-reported cases of domestic violence.
“Domestic violence against women, or physical and sexual violence committed by a husband, boyfriend or other spouse, is very common in the world,” said Mathieu Maheu-Giroux, professor at McGill University.
The researchers also noted significant variations in the figures depending on the region. In high-income countries, women seem to have experienced less violence in their lifetime.
In Africa, South Asia and parts of South America the prevalence of violence among women aged 15-49 was highest. The regions where women are estimated to have experienced the least intimate partner violence in their lifetime were Central Asia and Central Europe.
In North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, around 5% of women had experienced intimate partner violence in the previous year, according to the analysis. In some parts of Africa, this proportion could reach 15 to 30%.
Canada is among the 30 countries with the lowest rates of domestic violence, while the problem affects one in 25 women.
Even if some Canadian provinces “are trying to find ways to counter domestic violence”, according to Mathieu Maheu-Giroux, there is still work to be done.
“We must therefore invest in prevention on a national and global scale,” he added, recalling that the Quebec government approved in 2021 a pilot project for a court specializing in domestic and sexual violence.
“In Quebec alone, there were 17 feminicides committed by a spouse in 2021; it is the most serious consequence of conjugal violence and the highest number for more than ten years”, lamented the professor.
According to the researchers, the pandemic has played a significant role in this escalation of violence, all over the world. For them, it is essential that public health take it into account in the post-pandemic recovery.