The Facts & Faces of Gender-based Violence

Degan
November 30, 2022

16 Days of Activism – a Campaign Against Gender-Based Violence

Content warning: may be triggering for those who have experienced or know someone who has experienced intimate partner violence, sexual violence or gender-based violence. If you are experiencing abuse, contact VictimLink at 1-800-563-0808.

This post is part of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, an annual initiative committed to ending violence against women worldwide. This post gives an overview of the campaign as well as information about abuse and gender-based violence.

Awareness: The Faces

Photo by Danie Franco on Unsplash

I started this post with some facts and figures (listed below) gathered from many research studies to identify the scope and size of violence against women and girls in Canada and around the world, But it is too easy to get lost in the numbers.

Because of the stigma around gender-based violence, much of it is not reported, or it is downplayed, under-reported or even normalized. But it is important to be able to connect those numbers with an individual, so here are some personal accounts from survivors of gender-based violence who have bravely shared their stories. Many of my client’s stories are similar, because the patterns of abuse are consistent, but each has had their own journey recovering from trauma and their own unique acts of resilience.

Awareness: The Facts

And now here is the data:

44% of women reported experiencing some form of IPV in their lifetime (with certain marginalized populations being over-represented in this number) (source)
Every six days, a woman in Canada is killed by her intimate partner (source).
Every 2.5 days a woman or girl is killed in Canada (source)
Indigenous women are 6x more likely to be killed than non-Indigenous women in Canada (source). “As of March 31, 2010, there were 582 known cases of missing or murdered Aboriginal women in Canada. 115 (20%) of 582 cases involve missing women and girls. The Canadian Government has been urged to take real action to stop violence against Aboriginal girls and women by United Nations and Amnesty International (source).
33% of women will experience sexual assault at least once in their lifetime (source)
19,000 domestic abuse survivors become homeless every year (source)
More than 3,000 women and their children are living in an emergency shelter to escape abuse in Canada (source)
Less than 40 per cent of women who experience violence seek help (source)

Since the pandemic began, intimate partner violence and violence against women has gotten much worse.

45% of women reported that they or a woman they know has experienced a form of VAWG.
6 in 10 felt that sexual harassment in public spaces has worsened.
7 in 10 women said they think that verbal or physical abuse by a partner has become more common (source).