We all would like to have a happy life in place that everything is treated fair and no discriminative. However, there are some people have used their power to persecute other people, especially some men who commit violence on their friend or family. This has shown on the Domestic Violence Statistics taken by Department of Families, Housing and Community Affairs Fact Sheet 2 Women’s Safety in 2005.
- Half a million Australian women reported that they had experienced physical or sexual violence or sexual assault in the past 12 months.
- More than a million women had experienced physical or sexual assault by their male current or ex-partner since the age of 15 (some women may be counted twice if they experienced both physical and sexual assault).
- 37.8% of women who experienced physical assault in the 12 months before the survey said the perpetrator was a current or previous male partner and 34.4% said the perpetrator was a male family member or friend. Most incidences of physical assault against women in the 12 months prior to 2005 were committed in a home (64.1%).
- 33.3% of women had experienced physical violence since the age of 15.
- 19.1% of women had experienced sexual violence since the age of 15.
- 12.4% of women had been sexually abused before the age of 15, compared with 4.5% of men, between 1996 and 2005. There was an increase in the reporting of sexual assault to police from 14.9% to 18.9% between 1996 and 2005 and there was an increase in the reporting of physical violence to police from 18.5% to 36%.
- 64% of women who experienced physical assault and 81.1% of women who experienced sexual assault still did not report it to police. The proportion of women aged between 18 and 34 who reported experiencing physical violence has decreased but the proportion of women who reported experiencing physical violence after 45 increased over the same period. The percentage of women who reported that their children had witnessed partner-related violence either from a current or ex-partner was lower than in 1996.
So, what should we do to solve this problem to help women not to get abused or assault by their men? How can we help them to have a good life if they unluckily live with a violent male?
If you require support on any domestic abuse issues please contact National Sexual Assault, Family & Domestic Violence Counselling Line 1800 737 732
By Johnny Nguyen