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Belgrade, 2010
Mapping Domestic Violence against Women in Central Serbia
The most important objectives of the research
• To determine the prevalence of various forms of domestic violence against women;
• To determine the characteristics of domestic violence against women according to significant aspects;
• To identify key factors of domestic violence against women;
• To examine the accessibility to social services as means for support to victims of domestic violence.
Implementing organization - SeConS in brief
• Independent think-tank, founded in 2005 in Belgrade by a group of sociologists and social researchers.
• SeConS’ mission is to contribute to integrated and sustainable development of Serbia and the Region.
• Organization’s good practices have spread in neighboring countries, Montenegro and BiH.
• Areas of SeConS’ support are: social inclusion of vulnerable groups, such as women, Roma, refugees and IDPs, people experiencing poverty; regional and local sustainable development; institutional and organizational reform and development of the public sector; HR development; evaluation of development programs and projects and assessment of public policies at the national, regional and local levels.
SeConS in brief (cont.)
Expertise of SeConS:• Designing methodologies and conducting empirical research from
different fields in Serbia and the region• Drafting comparative studies, analyzing policies, legislation and
providing recommendations for further improvement in Serbia and the region
• Designing and conducting training and education programs for individuals, institutions and organizations, to support their work in social inclusion
• Empowering marginalized groups and individuals through trainings, to improve information sharing and help them to become more proactively involved in decision-making processes
• Advocating for social development, through representation of interests of vulnerable groups and networking with relevant stakeholders.
INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK
International framework
• The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action: domestic violence against women is treated as one of most important forms of violence against women
• CEDAW – Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women alongside the General Recommendation no. 9: domestic violence is a form of discrimination against women, therefore falling under CEDAW
• UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women and the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and effects
• Resolution 2003/45 – Elimination of violence against women
European Framework
• Declaration on the Policy of opposing violence against women in a democratic Europe
• Action plan for the fight against violence against women
• Declaration on equality between women and men as a fundamental criterion of democracy
• Recommendation 1681 – Campaign to combat domestic violence against women in Europe
• Expert Committee for preparing the European Convention on preventing and combating all forms of violence against women
National Framework (central level)
• Council for Gender Equality of the Republic of Serbia • Gender Equality Directorate of the Ministry of Labour and
Social Policy of the Republic of Serbia – National Strategy for advancement of the position of women and promotion of gender equality (2009-2015) and National Action Plan for the advancement of the position of women and promotion of gender equality (2010-2015)
• Committee on Gender Equality of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia
• Deputy of the Protector of Citizens/Ombudsman for gender equality and rights of persons with disabilities
• Commissioner for the protection of equality
BASIC CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONS
Definition of family and domestic violence against women
• Violence – type of behaviour or relationship in which coercion, intimidation, derogation, belittlement and control (in the sense of freedom restriction) is used directly or through threats in order to hurt the other person and to oppress him/her psychologically physically, economically or socially..
• Gender-based violence – forms of violence which are directed against individuals or groups on the basis of their gender identity, and that arises from normative expectations connected with gender roles and unequal power relations within the specific society (Bloom, 2008).
• Domestic violence – forms of violence committed within a household, kinship or partner relations, regardless of whether or not the persons are living together or not.
How to operationalize violence?
It has been decided to define violence through the following dimensions:
• economic, • physical, • psychological and • sexual violence.
Dimension and indicators of violence Forms of
violenceIndicators
Economic violence
Limited access to money within the household and depriving money for personal needsTaking away personal moneyDiscretional spending of the money by a household member resulting in the household being left without enough money for everyday needs during a month A ban to find employment
Psychological violence
Verbal humiliation (disparaging, cursing, insulting) when alone or in the presence of othersIgnoring, denying attention and conversation for longer than an hourIntimidating (threat to harm the woman or a person close to her)Denying or limiting movement (going out, visiting others and alike)Intentional destruction of the woman’s personal property
Physical violence
Jolting and shaking woman’s shouldersPulling hairTwisting armsHitting with a hand (slapping across the face, hitting with a fist)Hitting with or throwing an object at the womanBitingSqueezing woman’s neck, choking Slamming violently against a wallInflicting burns (cigarette, hotplates and alike)Assaulting with weapons or tools (knife, gun, axe and alike)
Sexual violence Sexual intercourse or certain actions during the intercourse under duress with the use of physical force or threat of harming the woman or someone close to herSexual intercourse or certain actions during the intercourse under duress by blackmailing, insulting, accusing and the like, with or without the use of physical force
Operationalizing DOMESTIC violence
Domestic violence against women has been operationalized to comprise all cases of violence committed against women:
– by members (male or female) of the same household, regardless of kinship;
– by family members and relatives (male or female) regardless of sharing or not sharing the household with the women include in the sample;
– as well as by present or former partners, regardless of being married or not and regardless of whether or not the partner is living in the same household as the women included in the sample.
Key notions
• General family and domestic violence – violence comprising all forms of violence, including economic, physical, psychological and sexual.
• Specific forms of violence – particular forms of violence manifested as economic, physical, psychological or sexual violence, or through a combination of several different forms of violence.
• Actual violence – violence committed in the past year (12 months prior to the research);
• Lifetime violence – violence experienced by women throughout their adult lives.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
“Sensitive topic research”
• Can have consequences either directly to respondents, or indirectly for the category of persons comprised in the research. Investigating a phenomenon that poses a threat to the respondents is a major problem.
• Three key problems1. Questions can intrude into the most intimate sphere of their lives and problems, issues that can provoke pain, stress or shame and therefore can cause secondary victimization of respondents; 2. Asking questions on sensitive issues can provoke feelings of shame and stigmatisation in respondents, or they can be incriminating, as in the case of illegal activities3. Respondents can be afraid that revealing information can put them in danger, lead to punishment or revenge of other persons in their surrounding that might be in power positions.
Key challenge
Challenge: How to ensure the quality of the research and validity of data on a subject that respondents systematically want to keep hidden, while at the same time keeping the highest level of professional ethics – which means that respondents are not mislead in regard to the topic of the research, that respondents are not pressured and lead into a state of intense emotional reactions which researchers cannot control as it surpasses their role and competence.
What do WHO standards prescribe?Framework 1: Standards and guidelines for research of violence against women
On the basis of its extensive experience in researching violence against women all around the world, the WHO has defined some of the most important standards for quality and ethical research of violence against women:
1. Safety of the respondents and the research team is of crucial importance and should direct all project decisions.
2. Prevalence studies should be based on quality methodology and should take into consideration research experiences in relation to the opportunities of reducing the cover-up of violence to the lowest possible degree.
3. Protection of the anonymity of subjects is of crucial importance for their safety and for the quality of the given data.
4. Members of the research team should be carefully chosen, adequately trained and should have continuous support throughout the research.
5. The instrument and the procedure of gathering data should eliminate or reduce the stress which may result from the research.
6. Researchers and donors should have a moral obligation to ensure adequate interpretation of the research data and their use in the aim of promoting the policies and measures.
7. The issues related to violence should be included in researches intended for other objectives only when it is possible to meet ethical and methodological demands.
WHO, 2001: 11
Our response to the challenge
• Official title of the survey: “Research on the living conditions of living and women’s health”
• Questionnaire for the household – the interviewer interviews other members of the household
• Questionnaire for the women – self-completion• Risks of refusal reduced to a minimum (21%)• Maximum protection of both women and interviewers • High level of interviewer’s control over the situation and
procedure of data collecting• High level of women’s control to answer the sensitive
questions • Secondary victimisation avoided
The Sample
925
725
850
Number of women
Belgrade South and Eastern SerbiaCentral and Western Serbia
FINDINGS ON PREVALENCE
Findings of the research
The prevalence of actual and lifetime violence
37.5
62.5
Actual violence
Women experiencing violence
Women not experiencing violence
54.2
45.8
Lifetime violence
Women experiencing violence
Women not experiencing violence
Economic violence
• Limited access to money within a household, withholding money for personal needs;
• a household member who is the main income provider has spent the money, leaving the household without resources to cover everyday needs;
• stealing personal money;• forbidding to work.
11% during the past year
16% lifetime prevalence
Psychological violence
• Damaging partners self-perception, self-confidence
• Passive aggression – depriving emotions and care
• Intimidation: explicit or implicit
• Limiting personal space and freedoms
• Yelling, cursing, insulting, disparaging • Ignoring, not communicating,
refusing to talk • Threatening to abuse the woman or
a person close to her, destroying woman’s personal things
• Prohibiting the woman to visit others and go out
32% during the past year
49% lifetime prevalence
Physical violence
• jolting, shaking,• pulling hair, • twisting arms, • slapping across the face, hitting with a fist• hitting with or throwing an object at the woman,• biting,• squeezing woman’s neck, choking • squeezing against a wall, • inflicting burns intentionally with a cigarette,
iron, hotplate and the like,• assaulting with a gun, knife, other weapons or
tools.
10% during the past year
22% lifetime prevalence
Sexual violence
The following is classified as sexual violence - cases of women reporting sexual intercourse or coerced sexual acts during sexual intercourse, with the use of physical force or under threat of physical force to the partner or a person close to her, as well as the cases of such violence which have been carried out without physical force, but with blackmail, insults, accusations and the like.
1.2% during the past year
3.8% lifetime prevalence
Prevalence of various forms of violence
Individual forms of violence Prevalence during the past year
Lifetime prevalence
Economic 11.4 15.8
Physical 10.1 21.6
Psychological 31.8 48.7
Sexual 1.2 3.8
Rape within the family 0.2 1.4
Survey data also showed that a third of women have been exposed to multiple forms of violence in the past year!
Who are the perpetrators of violence?
Perpetrators Economic Psychological Physical
Current husband/partner 40.4 44.1 42.8
Former husband/partner 10.1 13.9 28.9
Father 6.4 7.1 7.1
Son 15.6 3.5 1.9
Another male relative 12.8 10.4 9.2
Mother 3.7 7.1 4.8
Another female relative 11.0 13.9 5.3
FACTORS OF VIOLENCE
Research findings
Regional differences
Belgrade Southern and Eastern Serbia
Central and Western Serbia
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
27.3
19.1 17.4
53.548.9
43.4
5.1 3.4 2.7
Women experiencing physical violenceWomen experiencing psychological violenceWomen experiencing sexual violence
Poverty
Undeprived Deprived0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
13.3
27.9
20.1
30.3
46.8
59
2.9
8.9
Women with experi-ence of economic vio-lence
Women with experi-ence of physical violence
Women with experience of psychological vio-lence
Women with experience of sexual violence
Other factors
• traditional values of spouse/partner, • tolerance of women towards physical violence, • patrilocality in establishing a household,• economic dependence of women, • family problems (especially risks of alcoholism and
drug-addiction)
It is interesting to note that women who are not legally married (to their partner) are at a higher risk of violence than married women.
Domestic violence risk factors
Experience of domestic violence
family member active in the war during the
90s
alcoholism drug addiction problems in family relations
No Yes No Yes No Yes No yes
Women without experience of violence
47.7 40.3 49.1 10.9 46.1 4.2 47.7 9.9
Women experiencing violence
52.3 59.7 50.9 89.1 53.9 95.8 52.3 90.1
Total 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100
CONSEQUENCES OF VIOLENCE
Research findings
Consequences of violence
• Women victims of domestic violence suffer from various forms of health issues – from headaches, nausea and so on, to more serious conditions such as depression, fear, and anxiety.
• It is important to note that children often witness violence – in 40% of cases of physical violence against women, children were witnesses, while in 10.2% of cases, children themselves suffered injuries.
Physical injuries
Type of injury % of women experiencing physical violence who have suffered an injury
Bruises, scratches 61.3
Physical pain lasting several days following the injury
27.7
Losing consciousness 5.6
Massive bruises, contusions, cuts, burns 12.7
Weapon-inflicted injuries 0.6
Bone fractures 3.3
SUPPORT TO THE VICTIMS OF VIOLENCE
Research findings
Attitude towards seeking help
020406080 78.4
16.94.7
81.4
15.82.8
73.7
18.77.6
Whole sampleUrban areasRural areas
Actual behaviour
0
10
20
30
40Whole sample Urban areas Rural areas
Seeking help
Parents
or relati
ves
Friends, m
ale or fe
malePolic
e
Centre fo
r socia
l work
Neighbours
Lawye
r
Help lines
Court
Doctor
Priest
NGO0
1020304050607080
% of victims who have approached others for help
Self-perception of violence
Recogn
izing p
hysica
l violence
Recogn
izing p
sychologic
al vio
lence
Recogn
izing e
conomic
violence
Recogn
izing s
exual
violence
0
20
40
60
30.1 29.3
55.8 50
% of victims who recognize that they have suffered abuse
Closing remarks
Further promotion of institutional and legal mechanisms for fighting domestic violence against women is needed, as well as increasing human and financial resources at all levels, developing systems of monitoring domestic violence, and improving gender equality overall, particularly socio-economic.
The fight against domestic violence against women has to become an integral part of various strategies and measures. This will enable simultaneous impact on numerous areas (factors) that condition and sustain domestic violence against women.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION
For more information:www.secons.net [email protected] [email protected]
