The prevalence of domestic violence among women during the COVID-19 pandemic

The Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) has today released a report on women’s experiences of domestic violence during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. In May 2020, the AIC surveyed 15,000 women using an online panel methodology. They were asked about their experiences of domestic violence by a current or former partner in the three months prior to the survey. The findings show:

• 4.6 percent of women who responded to the survey, and 8.8 percent of women in cohabiting relationships, said they had experienced physical or sexual violence from a current or former cohabiting partner.
• 11.6 percent of all women and 22.4 percent of women in cohabiting relationships experienced emotionally abusive, harassing and controlling behaviours.
• 5.8 percent of all women, and 11.1 percent of women in cohabiting relationships, experienced coercive control, meaning they experienced three or more forms of emotionally abusive, harassing and controlling behaviours.

For many women, the pandemic coincided with the onset or escalation of violence and abuse:

• Among women who reported they had experienced physical or sexual violence, 65.4 percent said they had experienced violence by their partner for the first time, or that there had been an escalation in the frequency and severity of prior violence.
• Among women who had experienced coercive control, 54.8 percent said either that they had experienced emotionally abusive, harassing or controlling behaviour by their partner for the first time, or that the abuse had escalated.

Many women, particularly those experiencing more serious or complex forms of violence and abuse, reported safety concerns were a barrier to help-seeking:

• More than a third of women (36.9%) who experienced either physical or sexual violence or coercive control said that, on at least one occasion, they wanted to seek advice or support but could not because of safety concerns.
• The rate was higher (58.1%) among women who experienced both physical and non-physical forms of violence.

The paper is available for free download on the AIC website: https://www.aic.gov.au/publications/sb/sb28