The Facts About Domestic Violence Affecting Women

While it is true that domestic does affect a small number of men, statistics show that more than twice as many women are killed by violent attacks from their partner, as men. In fact, 6 out of every 10 female murder victims in the United States were killed by an intimate partner.

Annually, compared to males, females experienced over 10 times as many incidents of violence by intimate partners. (Ronet Bachman, Ph.D., U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics, "Violence Against Women: A National Crime Victimization Survey Report," January 1994, p. 6).

Contrary to popular belief the number one cause of serious injury to women in the US is not automobile accidents, muggings, robberies or accidental injuries around the home. Instead Domestic Violence is the leading cause of injury to woman in this country.

In the US a woman is beaten every 7.4 seconds- over 2.5 million woman are victims of domestic violence, each year.
An estimated 1 in every 3 women has been or will become a victim of domestic violence in her lifetime.

While the focus of this article is the affect of domestic violence in the female population, it becomes clear that intimate partner violence is not just a woman's problem. The affect of domestic violence on society as a whole is serious cause for concern, for everyone.

The Affects of Domestic Violence on Others

Social Affects
-The Social affects of domestic violence are overwhelming. The cost to society can never be completely calculated. The monetary costs include medical treatment, law enforcement, criminal justice enforcement, legal assistance, financial aid, food assistance, and homeless services.
The cost of the loss of even one human life, to society, may never be known.

Below is a list of statistics that demonstrate just some of the affects of domestic violence to society as a whole.

- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found in a national survey that 34 percent of adults in the United States had witnessed a man beating his wife or girlfriend, and that 14 percent of women report that they have experienced violence from a husband or boyfriend.

- Up to 50 percent of all homeless women and children in this country are fleeing domestic violence.

- One in ten calls made to alert police of domestic violence is placed by a child in the home.

- Factors such as poverty, single-parent households headed by women, and parents with less than a high school education were found to be directly related to domestic abuse.

- More than 1 million women seek medical assistance each year for injuries caused by battering.

- Sixty-three percent of the young men between the ages of 11 and 20 who are serving time for homicide have killed their mother's abuser. (March of Dimes, 1992).

- Children are involved in 60 percent of domestic violence cases.

- Battered women are more likely to suffer miscarriages and to give birth to babies with low birth weights. (Surgeon General, United States, 1992).

- Children who witness violence at home display emotional and behavioral disturbances as diverse as withdrawal, low self-esteem, nightmares, self-blame and aggression against peers, family members and property.

Examining the affects of domestic violence it becomes brutally clear, that while domestic violence has a terrible effect on the women who directly experience the violence, there is a ripple effect, that directly affects EVERYONE.

Learn more about this author, Randa Morris.
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