Mens violence against women in "equal" Sweden - a prevalence study

Eva Lundgren, Gun Heimer, Jenny Westerstrand, Anne-Marie Kalliokoski

Mens violence against women in equal Sweden a prevalence study

Eva Lundgren, Gun Heimer, Jenny Westerstrand, Anne-Marie Kalliokoski

Brottsoffermyndigheten Box 470 S-901 09 UME

Uppsala Universitet Box 821 S-751 08 Uppsala

First published in 2001 as Slagen Dam- mns vld mot kvinnor i jmstllda Sverige - en omfngsunderskning. Translated by Julia Mikaelsson and Geoffrey French

Production Grac design: Kombi Marketing AB Cover: Daniel Norman Printed by: strms tryckeri AB, Ume 2002 This book is available through Fritzes Offentliga Publikationer Postal adress S-106 47 Stockholm, Sweden Fax: +46 8 690 91 91, phone: +46 8 690 91 90 E-mail: order.fritzes@liber.se

ISBN 91-974139-4-1

Index
Preface ............................................................................................................ 5 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 7 Violent experiences in total .............................................................................. 8 CHAPTER 1 Origins of this study ......................................................................................... 11 The research context................................................................................... 11 Design of the questionnaire.........................................................................15 Methodological foundations ........................................................................16 Inuence on the wording of the questions...................................................19 Method ........................................................................................................21 CHAPTER 2 Violence within sexual relationships ..............................................................24 Violence by former husband/cohabitant partner .........................................24 Violence by present husband/cohabitant partner .......................................28 Controlling behavior ....................................................................................30 Linkages ......................................................................................................32 Will it ever end? ...........................................................................................35 Children witnessing and falling victim to violence .......................................36 Violence by boyfriends with whom the woman has not cohabited..............38 CHAPTER 3 Violence outside sexual relationships ...........................................................42 Extent, type of violence and frequency .......................................................42 The most recent violent experience ............................................................44 Worry about violence ..................................................................................46 CHAPTER 4 The most recent violent incident, regardless of relationship......................48 CHAPTER 5 Where do woman seek help? ..........................................................................51 Was the most recent violent experience reported to the police? ................51 Then where do women seek help if subjected to violence by a man in a sexual relationship?...................................................................54

CHAPTER 6 Violence, a question of health and living conditions? .................................57 Physical and psychological disorders and violent experiences ..................57 Womens perceptions of the effects of violence..........................................60 Contemplating and attempting suicide ........................................................62 Violence and physical injury........................................................................63 Use of medication........................................................................................63 Violence during pregnancy..........................................................................64 CHAPTER 7 Sexual harassment ...........................................................................................67 The aggregate experience of sexual harassment .......................................68 Who are the victims?...................................................................................68 Who are the perpetrators? ..........................................................................70 CHAPTER 8 Myths about violence? .....................................................................................72 CHAPTER 9 Summary and comments .................................................................................77 Recommendations ..............................................................................................87 APPENDIX 1. Questionnaire ..........................................................................................92 2. Preliminaries to the study ......................................................................127 3. Ethical scrutiny.......................................................................................130 4. Method...................................................................................................131 5. Tables.....................................................................................................136 References .......................................................................................................142

Preface
The Protection of Womens Integrity reform represents a legal and political milestone which has attracted attention even at international level. However, more rigorous legislation will not of itself solve the serious problem posed by mens violence against women in our society. The reform was therefore combined with calls for changes in basic education along with efforts at the further education level to disseminate awareness of power and violence in close relationships and thus create wider opportunities for professional treatment of both crime victims and offenders. In conjunction with the Protection of Womens Integrity reform, the Government commissioned the Crime Victim Compensation and Support Authority (Brottsoffermyndigheten) to carry out a specic study of victims of mens violence against women. The Authority in turn commissioned Professor Eva Lundgren, incumbent of a government-appointed professorship specialising in violence to women, and Associate Professor Gun Heimer, Head of the Swedish National Center for Battered and Raped Women (Rikskvinnocentrum), to be responsible for conducting the survey. The survey elicited a high percentage of responses despite the fact that many of the questions can only be described as intrusively personal. The era of reticence seems to have passed. Women of all ages are both able and willing to relate their experiences of threats and violence. The overall state of affairs collectively described by these women constitutes a massive challenge to the myth of Sweden as already a land of equality. It is a scenario of threats and violence amounting to serious breaches of womens human rights. The results of the study lend weight to the governments remarks in the Protection of Womens Integrity Bill urging the importance of increasing our understanding of the links between the culture of masculinity and violence against women. These results are of concern to everyone, but they mark a special professional responsibility for staffs working in the judicial system, social services or health and medical services and also for scholars and educationists. Read, reect and act for protection of womens integrity.

Britta Bjelle, Director-General

Introduction
In 1998, the Government and the Crime Victim Compensation and Support Authority (Brottsoffermyndigheten) granted funds for a study of the extent of violence against women. The study is the first of its kind in Sweden. In the preliminary phase a questionnaire was designed and, after a pilot study, sent to 10 000 women. Selection, distribution and collection were handled in cooperation with Statistics Sweden (Statistiska Central Byrn, SCB ). The responses were then processed statistically and the data compiled and interpreted. This initial report presents the main ndings of the study. Jenny Westerstrand, Graduate in Law, Uppsala University, acted as coordinator of the project, dealing with all aspects of the study, scientic as well as administrative. Anne-Marie Kalliokoski, Department of Sociology, Uppsala University, was responsible for processing the statistics. Maria Eriksson, Department of Sociology, Uppsala University, and Kristina Stensson, of the Swedish National Center for Battered and Raped Women, (Rikskvinnocentrum), Uppsala, took part in the project during the projects initial and nal stages respectively. Thanks are due for their contributions to this project. We also offer sincere thanks to all those women who responded to the questionnaire and by so doing helped to bring to light new and important knowledge on the subjects of mens violence against women, of womens experiences of violence, and of the connections between the various kinds of violence. We are convinced that the knowledge which we have gained and is now presented here will be of great service in combating violence.

Eva Lundgren Professor of Sociology

Gun Heimer Associate Professor/Chief Physician

Violent experiences in total

Almost every second woman, i.e. 46 per cent, has been subjected to violence by a man since her fteenth birthday. 56 per cent of all women have been sexually harassed. Nearly one woman in four between 18 and 24 years of age has been subjected to violence in the last year.1
1

Last 12 months period

A total of 46 per cent of all women have experienced violence by a man since their fteenth birthday. Twelve per cent of women have been subjected to such violence in the last year.

Physical and sexual violence and threats One woman in four, i.e. 25 per cent, has experienced physical violence on the part of a man since her fteenth birthday. Five per cent have been subjected to physical violence in the last year. One woman in three, i.e. 34 per cent, has been subjected to sexual violence by a man at least once since turning fteen. Seven per cent have had such experiences in the last year. Nearly one woman in ve, i.e. 18 per cent, has experience of being threatened by a man since her fteenth birthday. Four per cent of women have been threatened in the last year.
Violence + sexual harassment 67%

All woman 100%

Violence prior to fifteenth birthday 31%

Sexual harassment 56%

Violence after fifteenth birthday 46%

Sexual violence 20%

Violence outside sexual relationship 30%

Violence by boyfriend 15%

Violence by present husband 11%

Violence by former husband 35%

Physical violence 18%

Sexual violence 25%

Sexual violence 11%

Sexual violence 3%

Sexual violence 16%

Physical violence 9%

Physical violence 7%

Physical violence 7%

Physical violence 28%

Fig 1. Male violence against women, distributed by perpetrator and type of violence.

Threats 9%

Threats 5%

Threats 1%

Threats 19%

Age

Violence last year %

Total

46 12 18 4 34 7 25 5
0 10 20

18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 Total

22.4 12.2 10.9 8.5 9.2 11.9

934 1536 1530 1620 1304 6926

Physical violence Sexual violence Threats

Ever Last 12 mths 30 40

Table 1. Women subjected to violence in the last 12 mths, various age groups, and number of abused women as proportion of all women (row per cent).

Fig 3. Women subjected to violence since turning fteen, by type of violence (%, N=6 926).

Ever Last 12 mths

EDUCATION University, no degree University, with degree Secondary schooling 10 46 13 43 15 40 12 53 14 49

AGE 18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 MARITAL STATUS Divorced Cohabiting 15 Widowed 8 Unmarried Married COUNTRY OF BIRTH Nordic country Other Sweden Europe 0 53 12 47 16 46 12 42 12 20 40 60
0 >20000 15001-20000

51 22 48 12 51 11 44 9 36 9

No compulsory schooling Compulsory schoolingg OCCUPATION Student Unemployed Self-employed Sick-leave/disability pension 8

54 20 54 16 51 50 12 46 7 44 10 36 10 35 9

67 17 50 41 44 10 43 11
Parental leave Wage/salary-earner Looking after home Retired INCOME <5000 5001-10000 10001-15000

48 15 46 13 45 10 48 11 50 9 10 20 30 40 50

Fig 2. Women subjected to violence by a man since turning fteen, by background variables (%).

Fig 4. Women subjected to violence by a man since turning fteen, by background variables (%).

Violence in the last year and the age factor Experiences of violence in the last year are most common in the age group 18-24. Nearly one woman in four (22 per cent) in this age group has been subjected to violence. Of women aged 25-34 and 35-44, twelve and eleven per cent respectively have been subjected to violence. Among women aged 45-54 and 55-64, the corresponding gure is nine per cent. Sexual harassment Fiftysix per cent of women in total have been subjected to sexual harassment, 16 per cent in the last year. Nearly two thirds of women aged 18-24 and 25-35 have been sexually harassed. Experiences of violence and harassment in total In total, 67 per cent of women aged 18-24 in Sweden have been subjected to violence by a man and/or have been sexually harassed since their fteenth birthday.
Fig 5. Violence in various relationships, by age groups (%).
60

Summary and comments These numbers illustrate the fact that violence against women is far from being a marginal problem. Nearly every second woman has been subjected to violence at some point since her fteenth birthday. In the light of this it is impossible to regard violence to women as a marginal and isolated problem which can be dealt with separately from discussion of relations between men and women in society as a whole. Moreover, for many women their violent experiences are not distant in time; young women especially have undergone such experiences in the last year. It is imperative that the knowledge of the extent of gender-related violence revealed by this study should result in measures to halt the violence. Such measures will need to take particular account of the scale of the violence and its consequent bearing on the everyday life of men and women.

18-24 25-34 51 48 44 36 37 36 33 28 20 33 36 51

50

35-44 45-54

40 34 30 35 32

55-64

20

19

18 17 12 12 8 9 10 11 11

10

0 Violence outside a sexual relationship Violence by boyfriend Violence by present husband/cohabitant partner Violence by former husband/cohabitant partner Total violence

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CHAPTER 1

Origin of this study

The research context This study is the first major national enquiry to have been carried out in Sweden with the object of studying the extent of mens violence against women. The results are of interest not only because of the high percentage of responses of the 10 000 women who received the questionnaire, containing approximately 350 questions, 70 per cent responded but also because knowledge of the phenomenon of violence to women contributed to the design and execution of the study. Knowledge developed by feminist research1 into violence and its iniction on women has been of vital importance to our work, and with its aid we have designed a study whose outcome has yielded increased knowledge of the extent of violence, of womens experiences of violence, of the links between different types of violence, and of the consequences of violence. Thus the study may help to shed light on how prevalent violence is, and its results could form a foundation for future researches into the subject of violence. Until 2001, no statistics existed to indicate the extent of violence against women. Until recently, broadly speaking, research-based knowledge about violence to women was lacking in Sweden, and studies aimed at developing theories of gender-related violence are still a neglected eld. Nevertheless since the 1970s there has been an explosive growth of gender-related research into violence against women, both in the Nordic countries and internationally.

Norway has been conducting two major research programmes concerned with violence to women2 since the middle of the 1980s, and Finland has recently initiated its rst research programme on gender and violence. 3 In Sweden, the absence of researchbased knowledge concerning violence to women has caused violence to be treated as a marginal phenomenon, and societys approach to it has been coloured by a longestablished view more or less in the nature of reasoned truth of the perpetrator of violence as a deviant, exceptional man, and of violence as a phenomenon occurring in special, socially deprived milieux. 4 An important part of the groundwork for the gender-related study of violence was to nd alternatives to the prevailing view of violence as a matter of behaviour by deviant individuals. 5 The earlier quantitative studies were supplemented by a qualitative methodological approach focusing on the experiences of women subjected to violence. This focus on womens experiences was a reaction against the way the established forms of research analysed the cause of violence without giving voice to womens experiences, thus failing to bring out the gender dimension or to study the relation between power and gender. The emphasis was on ameliorating the life-situation of women and combating the inequality inherent in a society which subordinates women to men. According to the Norwegian research programme Battered Women (Kvin11

nemishandling) (1986-1991), feminist studies emerged as a critical alternative to studies which had focused mainly on deviant personal attributes of the man which were able to explain that he did not know what he was doing, and deviant personal attributes of the woman which were able to explain that she wanted to be a victim. 6 The behaviour of the violent man is explained by his pathology, i.e. lack of impulse-control, or in terms of individual psychological factors such as disturbance, illness or some other deviation, sexual for example. Social inuences, such as an unhappy childhood or social heredity, are also invoked as explanations.7 Feminist studies reacted against the shift of responsibility between perpetrator and victim which resulted from this, and they began discussing the problems involved in concepts such as normal, abnormal and deviant. 8 Gender was introduced as an analytical concept in the study of violence, and the problem of violence was discussed and analysed from a structural perspective, which raised new questions. 9 A new understanding of the problems was generated through the new and critical gender-related studies, and violence against women gained status as a public and societal issue requiring to be tackled at political level. However, in Sweden there are still large gaps in what we know about violence. No attempt has been made to collate and scrutinise the few and isolated research contributions which exist on the topic of violence against women, or to develop and esh out a body of research-based knowledge such as would be essential to enable the scale of violence to be combated effectively.
12

One of the evidences for this is the fact that no major programme of research into violence to women exists or has existed in Sweden.

The Commission on Violence to Women: more than a milestone Very important changes of attitude with regard to violence to women have come about in the political world,10 where a number of initiatives have been taken to restrain mens violence to women by means of both legislative measures and special nancial appropriations for the police and medical services.11 These changes of attitude are especially apparent in the legislative eld. During the 1980s, the laws relating to sexual offence were changed. Following the report of the Commission on Sexual Offences of 198212 (whose proposals came into force in 198413) assaults in public places and rape were brought into the category of offences subject to public prosecution. In 1988, a law was enacted enabling visiting bans to be imposed for the purpose of protecting people from harassment and persecution, particularly women who are being subjected to assault and other abuse.14 This law soon became an instrument frequently resorted to, although still not always with much effect, in combating violence. The number of visiting bans granted against men increased from 62 in 1988 to 2 295 in 1999.15 The Commission on Violence to Women was established by the then Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health and Social Affairs, Bengt Westerberg, in 1993. The Commission, chaired by Britta Bjelle, Member of Parliament and now Director-General of the Crime Victim

Compensation and Support Authority (Brottsoffermyndigheten), was charged with the task to scrutinise issues related to violence to women from a female perspective and to propose measures to counteract such violence.16 The female perspective was then claried in the text as being synonymous with the perspective which has emerged from feminist studies of violence to women. The result of this initiative was to create an alliance of gender-related studies, politics and the law in order to combat violence to women, a move which has given Sweden a leading position internationally in this eld of legislation. One of the main tasks of the Commission on Violence Against Women was to overhaul chapter 6 of the Penal Code, dealing with sexual crimes. Ten years had passed by then since the 1982 Commission on Sexual Crimes had presented its report. The legislature felt that since opinions about violence to women had changed considerably during the interval between the two Commissions, it was a matter of urgency to overhaul not only sex offences but also other rules of penal law. The Commission put forward a number of radical proposals for changes in the legislation pertaining to violence against women and children. The Government introduced a few of the proposed changes to the Penal Code in its Bill 1997/98:55 Protection of Womens Integrity. A committee was appointed to scrutinise all sex crime legislation, materially, systematically and technically, partly as a result of the Commissions comments concerning the lack of protection for women and children exposed to violence.17 One of the key proposals presented by

the Commission on Violence to Women was the introduction of a new crime in the form of breach of a womans integrity. The proposal was adopted after some changes and was termed gross violation of a womans integrity.18 The new breach of a womans integrity crime is based on the knowledge we have of the effects of the normalisation process and the impact of repeated violations on women subjected to them.19 The intention behind the new crime is to raise the penalty value of acts which, viewed separately, are relatively minor but when repeated may lead to substantial violation of the victims integrity. In this way the legislature has taken account of the changes which a woman gradually experiences while being subjected to violence and of the fact that violations which may seem fairly minor when viewed separately have a grave negative effect on a woman when they are part of a process, thus meriting severe punishment. Other legislative changes touching on violence to women also ensued from the work of the Commission. One of the provisions of Government Bill 1997/98:55 Protection of Womens Integrity was a proposal to enlarge the denition of the crime of rape, criminalisation of the purchase of sexual services and a tightening up of various aspects of legislation relating to equality of the sexes. 20 Thus fairly considerable efforts have been made in political quarters to adapt the legislation relating to violence to the research-based knowledge available today of the way in which violence affects women subjected to it. One of the investigatory tasks assigned by directive to the Commission on Violence against Women was to determine whether criminal statistics ought to be broken
13

down by sex to a greater extent in order to furnish a better basis for estimating criminal trends related to violence against women. 21 However, criminal statistics record only those offences which come to the knowledge of the police. Since the number of unrecorded cases of violence to women is large, a great deal of such violence remains invisible. 22 It is generally thought that only about 25% of all crime is reported. 23 The number of unrecorded cases involving violence towards women is most likely higher than for violent crime in general. Three elements in particular are considered to inuence the propensity of victims to make a police report: gravity of the crime, relation to the perpetrator, and the place where the crime was committed. This indicates that much of the violence inicted on women is never reported since this kind of violence is quite commonly committed by the womans partner in their joint home.24 Lack of information about the true scale of violence to women seriously affects societys scope for combating the crime. Moreover, the criminal statistics on violence available today do not furnish any detailed knowledge concerning the situation of the victim nor of the consequences of the violence, which is why many pressing questions remain unanswered. The Commission on Violence Against Women considered the time had come to conduct the rst major crime victim survey on the incidence of violence against women. A crime victim survey was carried out in Canada in 1993 and had contributed important knowledge about the incidence of violence. 25 A similar survey in Sweden, the Commission felt, would be able to increase our knowledge of the incidence and distribution of
14

violence to women and give an insight into other elements of importance in preventing such violence and reducing the harmful effects of the violence which occurs. 26 It would also improve our knowledge of what resources should be deployed to combat the violence to which women are subjected. The Crime Victim Compensation and Support Authority was commissioned by the Government to conduct a survey of criminal victims. 27 The Authority in turn commissioned Professor Eva Lundgren and Associate Professor and Chief Physician Gun Heimer, both of Uppsala University, to carry out the survey.

Dominant perspectives on violence in Sweden The model of explanation commonly used in Sweden when trying to understand mens violence against women is of an individual psychological character. This model has been devised mainly by psychologists engaged in clinical work, and the samples in the studies they have conducted are based on clinical samples. This approach links the violence to the individual violent man, who is regarded as mad, sick or deviant in some other way, and the explanation of his violent actions is sought in his personality. 28 Inherent in this approach is the concept of violence as consisting of isolated, deviant deeds committed by special, abnormal men. Possibly too, the women subjected to violence may be regarded as deviant in some way, for example as inadequate or provocative. 29 Alongside this perspective, a socially-oriented perspective has had a strong inuence on the understanding of mens violence to women. 30 These

perspectives have been developed within the criminological eld and the samples in the studies conducted are based mainly on men who appear in the criminal statistics as being guilty, accused or merely suspected of various violent or sexual crimes. These men too may be regarded as deviant. From this angle of approach the spotlight falls on the social conditions applicable to the perpetrator of violence, such as social exclusion, alcohol abuse or unemployment. The two perspectives may also be combined, such as when the social heritage is linked to so-called re-victimisation. 31 These circumstances, whether they exist now or were present during the mans childhood, are presumed to cause his violent behaviour. Another related way of understanding violence to women may be said to be based on the so-called systems theory, in which the special violent family is placed at the centre and related to the family and its structure, its discords and imbalance. The systems theory models of explanation concentrate on the balance between individual members of the family, the parties being regarded as fairly equal whereas systematic power imbalance between men and women is ignored. A new perspective, represented here by the Commission on Violence Against Women, gradually began to manifest itself. The directive to the Commission on Violence Against Women states that the Commission is being established in order to scrutinise issues related to violence to women from a female perspective and to propose measures to counteract such violence. 32 The female perspective was then dened as being synonymous with the perspective of feminist studies, which

in the Commissions words meant that the violence must be viewed from the perspective of gender power. 33 The Commission takes the view that a society which shares power and control equally between women and men takes an important step in combating violence to women. 34 Thus the fact that men subject women to violence may be regarded from a structural perspective as an expression of male superiority which may manifest itself in actual physical attacks on women, but also in less drastic phenomena such as sexual harassment or verbal abuse. On this view, the violence to which men subject women not only expresses superiority but also helps to re-create it and to shape mens and womens conceptions of what being a man or a woman means.
Design of the questionnaire The main purpose of the study has been to form as clear a picture as possible of the extent of mens violence against women. However, to produce a picture of how things are is very difcult in all types of research work, and this study is no exception. The kind of knowledge which can be gained is limited by the fragmentary form of the questionnaire and the simplication of the questions at issue which it requires. In addition to this, it is also difficult to ask questions about experiences of violence. If women suffering violence in a relationship are in a process of change and degradation, a process in which the mans violent acts have become continuous and are gradually assuming a new meaning as the boundaries shift, we cannot believe that simple questions such as Have you been abused? will provide us with the most reliable picture of the prevalence
15

of violence to women. The questions about violence put to women by the researcher must penetrate behind any possible reinterpretations or minimising of the violence if we are to attain knowledge of womens experiences. A comprehensive survey of male violence to women, using questionnaires distributed by post, was conducted in Finland in 1997, 35 and the percentage of responses was high. Because of this, and because it was considered important to lay a foundation for other Nordic and European comparative studies, questionnaires distributed by post were the method chosen for the Swedish survey as well.36 The questions were worded and grouped together in a way facilitating comparisons with the Finnish study.

Ethical scrutiny This study, including the design of the questionnaire, has undergone ethical scrutiny by the ethical committee of the HSFR (the Swedish Council for Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences). The committee approved the study following the incorporation of additional provisions for the protection of participating informants. The committee particularly emphasised the importance of clearly stating that participation in the study was voluntary. 39
Methodological foundations What we have asked for is womens experiences of violence, which means that in designing the questionnaire we have had to allow for women making their own interpretations as to which experiences they consider to constitute violence. Anyone aspiring to understand anything about violence or wanting to ask other people questions in this eld will soon discover that there is little help to be had from the denitions used in everyday life, which are often taken from jurisprudence. On the contrary, the xed jurisprudential breakdown into different categories of crime soon turns out to be useless when women are questioned about their experiences of subjection to violence. There are no watertight bulkheads between different kinds of violence. For example, how can one tell the difference between sexual and physical violence? Does not much sexual violence involve the use of physical violence? And where is the line to be drawn between threats and actual violence? For a woman who has been beaten, the threat of further assault is a reality which may be as frightening as the

Preliminary work on the questionnaire The questionnaire was tested on several pilot groups before being distributed. Each group made comments on the questionnaire, which was amended accordingly. 37 On the whole, the women took a favourable view of the questionnaires design, and there was little criticism of its length. No radical changes to the questionnaire were necessitated as a result of the pilot groups comments, but minor adjustments were made which in our judgment considerably increased the questionnaires readability. A consultative group was linked to the project as well. 38 The group met twice for detailed discussions of the organisation of the study and the design of the questionnaire. The groups members were appointed on the basis of their qualifications in the field of statistics and/or their familiarity with violence to women as a eld of research.
16

violence itself. Threats to kill the woman may likewise be uttered at the same time as threats of abuse made earlier are being put into effect, so that threats of violence and actual violence become very hard to separate. These and other questions of definitions of violence, along with questions concerning the choice of categories in which to arrange the questions about violence, have been necessary and continuous accompaniments throughout the work on the questionnaire and the analysis of the responses.

Violence as a continuum Sexual violence is haunted by the concept of a continuum of violence, a continuous series of physical, verbal and sexual assaults committed by men on women. The concept of sexual violence includes any physical, visual, verbal or sexual act that is experienced by the woman or girl, at the time or later, as a threat, invasion or assault, that has the effect of hurting her or degrading her and/or takes away her ability to control intimate contact, hereafter referred to as gender-related violence.40 This approach views threats, violence and sexual abuse as actions impossible to isolate from one another; characteristically the boundaries between them are uid and actions merge into one another. A sexual assault may include physical violence or threats; threats may be related to previous violent acts, and so on. A womans experience of a violent deed may also be coloured by and related to earlier experiences she has had of gender-related violence, and well-dened boundaries between different types of violence are therefore impossible to draw. Even though separate violent actions may

manifest themselves in different ways, the common denominator is that the abused woman is negatively affected. Looking at violence as a continuum enables us to see the linkages between its various forms, putting serious violence on the same scale as acts which are less serious, perhaps not criminalised, or even considered acceptable. The concept thus links together commonly-used expressions of sexism and acts of criminal violence. The continuum concept thus makes it possible to understand that actions which the law denes as minor may signify an explicit or implicit threat to an abused woman, i.e. that they are anything but minor to her. At the same time this may help us to understand why women often play down the importance of violent actions, for example by comparing them with how much worse they might have been: the threat could have been physical violence instead, or the sexual assault could have been a rape. The idea of violence as a continuum means that all forms of gender-related violence are understood to be serious; the concept is not to be construed as a method of creating hierarchies of more or less serious abuses. However, the concept can be utilised to analyse the incidence of different types of gender-related violence in such a way as to indicate that there are forms of gender-related violence which most women experience at some point in their lives and which they will probably also experience repeatedly.

Violence: its dynamics and normalisation process Violence is not a clear-cut phenomenon, as is illustrated not least by the discussion
17

above. For abused women the problems of definition which are central to an understanding of violence bring difficulties in naming and defining their own experiences. Furthermore, living in a violent relationship changes the parties involved, including their (re)interpretations and understandings of the violence. The concept of normalisation of violence brings these changes under scrutiny by pointing out that women cohabiting with men who abuse them are living in a process where boundaries are being shifted and acts of violence gradually take on a new meaning. 41 An attack which an outsider would regard as violence may for the woman involved be a manifestation of something wrong with herself; the violence has assumed a new meaning in her eyes in that the mans understanding of it has become valid for her as well. She accepts his interpretation of his violence as a manifestation of her own failure as a woman. Interview studies also prove that it is difcult for women to interpret and put into words violence to which they have been subjected by men in close relationships. 42 One of the reasons for this is stereotyped notions that violence is a marginal problem, that it is practised under special circumstances, and that it is directed at a special type of woman and practised by a special kind of man.43 In addition, many women feel a strong inner resistance against identifying themselves as battered women and regarding their husbands/partners as abusers, i.e. against identifying both themselves and their partners as deviants from the norm of an equal paired relationship. In addition, women subjected to violence by their partners experience
18

fear, guilt and shame. Dening the violence as something other than actual violence, thus making it less serious, may be one way of coping with these violent experiences. If violence has been employed in a relationship and if it has been going on for some time, developing a systematic character, this dynamic is reinforced through the normalisation process. 44 In interviews with women who have left violent men, an important difference emerges in their retrospective understanding of the violence compared with the way they viewed the mans actions when they were still living with him and with the violence. 45 It is only when the woman is out of the relationship and out of the violence that she can fully bring herself to describe the experiences as violent. This difference of possible interpretation can be understood in the light of the dynamics and normalisation process of the violence, as can the control exercised by the man over the woman by means of violence combined with e.g. brainwashing, isolation of the woman, and switching between violence and warmth. A prerequisite of a womans being able to interpret the mans violent actions as simply violence is that she should no longer normalise these acts, nor should she internalise his image of her as constituting the problem. This denormalisation process is a social process requiring that the womans isolation shall have been broken and that the man shall no longer have the same control over her. It further requires that she should no longer be at risk of subjection to further violence. Paradoxically, one of the adaptive strategies employed by women to avoid triggering violence makes it impossible, as long as they are in the relationship and in

the violence, to interpret or name these actions as constituting violence.

Inuence on the wording of the questions When viewed from the perspective discussed above, the experiences of violence sought by the questionnaire may be very difcult for women to dene or put words to. The denitions of violence current in society express a fragmented view of violence with fixed lines of demarcation between different types of act and their degrees of gravity, and there may be none of them that corresponds to the way the woman herself would dene her experiences. In designing a postal questionnaire on gender-related violence so as to form a picture of how common it is for women to experience gender-related violence, what sort of violence it is and how it affects the women concerned, it is important to make use of knowledge of the ways in which the women interpret their experiences in the light of the type of relationship the woman is living in and what her situation is.

Questions to focus on relationships rather than type of act A womans relationship with the perpetrator has a major inuence on how she interprets the violence to which she is subjected. For this reason, and in order to get round the reluctance which the woman may feel to relate unpleasant and abusive experiences, the questionnaire is designed so as to lead step by step to the violent experiences, while the questions focus on the womans relationship to the perpetrator rather than the type of act committed. In addition, we begin

with questions about more remote experiences, i.e. not experiences of violence by men in close relationships. Because of this the questionnaire is longer than it would have been if the questions had been grouped by types of act, since the respondent has to answer the same question several times, but in respect of men with whom they have had different types of relationship. To have arranged the questions according to types of act would also have encouraged an interpretation of the violence in which the womans experiences would be fragmentised and kept separate instead of being construed in context with each other and with life as a whole. We know that the questions may be very delicate. This is another reason why the questionnaire puts questions about the least close experiences rst, so that questions about unknown men and casual acquaintances precede those about men with whom the woman has or has had a sexual relationship, or where she has or has had a sexual relationship and has cohabited with the man concerned. The design of the questionnaire thus resembles a kind of gradual progress from the remote and presumably less delicate experiences towards matters which may be both hard to express in words and painful to think about. This also makes it easier for the woman to recall things she may have forgotten; matters which have been too painful to remember may be brought out, little by little and somewhat less painfully. In this way the questionnaire takes account of the fact that women often interpret violence in close relationships differently from violence on the part of a stranger.
19

We have divided the various relationships into the following categories:

Men with whom the respondent does not have and has not had a sexual relationship (for example neighbours, friends, colleagues, relatives or unknown men) Boyfriends and other men with whom the respondent has or has had a sexual relationship but with whom she neither cohabits nor has cohabited Present husband or cohabitant partner Former husband or cohabitant partner

Another idea underlying the framing of the questions to elicit relationships rather than actions has been to make the questionnaire adaptable so as to focus on certain areas judged to be particularly important. 46 For example, questions concerning physical violence are framed in greater detail in the section on present and former husbands/cohabitant partners respectively than in the sections on other relationships. Questions about controlled behaviour appear only in the sections dealing with present and former husbands/cohabitant partners. Questions about sexual harassment are asked only in respect of men with whom the woman has never had a sexual relationship, not in respect of present or former husbands/cohabitant partners or boyfriends. 47

too the object is to penetrate beyond any possible reinterpretation and minimising of the violence by the women concerned. For a woman living in a relationship in which violence occurs in some regular sense the question Have you been abused? may be irrelevant. Instead of grouping the questions according to types of violence e.g. Have you been abused?, Have you been raped? - we have preferred to ask concretely: Has the man punched you, struck you with a hard object or kicked you?, -pushed, held or dragged you?, -banged your head against something? etc. As regards sexual abuse, the questions are framed in the same concrete manner, e.g. Has your present husband/cohabitant partner ever forced you into any form of sexual activity by threatening you, holding you or hurting you in any way? The experiences which we have asked about can be roughly divided into:
Physical violence Sexual violence Threats of violence Sexual harassment Controlling behaviour

Concrete questions Regarding the wording of the questions, we have made this as concrete as possible. Here
20

Violence, a holistic approach According to the conception of genderrelated violence as a continuum, threats, violence and sexual abuse are acts which cannot be isolated from each other; they are characterised by the uidity of the boundaries between them. We can also see this from the womens answers; many of them have experienced all types of violence, and their experiences are not

isolated. In accordance with this view, when violence is mentioned in the analysis of the results in the report below, this means physical violence, sexual violence and threats. (Sexual harassment and controlling behaviour are not dened as violence, since we have tried to restrict our denition of violence to criminalised actions) In those instances where a breakdown into categories has been considered necessary in order to illustrate differences of experience which can be linked to variables such as age, for example, this is indicated by using the terms physical violence, sexual violence and threats. Thus the analysis shifts between breaking down the various types of violence and keeping them together. The idea of violence as a continuum and the interpretative perspective on the normalisation of violence have thus had a considerable inuence over the design of the questionnaire. As will be shown below, these perspectives have also played a part in the way the material has been analysed.
Method Since an important aim of the study was to describe the experiences of women in Sweden of male violence occurring after their fifteenth birthday, we elected to base the study on a large sample (N=10 000) in order also to obtain enough data for subgroups of women in Swedish society. 48 A survey of violence against women was conducted in Finland in 1997. 49 We were inuenced by this study and wanted to design the Swedish questionnaire to resemble the Finnish as far as possible so as to facilitate comparisons between the two countries. The questionnaire consists of 115 questions in various sections,

grouped in accordance with the present or past relationship subsisting between the woman and man in question. The data were collected in cooperation with Statistics Sweden (Statistiska Centralbyrn, SCB ). A probability sampling of 10 000 women aged 18-64 resident in Sweden was extracted from SCBs register of the total population. The data were collected between 15 October 1999 and 27 January 2000. A thankyou and reminder card was sent out on 27 October, after which two additional reminders with questionnaires attached were sent out in November and December. By the time the collection of data had been completed, 6 926 replies had been received, signifying a response rate of 70.1 per cent. The total non-response was thus 2 957. Considering the length of the questionnaire and the sensitive nature of the questions, the percentage of responses must be considered high. 50 We interpret the womens high degree of willingness to respond to constitute an acknowledgement that the questions raised and the way they were asked touched a chord that echoed womens experiences. Despite the fact that the questions awakened painful memories among many women, or may very likely have taken some time to answer, these women did respond and return the questionnaire to us. Of those who responded, 43% replied in the affirmative to the question whether they would be willing to take part in an eventual follow-up study.

21

1 The term feminist research is used synonymously with research into womens issues and gender-related research. 2 Forskningsprogram om kvinnemishandling 1968-91 and Forskningsprogram om seksualisert vold. NAVF. 3 Makt, vld och kn, Finlands Akademi. 4 Brantster 2001. 5 Ibid: chap 9. 6 NAVF Rapport 1, 1985 p 6f.

Brantster 2001 p 323. See e.g. Brantster 2001. 9 The sociologist Ann Edwards has compiled a survey of developments in modern feminist studies, which in her view have focused on 1) violence as a vital instrument in maintaining male dominance, 2) sexualised violence as an indivisible problem (that is, instead of distinguishing between rape, assault, incest etc, the problem is viewed collectively from the analytical standpoint, concentrating on the fact that these are all examples of the oppression of women) and 3) sexuality as a social construct and its relation to violence, power and mens control over women. See Jeffner 1997 chapter 7 for an overview of the research eld. 10 In 1990, the Government established a professorship in sociology, especially womens research focusing particularly on violence to women. This post has been held by Eva Lundgren since 1993. Responsibility for ofcial judicial statistics was transferred from Statistics Sweden (Statistiska Centralbyrn, SCB) to The National Council for Crime Prevention (Brottsfrebyggande rdet, BR) in 1996. A Government Bill (1997/98:55) afrmed the need for speedy action to improve statistics relating to crimes of violence against women. See further footnote 12 for details of action in the medical services eld. 11 The Government decided in the autumn of 1994 to establish a national resources and information centre at the Department of Womens and Childrens Health (Kvinnokliniken) of the Uppsala University Hospital to be responsible for surveys, research, education and information services relating to battered and raped women, and for improving the care available to such women. It was in this way that the Swedish National Center for Battered and Raped Women. (Rikskvinnocentrum, RKC) came into existence. The Center is headed by its chief physician, Associate Professor Gun Heimer. 12 SOU 1982:61 13 Prop 1983/84:105, bet. 1983/84Ju25, rskr. 1983/84:332, SFS 1984:399 14 Prop 1987/88:137 p 9. 15 Rikspolisstyrelsen, Kirunaenheten. 16 SOU 1995:60 Kvinnofrid, Del A p 49. 17 Dir. 1998:48 versyn av lagstiftning om sexualbrott. SOU 2001:14. 18 Prop 1997/98:55. 19 Prop 1997/98:55 p 74 ff and Lundgren 1993 and 1995. 20 The banning of the purchase of sexual services was not investigated by the Commission on Violence Against Women but was prepared in SOU 1995:15 Knshandeln. However, the Government dealt with this issue along with the introduction of the crime of gross violation of a womans integrity in Government Bill 1997/98:55. The ban has not been embodied in the Penal Code but is formulated as a separate law (1998:408). 21 Not until 1981 did it become possible to distinguish from the ofcial statistics those cases of reported violence in which a woman was the victim.
8

22 The gure for unrecorded cases indicates the proportion between the actual number of crimes and the visible or reported number of crimes. If for example the gure for unrecorded cases is one, all crimes committed are reported. If the gure for unrecorded cases is two, the actual number of crimes committed is twice as many as the visible number of crimes. Source BR, http://www.bra.se/web/brott/rattsvasendet/ordlista.html, 2001-01-10.
23 24

Heimer & Nylen 1999 p 3. Ibid:1999. 25 Statistics Canada 1993. 26 SOU 1995:60 Kvinnofrid p 91.

22

Prop. 1997/98:130 p 149. Brantster 2001 chap 9, Lundgren 1994 p 25-32. 29 Bergman 1989. See also NAVF Rapport 1, 1985 p 6f. 30 Brantster 2001 chap 9. 31 Theories of re-victimisation aim to show a connection between perpetrators having themselves been abused as children and subsequently, as adults, inicting violence on those around them. 32 Dir. 1993:88 p 1. 33 SOU 1995:60 Kvinnofrid p 106. 34 Ibid. 35 Faith, Hope, Battering. A Survey of Mens Violence against Women in Finland. Markku Heiskanen, Minna Piispa, Statistikcentralen, Finland, Justice 1998:20. In 1993, a survey of the incidence of male violence against women was conducted in Canada by means of telephone interviews. Statistics Canada 1993. 36 Since many of the questions raised by the questionnaire are very delicate in numerous ways, there was some debate in the projects initial phase as to whether it would be possible at all to use a questionnaire distributed by post. Would women with experience of violence throw the questionnaire away when the questions became too painful? Or would respondents be provoked by the detailed nature of the questions and the length of the questionnaire? In previous Swedish studies of delicate issues the interview method had been employed (Sex i Sverige. Om sexualitet i Sverige 1996. Bo Lewin, ed p 31). The reasons were mainly that a postal questionnaire must be very limited in length and that it is impossible to jump about between the questions as can be done during an interview. At the same time the Finnish postal questionnaire, which the Swedish one resembles closely both in length and in the substance of the questions, elicited a very high percentage response. After weighing the pros and cons (comparability with the Finnish study being one of several important reasons), we decided on the postal questionnaire method. 37 For a more detailed discussion of the results from the pilot groups, see Appendix 2. 38 The members of the consultative group were Eckart Klhorn, the National Council for Crime Prevention (Brottsfrebyggande rdet, BR), Monika Olsson, the National Council for Crime Prevention (Brottsfrebyggande rdet, BR), Britta Bjelle, director-general of the Crime Victim Compensation and Support Authority (Brottsoffermyndigheten), Bo Lewin, associate professor at Uppsala University, Maud Eduards, professor at Stockholm University, Gunnel Gustafsson, professor at Ume University, and Sven-Olof Isacsson, professor at Lund University. 39 For a more detailed description of the ethical scrutiny, see Appendix 3. 40 Kelly 1988 p 41 41 Lundgren 1993 42 Kelly 1988 43 Ibid 44 Lundgren 1993 45 Mellberg 2002. See Bibliography. 46 Of course it would have been desirable to ask detailed questions concerning all types of violence in all types of relationships, but the need to limit the length of the questionnaire weighed more heavily in this regard. We develop briey the considerations underlying the choice of specic questions pertaining to different kinds of relationships in the relevant passages of the text. 47 From a legal point of view, sexual harassment is a concept found in labour legislation. However, we have chosen to widen our denition of the concept to include also harassment to which a woman may be subjected outside a work relationship but with a man with whom she does not have and has not had a sexual relationship. 48 See also Appendix 4. The effective sample comprised 9 883 women since 117 women had died or emigrated. 49 Heiskanen & Pispa 1998.
28

27

50

See footnote 37.

23

CHAPTER 2

Violence within sexual relationships

Questions about violence within sexual relationships were asked pertaining to 1. Men with whom the women have or have had a non-cohabiting sexual relationship 2. Present husbands/cohabitant partners 3. Former husbands/cohabitant partners Since criminal statistics indicate that physical violence against women occurs most commonly within close relationships, we considered it important to ask further and more precisely worded questions about physical violence in the questionnaire sections concerned with close relationships (present and former husbands/cohabitant partners respectively).1 The wording of the questions aims to penetrate beyond possible reinterpretation and minimising of the violence.
Violence by former husband/ cohabitant partner
35 per cent of women who have been married to or cohabiting with a man have been subjected to violence by the former husband/ cohabitant partner. Half of divorced2 women have been subjected to violence by a former husband/cohabitant partner.
0 10 20 30 40
Fig 6. Type of violence suffered by women in former marriage or cohabitant relationship (%, N=2 755).

Total Physical violence Threats Sexual violence 19 16 28

35

have had at least one former husband or cohabitant partner. The number of women in this group is 2 755.

Physical Violence A total of seven concrete questions were asked regarding womens experiences of physical violence on the part of a former husband/cohabitant partner. The questions asked were the same for both present and former husbands/cohabitant partners. They concern whether the man has ever thrown anything at the woman which could have injured her, whether he has pushed her, held her or dragged her, punched her, struck her with a hard object or kicked her, throttled her or tried to suffocate her, banged her head against something or threatened to use, or used, a rearm or other weapon. 3
In total, 28 per cent of women have experienced being subjected to physical violence by a former husband/cohabitant partner.

The gures presented in this section are based on the number of women who
24

Nearly one woman in four, i.e. 23 per cent, has been pushed, held or dragged by her former husband/cohabitant partner. Sixteen per cent have been punched, struck with a hard object or kicked by a former husband or cohabitant partner, and 13 per cent have had a hard object or an object that could cause injury thrown at them. Eight per cent have experience of a man throttling or trying to suffocate them. Seven per cent of the women have had their heads banged against some hard surface and six per cent state that a man has threatened them with, or used, a knife, rearm or some other weapon. Three per cent have been pushed, dragged or held in the last year. Two per cent have had things thrown at them which could have caused injury. One per cent have been punched, struck with a hard object or kicked.

he had tried to force her into any form of sexual activity by threatening her, holding her or hurting her in any way, whether he had forced or tried to force her into any form of sexual activity when she was unable to defend herself, e.g. because she was asleep or under the inuence of drugs, and nally, whether he had touched her in a sexual way against her will, e.g. by grabbing, holding, kissing or hugging her.
In total, 16 per cent of women have experienced sexual violence on the part of a former husband/ cohabitant partner.

Sexual violence Four questions were asked about sexual violence. The respondent was asked whether her former husband/cohabitant partner had forced her into any form of sexual activity by threatening her, holding her or hurting her in any way, whether
Thrown something at you which could have injured you Pushed you, held you or dragged you Punched or kicked you, struck you with an object Throttled/tried to suffocate you Banged your head against somethingt Threatened you with or used a knife, firearm or other weapon Been violent in any other way

Seven per cent of the women have been forced into a sexual activity by a former husband or cohabitant partner as a result of his threatening, holding or in some way hurting her. Eight per cent have experienced attempts by a former husband/cohabitant partner to force her into sexual activity. Thirteen per cent of the women state that former husbands/cohabitant partners have touched them in a sexual way against their will.

13 23 16 8 7 6 12 0 5 10 15 20

Fig 7. Has a former husband/cohabitant partner ever behaved violently towards you in any of the following ways? (Yes in %, N=2 755).

25

Threats As regards threats, there is one question about whether the man has threatened the woman with physical harm.
In total, nearly every fth woman, i.e. 19 per cent, has been threatened by a former husband/ cohabitant partner

Frequency Once 2-10 times 11-50 times >50 times No response

% 19.9 38.2 16.6 9.5 15.8

Table 2. Frequency of violence by former husband/ cohabitant partner (% of women responding to the question, N=941)
AGE 18-24 25-34 33 3 36 6 37 6 36 4 33 8

Two per cent have been threatened by a former husband/cohabitant partner in the last year.

How frequent was the violence? We asked two questions about the number of times women have been subjected to violence by their former husband/cohabitant partner, viz how many times it has happened in the last year and how many times it has happened earlier. Respondents may thus have indicated affirmatively to both these questions, depending on their experiences.
In total, almost two thirds, i.e. 64 per cent, of women who have experienced violence on the part of a former husband/cohabitant partner report that this has happened more than once.

35-44 45-54 55-64 MARITAL STATUS Divorced Unmarried

50 11 43 8 32 3 28 3 16

Cohabiting Married Widow FAMILY SITUATION Lone with children Lone without children Married with children 4 Married without children 2 20 5

45 9 54 34

Thirtyeight per cent of women who have been subjected to violence by a former husband/cohabitant partner state that they were subjected to sexual or physical violence or threats 2-10 times and 17 per cent state that they were subjected to it 11-50 times. One woman in ten with experience of violence has been subjected to it more than fty times. In total, 27 per
26

Cohab. with children Cohab. without children

29 3 37 2 0 10 20 30 40 50

Ever Last 12 mths

Fig 8. Women subjected to violence by former husband or cohabitant partner, by womens background variables (% of women who have former husband/cohabitant partner).

cent of women with experience of violence on the part of a former husband/cohabitant partner have been subjected to it more than ten times. Only 20 per cent state that they were subjected to violence only once.

Age There are no major differences between different age groups as regards their experiences of violence on the part of a former husband/cohabitant partner. Women aged 35-44 show the highest level of reported violence on the part of former husbands/cohabitant partners, more than one woman in three (37 per cent) having had such experiences. The lowest reported level is found among women aged 18-24, but the differences are small: Thirtythree per cent of women in this age group have experienced violence by a former husband/cohabitant partner. Marital status and family circumstances Of lone women with children under the age of eighteen, 45 per cent have been subjected to violence by a former husband/cohabitant partner. Nearly one in ten lone woman with children has been subjected to violence in the last year. Of lone women without children the proportion is even higher, 54 per cent having experienced violence by a former husband/cohabitant partner. However, the latter group reports a lower level of violence - ve per cent in the last year. If the women are divided up into those living with a man today and those who are not living with a man, we see that 43 per cent of women living alone have experiences of violence by a former husband/cohabitant partner. Of women

currently cohabiting with a man and who have been married to/cohabiting with a man before, 30 per cent have such experiences. Thus, looking at womens current marital status, women not living with a man report a higher level of experiences of violence on the part of former husbands/cohabitant partners than do women who are currently living with a man.

Summary and comments What emerges from the responses is that being subjected to violence on the part of a former husband/cohabitant partner is a common experience among Swedish women. More than one third of women have had such experiences. In total, 28 per cent have been subjected to physical violence, 16 per cent to sexual violence and 19 per cent to threats by a former husband/cohabitant partner. Thus physical violence, sexual violence and threats all occur, but physical violence seems to be particularly prevalent. The violence was not conned to isolated incidents: only one fth of women subjected to violence by a former husband/cohabitant partner report one incident (of those so subjected more than one year ago). In total, 27 per cent of the women report more than ten violent incidents, which indicates that the violence has been of systematic character, with repeated and continuous offences. 4 There is a signicant difference between the violence reported respectively by lone women and women cohabiting with a man. One of many possible interpretations of the reasons for this is that women who have experienced violence choose, more often than those who have not, to refrain
27

from embarking on a new relationship with a man. Another possible interpretation is that women living with men under-report the violence to which they were subjected by previous men; in other words a womans interpretation of her experiences of violence are inuenced by whether she is in or out of a relationship with a man - and not only the man who employed violence towards her. As we shall see below, there are also great differences between reported violence on the part of the former husband/cohabitant partner and on that of the present husband/cohabitant partner respectively.
Violence by present husband/ cohabitant partner The research material contains data relating to 4 771 women who are married/cohabiting.
In total, slightly more than one woman in ten, i.e. 11 per cent, has been subjected to violence by their present husband/cohabitant partner. Half of these have been subjected to violence in the last year. 7 per cent have been subjected to physical violence by their present husband/cohabitant partner.

Physical violence The questions about physical violence are the same with respect to both present and former husbands/cohabitant partners. As was discussed in the section concerning the questionnaires design, these questions were worded to allow for the tendency of women subjected to violence to reinterpret and minimise it. The questions were accordingly made as concrete as possible. Seven questions were asked about physical
28

violence, and the information sought was whether the husband/cohabitant partner had thrown anything at the woman which could have injured her, whether he had pushed, held or dragged her, punched her, struck her with a hard object or kicked her, throttled her or tried to suffocate her, banged her head against something or threatened her with or used a rearm or any other weapon. 5 In total, seven per cent of the women have been subjected to physical violence by their present husband/cohabitant partner. Six per cent of women cohabiting with a man report that he has pushed, held or dragged them. Two per cent report that the man has thrown something at them which could have injured them. Two per cent have been punched, struck with a hard object or kicked. Women in the 18-24 age group report the highest level of physical violence on the part of present husband/cohabitant partner (nine per cent), but the differences between the age groups are small. There is a slight difference between married and unmarried couples. Of the women who are cohabiting and have children, nine per cent have been subjected to violence by their present husband/cohabitant partner. The corresponding number for married women with children is six per cent. Three per cent have been subjected to physical violence in their present marriage in the last year.

Sexual violence The questions about sexual violence are the same for all kinds of relationships: four were asked. They concerned whether

the woman had been forced into any form of sexual activity as a result of the man threatening, holding or hurting her in some way, whether he had tried to force her into any form of sexual activity by threatening, holding or hurting her in some way, whether he had forced or tried to force her into any form of sexual activity when she was unable to defend herself, e.g. because she was asleep or under the inuence of drugs, and nally whether he had touched her in a sexual way against her will, e.g. by grabbing, holding, kissing or hugging her. In total, 3 per cent of the women have been subjected to sexual violence by their present husband/cohabitant partner. Women aged 45-54 reported the highest level of sexual violence (i.e. four per cent) on the part of their present husband/cohabitant partner. However, the differences are small; two per cent of the women aged 25-34 report sexual violence by their present husband/cohabitant partner. There is no real difference between married and unmarried women in this respect: reports of sexual violence amounted to about three per cent in respect of married and unmarried couples, with or without children. As regards the extent of the various types of sexual violence on the part of present husbands/cohabitant partners, the reports amount to less than one per cent, with the exception of the question whether the man has touched the respondent in a sexual way against her will; three per cent report such experiences.

Threats of violence In total, one per cent of the women have been threatened with violence by their present husband/cohabitant partner. 6
Physical violence Sexual violence Threats Total

7 3 1 11 0 2 4 6 8 10

Fig 9. Women subjected to violence by present husband/cohabitant partner, by type of violence (%, N=4 771).

Age Violence on the part of a present husband/ cohabitant partner is most prevalent in the youngest age group, but the differences are fairly small on the whole. In total, twelve per cent of women aged 18-24 have been subjected to violence by their present husband/cohabitant partner, the corresponding gure for women aged 25-34 being approximately nine per cent. In the 35-44, 45-54 and 55-64 age groups, just over one woman in ten has been so subjected.
AGE 18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 0 5 4 10 5 11 6 11 6 10 6 9
Ever Last 12 mths

12

Fig 10. Proportion of women subjected to violence by present husband/cohabitant partner, by different age groups (% of women currently in a relationship)..

29

Summary and comments Reports of violence on the part of present husbands/cohabitant partners are considerably fewer than womens reports of violence by former husbands/cohabitant partners. At the same time it appears that just over one woman in ten has been subjected to violence by the man she is married to or cohabiting with. In half of these instances the most recent such violent experience occurred in the last year. As was the case with violence by former husbands/cohabitant partners, it is physical violence that appears to be the most common form. The differences between the age groups are small, but a difference can be detected between married and unmarried couples in that women who are not married to their male partners report a slightly higher degree of violence.
Controlling behaviour Not only reported crimes but other aspects too must be taken into consideration to be able to elucidate satisfactorily how violence inuences the circumstances under which women live. It is also important to take account of the control and exercise of power to which men subject women and which is not covered by any code of punishments.7 Therefore questions were asked in the questionnaire about womens experiences of behaviour which might not all be categorised as criminal but which enables the woman and her personal space to be controlled. The term controlling behaviour includes such manifestations as jealousy, the man preventing the woman from seeing relatives and friends, calling her disparaging names or forbidding her to make her own decisions about money. 8 These forms of behaviour may constitute
30

serious violations of the womans integrity and self-esteem. In cases where the man also employs physical violence, the controlling forms of behaviour can be regarded as being related to the womans other experiences of the mans violence. Ten questions were asked concerning different forms of controlling behaviour. The respondents had to decide in respect of each of the stated forms of behaviour whether it constituted an appropriate description of their former or present husband/cohabitant partner. 9 Examples of such behaviour might be wanting to know whom she had met and what she had been doing, calling her disparaging names, forbidding her to see her relatives/friends or to have money or buy things, deliberately damaging her belongings, or threatening to harm himself if she left him.

Former husbands /cohabitant partners This group of respondents comprises 2 755 women, i.e. women disclosed by the research data to have had at least one former husband/cohabitant partner. Fortyeight per cent of these women state that their former husband/cohabitant partner employed controlling forms of behaviour towards them. One in three women, i.e. 33 per cent, states that a former husband/cohabitant partner was jealous and wanted to know whom she had met and what she had been doing. Sixteen per cent of the women stated that their former husband/cohabitant partner threatened to harm himself if she left him. Twentynine per cent stated that their former husband/cohabitant partner made them feel useless and inferior, and 25 per cent were called disparaging names

by a former husband/cohabitant partner. Seventeen per cent reported that their former husband/cohabitant partner provoked a quarrel when they were going to see relatives or friends, while seven per cent of the women were forbidden by

their former husband/cohabitant partner to see relatives/friends. In eleven per cent of cases, the women were not allowed to make decisions about money or buy things they wanted.

Ex-husband jealous Made the woman feel inferior Called the woman disparaging names Provoked a quarrel when the woman wanted to see relatives and friends Threatened to harm himself Woman not allowed to make decisions about money Deliberately damaged the womans belongings Forbade the woman to see her relatives Threatened to harm the children Forbade the woman to work 0 3 3 5 10 15 20 25 30 7 11 10 17 16 25 29

33

Fig 11. Controlling behaviour by former husband or cohabitant partner (%, N=2 755).

In total, nearly one woman in two states that her former husband/ cohabitant partner exhibited controlling behaviour towards her. One woman in three states that her former husband/cohabitant partner was jealous and wanted to know whom she had met and what she had been doing.

Just over one woman in four states that her former husband/ cohabitant partner made her feel inferior and useless. One woman in four has been called disparaging names by her former husband/cohabitant partner.

Present husbands /cohabitant partners The group responding to these questions consists of 4 771 women. There are fewer reports of controlling behaviour in current relationships than in relationships which the women have had previously.

More than one woman in ten, i.e. 12 per cent, states that her present husband/cohabitant partner exhibits some degree of controlling behaviour towards her.

31

Six per cent of the women state that their husbands/cohabitant partners are jealous and want to know where they have been and whom they have met. Four per cent have been called disparaging names by their present partners and ve per cent feel that their present partners

make them feel useless and inferior. Two per cent state that their present husbands/cohabitant partners provoke quarrels when they are going to see relatives or friends and two per cent are not allowed to make decisions about money or buy things they want.
5.8 4.5 3.5 2.2 2.1 1.1 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6

Husband/cohabitant partner jealous Makes the woman feel inferior Calls the woman disparaging names Woman not allowed to make decisions about money Provokes quarrel when the woman wants to see relatives and friends Threatens to harm himself Forbids the woman to see her relatives Damages the womans belongings Forbids the woman to work Threatens to harm the children

Fig 12. Controlling behaviour by present husband/cohabitant partner (%, N=4 771).

Summary and comments Half of the women who have a former husband/cohabitant partner report controlling behaviour on his part. If the gures for controlling behaviour by former husbands/cohabitant partners are compared with the reports of controlling behaviour by the womens present husbands/cohabitant partners, we can see that the women paint a lighter picture of their current relationships than of the relationships they have left. Just as was the case with violence, controlling behaviour seems to have occurred in the terminated relationships but to be found more rarely in the relationships in which women are living today. We shall come
32

back to this discrepancy in our concluding discussion and link it to the question of how the relationship inuences womens interpretation and understanding of the violence to which they are subjected.
Linkages The material in the prevalence study opens the possibility of investigating whether for example there is a linkage, in the sense of covariance, i.e. correlation, between a mans threatening to hurt a woman physically and his subjecting her to physical and sexual violence.10

Linkages between controlling behaviour and violence

Four out of ten women who state that their present husbands/ cohabitant partners are jealous have been subjected to violence by them. Three out of four women called disparaging names by their present husbands/cohabitant partners have been subjected to violence by them.
Violence in present marriage Violence in former marriage Yes No Yes No No response Total Number

Present husband controlling Yes 44.6 51.8 No 5.9 91.1

Former husband controlling Yes No

63.4 32.5 3.6 100% 568 3.0 100% 4031 4.1 100% 1316

8.8 90.9 0.3 100% 1428

Table 3. Correlation between controlling behaviour and violence in present and former marriage or cohabitant relationship (%).

The material in the study shows strong linkages between the mans employing controlling behaviour towards the woman and his subjecting her to threatened or actual physical or sexual violence. The incidence of controlling behaviour has been described above. Seven out of ten women who stated that a former husband/cohabitant partner was jealous report having been subjected to violence by a former partner. Of those called disparaging names by a former cohabitant partner or husband, 81 per cent have been subjected to violence, and of women whose former husbands/cohabitant partners provoked quarrels when they were going to see relatives/friends, 80 per cent have been subjected to violence by a man they have been married to or cohabiting with. Of women whose former husband/cohabitant partner threatened to harm her children or their joint children, 96 per cent were subjected to violence. In cases where the woman has stated that the former husband/cohabitant partner deliberately damaged her belongings, 92 per cent have been subjected to violence, and where the man threatened to harm himself, 78 per

cent of the women report having been subjected to violence. The linkages between controlling behaviour and employment of violence are also evident in current relationships. For example, 100 per cent of women whose husbands/cohabitant partners threaten to harm themselves have been subjected to violence by them. Of women whose men are jealous, 41 per cent have been subjected to violence by their husbands/cohabitant partners. Of women who have been called disparaging names by their present husbands/cohabitant partners, nearly three out of four, i.e. 72 per cent, have been subjected to violence. In cases where women state that their present husbands/cohabitant partners make them feel inferior and useless, more than half, i.e. 52 per cent, have been subjected to violence by them. Thus the questionnaire shows that there is a strong linkage between controlling behaviour and the employment of violence.

33

Linkages between threats and physical violence As was discussed in the section dealing with the conception of continuum, making a sharp distinction between threats of violence and actual employment of violence is a complicated matter, as is illustrated by the fact that violent acts often include threats of violence which subsequently turn into actual employment of violence. Threats can also have a terrifying effect on a woman if the man has used violence towards her previously. The results from the questionnaire show a special linkage between the incidence of threats and the incidence of physical violence. Of women subjected to threats by a former husband/cohabitant partner, nearly nine out of ten, i.e. 88 per cent, have also been subjected to physical violence by a former husband/cohabitant partner.
Threats in present marriage Yes Physical violence in present marriage Physical violence in former marriage Yes No Yes No No response Total Number 1.4 100% 67 0.6 100% 4547 55.4 43.2 No 6.6 92.7 87.9 9.4 2.6 100% 514 13.3 86.1 0.7 100% 2149 Threats in former marriage Yes No

rent. Half (i.e. 51 per cent) of women who have been threatened by a former husband/cohabitant partner have also been subjected to sexual violence.

Table 4. Correlation between threats and physical violence in present and former marriage or cohabitant relationships.

Linkages between threats and sexual violence As has been remarked, covariance appears to be most in evidence between physical violence and threats, but a linkage between sexual violence and threats is also appa34

Summary and comments The study reveals clear linkages between controlling behaviour and violence, and also between threats and physical violence and between threats and sexual violence. The womens responses show that the various types of violence are interconnected; the women have experience of being subjected to different types of violence. We can comprehend the apparent linkages between controlling behaviour and violence, and between threats and employment of physical and sexual violence, from a process perspective, in which the man, by means of physical and sexual violence combined with threats and controlling behaviour, gradually takes control of and limits the womans personal space. The high frequency of violent experiences that women report from former marriages/cohabitant relationships suggests that the process of violence as an interpretative perspective is of importance when interpreting the answers to the questionnaire. To distinguish between controlling behaviour and threats, or between threatened and physical employment of violence, also appears, from a continuum perspective, not to be a very fruitful way of comprehending the circumstances of the lives of women who have extensive experiences of gender-related violence.

Will it ever end? For a woman to leave a man who is abusing her does not necessarily mean the end of his violence towards her. On the contrary, the violence may escalate if she breaks away, and it does happen that women who are murdered by men have left or been about to leave the man in question. In other cases the man continues to molest and harm the woman by pursuing her and threatening her, with or without physical attacks. Even if the violence does not escalate, the mans abusive behaviour may continue either in the form of physical or sexual violence or by stalking her, loitering around her home or telephoning her.

With regard to the most recent former marriage/cohabitant relationship in which violence occurred, 33 per cent of the women state that they have been threatened by their former partner since the divorce. Thirtythree per cent have received unwanted visits since their divorce and one woman in ve, i.e. 20 per cent, has been followed by her ex-husband. One woman in ten has been subjected to physical or sexual violence.
Threats
Unwelcome visits Waited for or waylaid Physical or sexual violence 0 5 9 10 15 20 25 30 20 33 33

Violence after a divorce We asked the women whether their former husband/cohabitant partner, after their separation, had threatened her face to face or by telephone, whether he had come to her home against her will, whether he had waited for, waylaid or followed her, or whether he had subjected her to physical violence. Only women who had been subjected to violence by a former husband/cohabitant partner answered these questions, i.e. 970 women in all.
One in three women with a violent former husband/cohabitant partner has been threatened by him since the divorce. One in ten women with a violent former husband/cohabitant partner has been subjected to physical or sexual violence by the former husband/ cohabitant partner since the divorce.

Fig 13. Women subjected to violence or threats by former husband or cohabitant partner after divorce/ separation (% of women with a violent former husband, N=970).

Violence in connection with access to children after a divorce For a woman who separates from a man who has used violence against her and with whom she has joint children, access to the children may mean that she is compelled to continue in contact with the man who violated and abused her. For this reason, our study contained questions about violence in connection with access. These questions were addressed only to women with a former husband/cohabitant partner who had been violent.11 The questions about violence, threats and harassment in connection with access to or contact with joint children, or when collecting or handing over the children, are the same as the questions regarding experiences of violence after the divorce. The questions relate to threats face to face

35

or over the telephone, whether the man has come to her home against her will, waited for her or followed her, or whether he has subjected her to physical or sexual violence. One in four women with a violent former husband/cohabitant partner by whom she has children has been subjected to threats by the former husband/cohabitant partner in connection with access to children. Twentyfour per cent of the women stated that they had been subjected to threats in connection with access to children. Four per cent had been subjected to physical or sexual violence by the man in connection with access to children. Seventeen per cent of the women stated that their former husband/cohabitant partner had come to their home against their will and eight per cent had experienced the man waiting for, waylaying or following them.

Children witnessing and falling victim to violence Little research has been done concerning the children of abused women. Studies in which children have been asked whether or how they have been affected by violence have revealed that they have witnessed a good deal of violence being employed against the woman, and in approximately half the cases they have themselves been subjected to violence by the man.12 The women in our study were asked what they thought the children had witnessed or heard of the violence inicted on them (the women), and also what the women had seen or heard of the physical and sexual violence inicted on the children. Only women who stated that they had or had had a violent husband/cohabitant partner answered these questions.13

Children as witnesses We asked the women whether any of their children had seen or heard their present or former husband/cohabitant partner behave violently towards her.
More than half the women with children and a violent former husband/cohabitant partner state that the children have seen or heard the man behaving violently towards the woman. Nearly one woman in three who has children and lives with a violent present husband/cohabitant partner states that the children have seen or heard the man subjecting her to violence.

Summary and comments When a woman leaves a man the violence does not necessarily cease. One woman in three has been subjected to violence on the part of her violent former husband/cohabitant partner after the divorce/separation. The present study shows threats to be the form of violence most commonly employed. Unwanted visits are also common, and one in ve women divorced/separated from a violent man has experienced being followed by the man since the divorce. Consequently, separating from a violent man does not always help a woman.
36

The womens responses show that children have witnessed a good deal of the violence. Fiftyfour per cent of the women who have children and have been subjected to violence by a former husband/cohabitant partner state that their children have seen or heard the former husband/cohabitant partner employing violence towards them (the women). In current relationships where the husband/cohabitant partner has employed violence, 29 per cent of respondents state that the children have witnessed the violence. These gures reect what the women believe the children have seen and heard. Thus it is possible, or even likely, that even more children have seen or heard violence inicted on their mother than the womens responses disclose.

More than one woman in ve who has been subjected to violence by a former husband/cohabitant partner states that her children have been subjected to physical violence by the man. Twentyone per cent of women who have had a former husband/cohabitant partner who was violent towards them state that their children have been subjected to physical violence by the man. Two per cent of women state that their children have been subjected to some form of sexual abuse by the former husband/cohabitant partner. Five per cent of women with a current husband/cohabitant partner who has subjected them to violence state that their children too have been subjected to physical violence by the man. One woman out of 331 states that she has children who are being sexually abused by the current husband/cohabitant partner.

Children as victims For obvious reasons the questions concerning victimised children too were addressed only to women with children. The questions were directed only to women who have experienced violence on the part of a former or present husband/cohabitant partner.14 We asked the women whether any of their children had been subjected to violence or any form of sexual abuse by the husband/cohabitant partner (or former husband/cohabitant partner). We did not dene either violence or the meaning of any form of sexual abuse. (Below we use the terms physical violence and sexual abuse).

Summary and comments We asked about the extent to which women know whether their children have seen or heard them being subjected to violence by a former or present husband/cohabitant partner, and also about the extent to which the children have been subjected to violence and sexual abuse by the man in question. Thus what emerges from the answers is the womens perception of what the children witness, not the childrens own reports. More than half the women subjected to violence by a former husband/cohabitant partner state that their children have witnessed or heard the violence. One woman in ve states that her children have
37

been subjected to physical violence by the former husband/cohabitant partner. It is a traumatic experience for children to be forced to see or hear a parent being assaulted. It is impossible to dene the boundaries between a child as a witness or as a victim of violence; when a man inicts on a child the awareness that its mother is being abused, the child itself becomes a victim of the violence. The responses from women who have had children in a violent relationship which is now terminated - i.e. the responses relating to former husbands/cohabitant partners show a higher level of reports of children having seen or heard violence than those from women who are currently in a violent relationship. The gures reporting the extent to which children have been subjected to violence in the terminated relationships are likewise higher. It is four times as common for children to have been subjected to violence by a former violent husband/cohabitant partner than to have been so subjected by a current one. Exactly as is the case with the questions about violence by former husbands/ cohabitant partners and current husbands/ cohabitant partners respectively, women

paint a lighter picture of the current relationship in that the children are reported as neither witnessing nor being subjected to violence by current violent husbands/cohabitant partners to the same extent as was the case with the men that the women have divorced or separated from. It is possible that as well as reecting the facts, the difference between the reports relating to former and current husbands/cohabitant partners respectively may illustrate the difculty which the women have in seeing and admitting that the children too are affected by the violence to which they themselves are being subjected.15
Violence by boyfriends with whom the woman has not cohabited The questions concerning violence by boyfriends were answered by 5 261 women,16 and it is on these responses that the gures in this section are based.
15 per cent of women have been subjected to violence by a boyfriend.

Children have seen/heard violence

54 29 21 5 Former marriage Present marriage

Children subjected to physical violence

Children subjected to sexual abuse 0 0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Fig 14. Women stating that the children have witnessed or been subjected to violence by present or former husband or cohabitant partner (% of women subjected to violence and with children, nonresponses not included).

38

The questions pertaining to experiences of violence inicted by men with whom the women have or have had a sexual relationship but never cohabited are not as detailed as those relating to violence by current and former husbands/cohabitant partners. Instead of the relatively specic questions about physical violence, only one question was asked, the term physical violence being dened as e.g. being struck on the face or body, being pushed, forced against a wall, kicked, held in order to be struck, bitten, cut with a knife or shot. Two questions were asked regarding threats of physical violence, the rst relating to being threatened face to face and the second to threats by letters or telephone. The questions regarding sexual violence were the same as those relating to current or former husbands/cohabitant partners.
Sexual violence Physical violence Threats Total violence 0 5 10 5 15 15 7 11

by a man with whom they have had a sexual relationship but never cohabited. No major differences are observable in terms of the womens marital status.
35 per cent of women subjected to physical violence were abused in their own home on the last occasion.

Fig 15. Women subjected to violence by boyfriend, by type of violence (%, N=5 261).

Sexual violence In total, eleven per cent of women state that they have been subjected to violence by a man with whom they have or have had a sexual relationship but have not cohabited. Of women with experience of sexual violence by a boyfriend, 74 per cent report at least one experience in the last year. Fourteen per cent of women in the 18-24 age group have been subjected to violence by a boyfriend, while the corresponding gure for the 55-64 age group is six per cent. Of single women without children, 14 per cent have been subjected to violence by a man with whom they have or have had a sexual relationship but have not cohabited.
Of women subjected to sexual violence by a boyfriend, 28 per cent were abused in their own home on the last occasion and 29 per cent were abused in someone elses home.

Physical violence In total, seven per cent of women have experienced physical violence by a partner with whom they have never cohabited, and fty per cent of these report at least one violent experience during the last year. Experience of violence is most common among women aged 25-34, nine per cent of this age group having had such experience. In the highest age groups, three per cent of women state that they have been subjected to physical violence

Threats In total, five per cent of women who have or have had a sexual relationship with a man without cohabiting have been threatened by him. Fortyve per cent of
39

these women report having been threatened at least once in the last year.
Four out of ten women who have been threatened by a present or former boyfriend were threatened in their own home on the last occasion.

women aged 18-24 compared with one per cent of women over 45 have been subjected to violence by a boyfriend in the last year.
Pysical violence Sexual violence Threats N

18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64

8.9 9.4 6.5 4.7 2.7

13.6 12.4 12.7 8.9 5.7

6.9 7.5 5.5 3.7 2.1

751 1256 1213 1187 853

Age There are relatively large differences between the various age groups. Reports of violence by boyfriends with whom the woman had not cohabited fall as age rises.
The youngest women make the most reports, one in five women in this group, i.e.19 per cent, having been subjected to violence by a boyfriend. Of the oldest age group, 55-64 years of age, approximately eight per cent report experience of violence in this kind of relationship. The differences are even bigger for violent experiences in the last year ; approximately six per cent of the

Table 5. Type of violence by boyfriend, by womans age (% of age groups).

Summary and comments Younger women are more liable to violence on the part of boyfriends than are older women, and the differences are fairly large. For abused women, violence is not far away, and this applies to all types of violence. Sexual violence is the most commonly occurring type. Even if the woman is not living with the man, much of the violence against her takes place in her own home. The home is thus not a free zone even if the woman in question is not cohabiting with the man with whom she has a sexual relationship.

1 2

Heiskanen & Pispa 1998, Statistics Canada 1993

The divorced group comprises women who have been married and are not currently cohabiting with a man. There are 425 such women in this material. 3 This question includes an element in which the respondent is asked whether the man has threatened her with or used a knife, rearm or any other weapon. This question is part of the basis of calculation of the incidence of physical violence. See the section above on Violence as a continuum for a discussion of the underlying problems of breaking violence down into different categories. 4 Since internal dropout is included in the calculations, the total sum does not amount to 100 per cent. 5 See footnote 54. 6 Because of an error in the printing of the questionnaire, the question about threats by the current husband/cohabitant partner disappeared. The gures pertaining to threats from present husband/cohabitant partner are thus based on a threat variable constructed from questions 51:8, 51:10 and 59. Measurement of threats from the present husband/cohabitant partner is therefore probably underestimated compared with that of threats from the former husband/cohabitant partner. 7 Kelly 1988

40

8 The term controlling behaviour has been chosen having in mind that these actions are presumed to imply a possibility of controlling the womans personal space, which, in accordance with the conceptions of violence as a continuum and the normalisation of violence, may be even more effective if the man also subjects the woman to violence or threats of violence. 9 Thus the way we have asked the questions differs from how we asked the women about their experiences of violence. In the section on controlling behaviour, the woman has had to comment on the character of her husband/cohabiting partner rather than concrete actions as is the case with questions pertaining to violence. 10 However, these linkages tell us nothing about the causal relation between the circumstances being studied, i.e. nothing about whether for example controlling behaviour causes violence. It is not possible to draw such conclusions and it is important to keep in mind that the linkages which we are studying have no bearing on causality. 11 Christensen 1990, Lundgren 1994. 12 The gures in this question are based on the number of women responding to the question with yes or no (N=497). Consequently women stating that they have no children with the man in question or who have answered Dont know/Dont remember are not included. 13 The questionnaire does not tell us how many women have children, their own or joint, from the various relationships. Therefore unless stated otherwise, the gures are based on the number of women who have answered yes or no to the questions about whether their children have witnessed violence or been subjected to violence themselves by a man with whom the woman has or has had a sexual relationship. These questions (questions 61 and 72) are addressed only to women with children. Thus, those not responding and those answering Dont know/Dont remember (these answers cannot be distinguished from one another in the coding) are not included in the gures. Out of 970 women with a violent former husband/cohabitant partner and 477 with a violent present one, 498 and 331 respectively answered yes or no to the questions enquiring whether the children had witnessed or heard the violence. 14 The question enquiring whether the children had been subjected to physical violence by a former husband/cohabiting partner was answered by 509 women, and the method of calculation explained in footnote 63 has been applied. The question was answered by 335 women with a violent present husband/cohabitant partner. 15 Mellberg 2002.

16 Boyfriend signies a man with whom a woman has or has had a sexual relationship but not cohabited.

41

CHAPTER 3

Violence outside sexual relationships

The category of men outside sexual relationships comprises all men with whom a woman does not have and has not had a sexual relationship.1 For example they may be colleagues, friends, teachers or men with whom the woman is unacquainted. The questions in this section were put to all women responding to the questionnaire. As with the questions relating to violence committed by boyfriends, the questions about physical violence by men outside sexual relationships are less detailed than those about such violence by men with whom the woman has or has had a close relationship. In this section only one question was asked about physical violence and two about threats. 2 On the other hand, we asked for more details about where the violence occurred and who perpetrated it. 3 The questions about sexual violence in this section of the questionnaire are the same as for the other types of relationships.
Extent, type of violence and frequency In total, 30 per cent of the women have been subjected to violence by a man outside a sexual relationship. Four out of ten of these women state that the most recent perpetrator was a colleague, fellow-student, friend or acquaintance or neighbour. More than half of the womens most recent experiences of violence outside sexual relationships consisted of sexual violence. One in four women has been subjected to sexual violence by a man outside a rela42

tionship, and nearly one woman in three aged 35-44 has had such experiences. In total, 30 per cent of women have had experience of being subjected to violence by a man outside a sexual relationship. Reports of violence by men outside sexual relationships differ between age groups. Again, the level of reporting is consistently much lower by women aged 55-64 than by other age groups.

34 18-24 15 32 6 35 5 28 45-54 3 19 2 0 10 20
Ever Last 12 mths

25-34

35-44

55-64

30

Fig 16. Women subjected to violence outside a sexual relationship, by womans age (%).

Physical violence In total, nine per cent of women have been subjected to physical violence by a man outside a sexual relationship at some point after their fteenth birthday. The differences between the various age groups are relatively large. Twelve per cent of women aged 18-24 have been

subjected to physical violence by a man outside a sexual relationship, whereas the corresponding percentage for women aged 55-64 is four.

Sexual violence One woman in four has experienced sexual violence on the part of a man with whom she does not have and has not had a sexual relationship. Such experiences are most common among the younger half of the cohort studied; of women aged 18-24, 28 per cent report such experiences, of women aged 25-34, 27 per cent, and of women aged 35-44, 31 per cent. In the 55-64 age group, 17 per cent have experienced sexual violence outside sexual relationships.
In total, ve per cent of all women taking part in the study have been forced at least once into some form of sexual activity by a man outside a sexual relationship. Nine per cent of all women responding to the questionnaire state that they have experience of a man outside a sexual relationship attempting to force them into sexual activity by threatening, holding or hurting them in some way. Five per cent state that a man has forced them or tried to force them into some form of sexual activity when they were under the inuence of drugs or otherwise unable to
Sexual violence Physical violence Threats Total violence
0 10 20 9 9 30 30 25

defend themselves. Twentytwo per cent of the women have been touched in a sexual way against their will by a man with whom they have not had a sexual relationship.
Altogether 13 per cent of women have been subjected to gross sexual violence outside sexual relationships

Threats In total, nine per cent of women have been threatened once or several times by a man with whom they do not have and have not had a sexual relationship. Seven per cent have experience of being threatened face to face and three per cent have been threatened by telephone Frequency of violence The women who reported experiences of violence by men outside a sexual relationship were asked how many times they had been subjected to violence in the last year and earlier. The answers show the women to have had more than one violent experience. Sixty per cent of women with experience of violence by men outside sexual relationships report more than one instance of violence.
In the last year Once 2-10 times 11-50 times >50 times Dont know /no response N= 48.7 41.6 2.0 0.3 7.4 346 Earlier 33.8 53.4 6.5 1.9 4.3 1805 Total 35.1 52.6 6.2 1.8 4.3 1928

Fig 17. Women subjected to violence outside a relationship, by type of violence (%, N=6 926).

Table 6. Frequency of violence outside sexual relationship (column per cent).

43

Eight per cent of the women with such experience report more than ten occurrences. Over one third, viz 35 per cent, report one violent experience.
The most recent violent experience We know that violence inicted on women by their partners takes place indoors for the most part, often in the womans own home. In order to gain increased knowledge of the violence employed towards women by men outside sexual relationships, questions about the most recent experience of violence outside a sexual relationship were put to the women with experience of such violence. The questions concerned the type of violence to which she was subjected, when the incident took place and who the man was. 4 A total of 2 046 women were in this group, but the internal dropout varies. The gures below include the internal dropout and are calculated from the 2 046 women who replied that they had experience of being subjected to violence by a man outside sexual relationship.

Fourteen per cent of the most recent violent incidents consisted of the man forcing or attempting to force the woman into some kind of sexual activity, either by threatening, holding or hurting her in some way, or else when she was unable to defend herself, e.g. because she was asleep or under the inuence of drugs. Fortytwo per cent of the most recent violent incidents happened when a man with whom the woman did not have and had not had a sexual relationship touched her in a sexual way against her will, e.g. by holding, hugging or kissing her, by a man with whom the woman did not have and had not had a sexual relationship. One in ten women reported physical violence as constituting the last abuse and ten per cent reported threats.

When was the most recent violent incident? In total, 38 per cent of the women subjected to violence by men with whom they do not have and have not had a sexual relationship experienced such violence in the last ve years. For 16 per cent of the women, the most recent violent incident occurred less than a year ago. What type of violence did the most recent experience consist of? In total, more than half of the most recent violent incidents consisted of sexual violence.
44

Who abused the woman? According to the womens replies, the most common abusers are men who are known to the women (e.g. friends, neighbours and work colleagues). More than four out of ten women report that the man who most recently abused them was a work colleague, fellow-pupil, a friend, acquaintance or a neighbour. Five per cent were abused on the most recent occasion by their superior at work supervisor or teacher and seven per cent by a male relative. In a little less than one third of the cases, the perpetrator was an unknown man. Where does violence take place? A little under one third of the most recent violent incidents reported by women involving men with whom they do not have and have not had a sexual relationship took place at home, i.e. the womans own home or someone elses. Thirteen per cent

of the women were assaulted at work or in school. Slightly over one third of the women report that the most recent violent incident occurred in a public place, indoors or outdoors, half of them at a restaurant or dance hall.

Where did physical violence take place? Twentyve per cent of the women whose most recent experience of violence was physical report that it took place in their own home. Altogether 40 per cent of the most recent physical violence occurred in a home environment (their own or someone elses home, or in the courtyard or stairway of a block of ats). Eleven per cent were assaulted in school or at work, 13 per cent at a restaurant or dance hall and twelve per cent in a public place outdoors (e.g. a street or square).

Where did sexual violence take place? It is not unusual for women to be subjected to sexual violence in public places. One out of every ve women who reported that her most recent violent experience was of a sexual nature was assaulted at a restaurant or dance hall. In 14 per cent of cases, the most recent incident occurred in the womans own home, while 15 per cent were assaulted in someone elses home. Twelve per cent of the women had been assaulted at school or at work and six per cent in a street, square or some other public place outdoors. Where do threats take place? Of the women who stated their most recent violent experience to consist of threats, 29 per cent were threatened in their own home. Nine per cent were in someone elses home. Fifteen per cent of the women were threatened at school or at work, nine per cent at a restaurant or dance hall and ten
17 16 14 13 7 7

Own home Restaurant or dance hall Someone elses home School/work Other indoor location Public place (street or square) Other outdoor location Car Courtyard/stairs Park/wood Public transport No response 0 2 4 6 8 10 2 2 2 12 12 14 3 5

16

Fig 18. Location at which the most recent violent incident outside a sexual relationship occurred (% of women indicating a location, N=1 963).

45

per cent in a public place outdoors such as a street or square.

Summary and comments Violence against women on the part of men with whom they do not have a sexual relationship is widespread. Nearly one woman in three has experienced this. Sexual violence is particularly prevalent, one in every four women having experienced it, and half of what were reported as the most recent violent incidents outside a sexual relationship were of a sexual nature. In general the oldest women report markedly fewer violent experiences than other age groups, while the reporting of such experiences by women aged 18-24, 25-34 and 35-44 is fairly similar. What emerges from the womens responses is that violence is not a matter of isolated incidents. Nearly two thirds of the women state that they have been subjected to violence outside a relationship between two and over fty times. Just under four out of ten women have been subjected to violence in the last ve years. If we look at the most recent violent incidents, in most cases these have involved a man known to the woman. Only a little under one third of the women report the last assault as being by an unknown man. The public debate has revolved largely around violence inicted on women by husbands/cohabitant partners. In the light of the picture which emerges from womens reports of violence outside sexual relationships, it seems necessary to widen the scope of the public debate concerning violence against women. Our study shows clearly that scrutiny cannot remain focused on so-called partner violence alone, but
46

must also take in the violence of which the sexual variety seems to be particularly widespread to which women are subjected by the men in the environment in which they move, such as friends, acquaintances, colleagues, neighbours and superiors at work. The womens responses also seem to indicate that there are no free zones; violence can occur in a womans own home as well as in public places, in the streets or in parks.
Worry about violence We asked the women whether they were worried in case of being subjected to violence when walking home alone in the dark or of being raped by an unknown man. The responses are consolidated as worry about violence. Women aged 18-24 report the highest level of worry about violence; 85 per cent in this age group worry about it. Of women aged 25-34, 79 per cent worry in case of being subjected to violence. The lowest level of reporting such worry is found among women aged 55-64, of whom 49 per cent worry about being subjected to violence. Women between the ages of 18 and 24 are the age group most frequently subjected to violence in the last year. One in ve women in this group has been
80 60 40 20 0 18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 85 79 63 58 49

Fig 19. Women worried in case of being subjected to violence, by age groups (%).

subjected to violence by a man during this period. Women in this group are also the ones most fearful of violence. Three quarters of women aged 18-24 are afraid of walking home alone in the dark and two thirds are afraid of being raped by an unknown man. Of women aged 25-34, 71 per cent are afraid of walking home alone after dark and 56 per cent are afraid of being raped by an unknown man.

Summary and comments Statistics Sweden (Statistiska centralbyrn, SCB ) has published a study on womens and mens worries about violence in which comparisons are made between worry about violence and so-called actual exposure. A frequently-cited statistical picture of worry about violence, taken from the SCBs so-called ULF study, 5 is that women worry more than men about violence but men are more frequently subjected to it. The message underlying the statistics seems to be that women worry unnecessarily. 6 The results produced by our study, however, seem to show that violence to women is considerably more widespread than the gures in the ULF study suggest. Our study shows that 46 per cent of women in Sweden have been subjected

to violence by a man since their fteenth birthday. In the light of this, womens worries, both in our study and in the SCB study, appear well founded. Womens fear thus corresponds to a violent reality. There is also a linkage between worry about violence and being subjected to it inasmuch as younger women worry the most and it is this group which is most frequently subjected to violence. More than one in ve women between 18 and 24 years of age has been subjected to some type of violence, i.e. physical or sexual violence or threats, in the last year. Since there is a linkage between worry about violence and subjection to violence, the worry cannot be separated from the violence but should be viewed in context with womens experiences of gender-related violence. The worry then becomes more than just worry: it becomes part of the experience that violence exists as a reality in many womens lives. Taking the results of this study as a starting point and applying the concept of violence as a continuum, worry about violence can be placed at one end of a scale running from grossly violent acts via milder types of control, such as controlling behaviour, to the worry which women feel about being subjected to violence.

1 Husbands, cohabitant partners and boyfriends are included in the category of men with whom the woman concerned has had a sexual relationship. 2 The term physical violence is dened as e.g. being struck on the face or body, being pushed, forced against a wall, kicked, held in order to be struck, bitten, cut with a knife or shot. The questions about threats relate to threats face to face and threats by telephone or letter. 3 This section of the questionnaire also included questions on sexual harassment, but the results of the latter are reported in a section of their own below. 4 Not all women who stated that they had been subjected to violence responded to the questions about the most recent violent experience. The dropout is highest, i.e. 25 per cent, in respect of the question asking what the woman was subjected to most recently but signicantly lower for the questions about when it happened, where and by whom. Since the internal dropout is included, the total does not add up to 100 per cent in the gures given below. 5 P tal om kvinnor och mn. Lathund om jmstlldhet. Statistiska centralbyrn 2000. 6 Ibid.

47

CHAPTER 4

The most recent violent incident, regardless of relationship

Part of the questionnaire deals with violence experienced by the respondent in various types of relationship, including the most recent violent experience outside a sexual relationship, while another part focuses on the most recent violent incident regardless of relationship. By asking questions about the most recent experience some idea may be gained about the general nature of violence towards women. We therefore asked all women who reported some violent experience or experiences to answer questions about their most recent one.1 most recent occasion. Physical violence constituted 27 per cent of the most recent violent incidents.
One third of the most recent violent incidents reported involved sexual violence. In half of the most recent violent incidents reported, the perpetrator was a man known to the woman. More than one woman in three states that the perpetrator of the most recent violent incident was a man with whom they have or have had a sexual relationship. Nearly one woman in ve with experience of violence states that physical violence on the part of a man with whom she has or has had a sexual relationship constituted her most recent violent experience. The location at which violence is most commonly reported to have occurred is the victims own home. 35 per cent of women were subjected to violence in their own home on the most recent occasion. One woman in ve was in a public place outdoors (street or square) or in some other outdoor location (a park or wood) when the most recent violent incident occurred.

The most recent violent incident, by type of violence The most recent violent incident for 40 per cent of women consisted of threats. Sexual violence was the second most common form, 33 per cent of women having been subjected to this on the
45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0
2 Sexual Physical Threats violence violence

40 33 27

Fig 20. Most recent violent incident regardless of relationship (% of respondents, N=1 377).

48

What kind of violence, in what kind of relationship? Of the most recent violent incidents reported, one of the most common is physical violence on the part of a man with whom the woman has or has had a sexual relationship. Eighteen per cent of women state this to be the most recent violent incident. A similar proportion of women, 18 per cent, state the most recent incident to have been a man exposing himself indecently to them. The third most common violent incident, reported by eleven per cent of women, involves threats by a man with whom the respondent has or has had a sexual relationship. Ten per cent of women reported their most recent violent experience to have consisted of being touched in a sexual way against their will by an unknown man. If it is possible to draw conclusions as to the general nature of violence by asking questions about the most recent violent experience, the results derived from the questionnaire reveal it to be as common
Own home Street/square Someone elses home Restaurant or dance hall School/work Park/wood Other outdoor location Other indoor location Public transport Courtyard/stairs Car 0 2 5 10 3 3 4 6 6 8 9 12 11

for the perpetrator to be a man known to the woman as it is for him to be unknown. In 34 per cent of cases, the violence was committed by a man with whom the woman had a sexual relationship. In a total of 51 per cent of cases, the perpetrator of the most recent violent incident was known to the woman, compared with 49 per cent of cases in which the perpetrator was an unknown man.
Unknown Within a sexual relationship Other known man 0 17 20 40 34 49

Fig 21. Perpetrator of the most recent assault (% of respondents, N=1 377).

Where did violence take place? The most recent violent incident in 35 per cent of cases took place in the womans own home and in eleven per cent of cases in someone elses home. Three per cent
35

15

20

25

30

35

Fig 22. Location at which the most recent violent incident occurred (% of respondents, N=1 608).

49

occurred in the courtyard or stairway of a block of ats. This means that half of the most recent violence perpetrated on these women occurred either inside or adjacent to a dwelling. Twelve per cent of women suffered their most recent violent experience in a street, square or some other public place. In all, 24 per cent of the violence is reported to have occurred outdoors in a public place, in a wood or park or some other outdoor location. Nine per cent of the women were at a restaurant or dancehall on the most recent occasion they were subjected to violence, and eight per cent had their most recent experience of violence either at school or at work.

Summary and comments Of the most recent violent experiences, one of the most common is physical violence on the part of a man with whom the woman has or has had a sexual relationship. If the most recent violent experiences are broken down into physical violence, sexual violence and threats, threats are the most common. In one third of cases the women had been subjected to sexual violence during the most recent violent incident. The commonest place for violence to be committed is the womans own home. The womens experiences of violence occurred fairly recently; in half the cases the most recent occasion was during the last ve years, and for one fth of the women it was less than a year ago.

When did it take place?

21 per cent of women had their most recent violent experience less than a year ago.

In 29 per cent of cases, the most recent incident of violence occurred 1-5 years ago. Altogether half the women have suffered such abuse in the last ve years. In 18 per cent of cases, the most recent incident occurred 6-10 years ago, while 32 per cent of the women had their most recent experience more than ten years ago.

1 However, only half of the women reporting violent experiences since their fteenth birthday answered the questions in this section. Thus the gures in this chapter, unless stated otherwise, are based on those women who did answer the questions in this section, not on the total number of women reporting violent experiences since their fteenth birthday. The reasons for the dropout cannot be established. A possible interpretation is that the women themselves do not regard what they experienced as constituting violence. 2 Questions about indecent exposure were asked only in this section and the section on sexual harassment. In this section, experience of a man exposing himself indecently is assigned to the threats category. Sexual harassment has not been categorised as violence.

50

CHAPTER 5

Where do women seek help?

Was the most recent violent experience reported to the police? Some of the questions put to respondents concerning the most recent violent incident were designed to discover whether the women, and if so how many of them, report violent incidents to the police, and also what crimes if any are most commonly so reported. In 1999, when the data for this study were collected, 19 982 reports of violence against women were led with the police. The National Council for Crime Prevention (Brottsfrebyggande Rdet, BR), estimates that only about 25 per cent of all violent crimes come to the notice of the police.1 It is generally thought by criminologists that many cases of violence against women go unrecorded. Thus the circumstances surrounding the violence inflicted on women by men in close relationships indicate that much violent crime against women remains unknown to the police and judiciary. In this study, a total of 3 193 women stated that they had been subjected to violence at least once since their fteenth birthday. However, not all of these women answered the questions in the section of the questionnaire dealing with the most recent violent incident. The number of women replying to the questions in this section varies between 1 400 and 1 750 depending on the question, i.e. on average the questions were answered by about

half of the women with experience of violence according the questionnaire. The percentages are based on the number of women responding to these questions. 2 The questionnaire contains a question enquiring whether the women reported the most recent violent incident to the police. The response options were yes, no and no, but the police found out about the incident in some other way. The question was answered by 1 740 women.
Only 15 per cent of the women reported the most recent violent incident to the police. In 81 per cent of cases, the most recent violent incident did not come to the notice of the police.

Fifteen per cent of women replied that they reported the incident to the police. Four per cent replied that they did not make a report but the police found out about it anyway. A total of 1 416 women replied that they did not report the incident to the police nor did the police nd out about it in some other way.

Why did the women not report the most recent violent incident to the police? In total, 1 416 women replied to the question why they did not report the most recent incident of violence to the police.
51

They were asked to indicate whether it was because they did not think the police would believe them, because the police would not be able to do anything, because the incident was too trivial, because they were ashamed or had feelings of guilt, because they were afraid the perpetrator might take revenge, because they did not want the police to be involved, or because they did not want the perpetrator to go to prison.
Nearly half of the women who did not report the most recent violent incident to the police stated the reason for this to be that they thought the incident was too trivial.

be involved, and as many again, eight per cent, said that they did not think the police would be able to do anything. Six per cent of the women gave feelings of shame as their reason for not reporting the most recent violent incident to the police. About one half per cent of the women said that they refrained from making a report because they did not think the police would believe them.

Nearly half, i.e. 46 per cent, of the women who did not make a report state the reason to have been that they thought the incident was too trivial. Eight per cent said the reason for not making a report was that they did not want the police to

Type of violence If the womens responses are broken down according to the type of violence to which they were subjected most recently, we nd that of the women whose most recent violent experience consisted of sexual violence and who did not report it to the police, 51 per cent stated the reason to have been that they thought the incident was too trivial. Eleven per cent of the women had feelings of shame and ve per cent did not want to involve the police. Of women who were subjected to physical violence during the most recent
Type of violence in most recent incident

Reason no police report made: Police would not believe Police would not be able to do anything Too trivial Feelings of shame Fear of revenge Did not want police involved Perpetrator might go to prison Other reason No response

Sexual 1.1 6.3 50.7 11.2 1.2 4.8 0.5 11.1 13.0

Physical 0.3 4.1 45.8 4.9 4.9 17.2 1.1 11.0 10.8

Threats 0.2 14.3 50.2 0.9 2.9 5.4 0.2 11.5 14.4

Total N=

100% 415

100% 288

100% 450

Table 7. Most recent violent incident not reported to the police. Type of violence and reason.

52

violent incident but did not make a police report, 46 per cent replied that the incident was too trivial to be reported. In 17 per cent of cases the women replied that they did not want to involve the police, ve per cent said they had feelings of shame and ve per cent were afraid the perpetrator might take revenge. Of the women whose most recent violent experience consisted of threats, 50 per cent stated as their reason for not reporting it that the incident was too trivial. Five per cent said they did not want to involve the police. Three per cent were afraid the perpetrator might take revenge and 14 per cent did not think that the police would be able to do anything.

Only 8 per cent of women subjected to sexual violence during their most recent violent experience reported the incident to the police.

What types of violence in what relationships do women (not) report? The following figures are based on the number of women who stated, in respect of the most recent violent incident, the type of violence and type of relationship, and who answered the question whether they reported the incident to the police. There were 1 378 women in this category all told.
The women show no major differences pertaining to the relationship with the perpetrator in their propensity to report the most recent violent experience. The propensity to make a report lies between 9 and 13 per cent irrespective of whether the perpetrator is unknown, known or someone with whom the woman has or has had a sexual relationship. Thus, this also applies to women whose most recent violent experience consisted of violence on the part of a current or former husband/cohabitant partner.

The propensity to make a report is low regardless of the kind of perpetrator; 13 per cent of women whose most recent violent experience was at the hands of an unknown man reported the incident to the police. One woman in ten whose most recent violent experience was at the hands of a present or former husband/cohabitant partner reported the incident to the police. Where the perpetrator was another man whom the woman knew, nine per cent made a report to the police. 3 If the womens most recent violent experiences are divided into categories according to type of violence viz threats, physical and sexual violence - we see that physical violence is most commonly reported to the police. Of the women whose most recent violent experience consisted of physical violence, 16 per cent reported the incident to the police. Where threats constituted the most recent violent experience, 15 per cent of women made a report to the police. Sexual violence is least commonly reported; eight per cent of the women whose most recent violent experience was of a sexual nature reported it to the police.
Unknown perpetrator Perpetrator within a sexual relationship Other known perpetrator 0 5 9 10 11 13

Fig 23. Propensity to report, by type of perpetrator (%, N = 1 377).

53

Summary and comments Only 15 per cent of women reported the most recent violent incident to the police, and according to the womens responses over 80 per cent of the most recent violent incidents were not brought to the polices attention. Our data disclose no major differences relating to the perpetrator in the womens propensity to report. On the other hand, sexual violence appears to be the type of violence which women have the least propensity to report. The low proportion of women reporting the most recent violent incident to the police suggests that women do not consider it to be of any use to seek help from the police by reporting the violence to which they have been subjected. There may be some link here with the womens responses indicating the reasons for not making a police report. Nearly half the women state that no police report was made because they thought the incident was too trivial. One interpretation of the womens reluctance to contact the police is that women have a propensity to play down the violence to which they are subjected, especially when the violence is of a sexual nature. The fact that only about half of the women stating that they had had experience of violence answered the questions about the most recent violent incident may also be interpreted as an indication that the violence is minimised by the women themselves.

Then where do women seek help if subjected to violence by a man in a sexual relationship? We asked questions about whether the women sought assistance from any service or agency apart from the police in connection with having been subjected to violence by a husband/cohabitant partner. The respondent was supposed to answer them by reference to the most recent violent relationship, i.e. present or former husband/cohabitant partner depending on the relationship in which the woman was subjected to violence most recently. The response options given were womens refuge, victim support, social emergency services, social welfare secretary, lawyer, family counselling, psychiatrist, other medical services or other services. We also asked whether the women were satised or dissatised with the help received. The basis for the gures in this section comprises 1 373 women, i.e. the number of women replying either that they were subjected to violence by a former husband/cohabitant partner or that they are being subjected to violence in their current relationship. The dropout in this part of the questionnaire is large, viz about 40 per cent. 4
One third of the women with a violent current or former husband/ cohabitant partner sought help from some service or agency. The women seek help most commonly from the medical services.

One third of the women who live or have lived with a man employing violence
54

towards them sought help. These women most commonly seek help from the medical services. Twelve per cent applied to a psychiatrist and nine per cent to other medical services. Twelve per cent approached family counselling agencies. Eleven per cent of women sought assistance from a lawyer and nine per cent from a social welfare secretary. Five per cent of women state that they applied to a womens refuge, four per cent to the social emergency service and two per cent to victim support. The largest proportion of women satised with the response to their approach was found among those who sought assistance from health and medical services (not including psychiatric care); 84 per cent of these women expressed satisfaction with the help received. The corresponding gure for women seeking psychiatric help is 66 per cent. Of the women who approached a lawyer, 77 per cent report satisfaction with the assistance received. Of those applying to

victim support, 75 per cent were satised and of those applying to a womens refuge, 70 per cent. The highest level of dissatisfaction is found among women applying to the social services: more than one woman in two who sought help from the social emergency services was dissatised with the response. Of those who sought help from family counselling agencies, 46 per cent were dissatised, while the corresponding gure for those who approached a social welfare secretary was 44 per cent dissatisfaction.

Psychiatrist Family counselling Lawyer Other medical service Social welfare secretary Womens refuge Social emergency service
45% 70% 56% 54%

66%

13

12

77%

11

84%

4
% satisfied with help % dissatisfied with help

Victim support 75% 2

0 2 4

10

12

Fig 24. Services and agencies approached by abused women, and womens satisfaction with the help received (% of women subjected to violence by present or former husband/cohabitant partner, N=1 373).

Summary and comments It may be assumed that when women seek help, one of the factors inuencing their choice of agency is how they themselves regard the violence to which they are being subjected. Our data indicate that most of these womens approaches are made to the psychiatric and other medical services, which may indicate that the women interpret the violence in terms of psychological disorder or physical illness. Another possible reason why women choose to approach the medical services is that having delayed rather a long time before seeking assistance, in the end they incur quite serious psychological damage as a result of the violence, or alternatively that the violence eventually causes serious physical injuries. The proportion of women applying to womens refuges is relatively small, i.e. ve per cent. The womens assessment of the help provided indicates that services focusing on safeguarding the interests of women, such as medical services, lawyers, womens refuge and victim support, receive the highest satisfaction rating. However, many women were dissatised with the assistance given by the social services.
55

Putting the abused woman, her interests and situation at the centre of the picture when dealing with her case may inuence her level of satisfaction with the help

she receives. It is also possible that an agencys knowledgeability on the subject of violence may play a role in how the woman evaluates its help.

1 According to Heimer & Nyln 1999, p 3. On the number of cases of assault and battery of women, see htp://www.bra.se/extra/statistics/extraview. 2 The reasons for the dropout cannot be established, though here too a possible interpretation, cf footnote 74, is that the women themselves do not consider what they experienced to have been violence, and therefore had not thought it possible to report it to the police. 3 These figures do not indicate the general propensity to make a report to the police, but they do reveal the extent to which the women have reported the most recent violent experience depending on who the perpetrator was.

4 The internal dropout is included in the gures for the number of women applying for help. The gures showing the proportion of women satised/dissatised with the help received are based on the actual number of women stating that they sought help from each service respectively.

56

CHAPTER 6

Violence, a question of health and living conditions?

Previous studies of violence/health have focused primarily on women seeking treatment. When the sample has been based on women seeking treatment, a correlation has been found between the incidence of physical and psychological disorders among the women and their having had experiences of violence.1 Since women with experience of violence are more prone to seek treatment than women without it, it is difcult to generalise the results derived from clinical selections as being applicable to the female population as a whole. 2 However, even in studies in which a random selection of women has been questioned, correlations have been found between physical and sexual violence on the one hand and depression3 and gynaecological problems 4 on the other, and between sexual violence and backache 5. Our questionnaire was focused on studying the extent of violence to women and the types of violent experience women have. It also opens possibilities of investigating what correlations may exist between violent experiences and health. The knowledge gained from earlier qualitative studies of the consequences of violence indicates that violence and health are connected, and that violence can be regarded as amounting to changes for the worse in the living conditions of the women subjected to it. 6
Physical and psychological disorders and violent experiences Women were asked in the questionnaire to assess their state of health, the response options being excellent, very good, good, fairly good, poor and very poor. Two questions followed probing more closely into the womens state of health. The rst of these asked the women to assess whether they had suffered from any one or more of a number of listed physical conditions in the previous month and if so, whether they had suffered much or little as a result. The conditions listed were headaches, recurrent pain in other parts of the body, stomach trouble, numbness of arms/legs, palpitation of the heart, nausea or vomiting, dizziness, trembling of the hands, and heavy perspiration not following bodily exertion. The second of the two questions concerned psychological conditions in the previous month and whether the women had suffered much or little from them. These were overexertion, impaired memory or impaired concentration, weakness or tiredness, sleeplessness, nervousness, irritability, depression, and nally a sense of everything becoming too much for them. Women subjected to violence tend to suffer both more intensely and from a greater number of physical ailments than do women who do not report any violent
57

experiences. There is a correlation between experiencing violence and suffering from psychological disorders. Women who have been subjected to threats report suffering both more intensely and from more physical and psychological disorders than do women subjected to other types of violence.

All women Nearly 80 per cent of the women stated their general health to be excellent, very good or good. In spite of this, what

emerges from the other more specific questions about health is that many of the women do suffer from some disorders. About 60 per cent of the women suffer from headaches and nearly half from recurrent pain in other parts of the body. More than half the women suffer from weakness and nearly 40 per cent from sleeplessness. Depression aficts 36 per cent, and 30 per cent of all women have suffered a sense of everything becoming too much for them.

Headaches Other pain Stomach trouble Dizziness Numbness Palpitation of the heart Perspiration Nausea

11 15 6 3 5 2 3 2 6 10 20 30 40 50 10 13 11 17 13 26 32

49

Much Little

Shakiness of the hands 1 0

60

Fig 25. Physical disorders of women (% of all women, N=6 926).

Weakness Irritability Nervousness Sleeplessness Over-exertion Depression Impaired memory Everything becoming too much 0 5 7 8

14 41 32 29 29 29 26 23 10 20 30 40
Much Little

40

10 10 9 8

50

60

Fig 26. Psychological disorders of women (% of all women, N=6 926).

58

Physical disorders and violent experiences Among women who have had experience of violence, the reporting of physical disorders is generally slightly higher than among those who have not. For example, women with experience of violence suffer more from bodily pain than women without such experience.
20 18 15 13 10 17 18 19

Psychological disorders and violent experiences There is a correlation between reports of violence and reports of psychological disorders. This applies to all the psychological disorders enumerated in the questionnaire. Here, as with physical ailments, women who have been subjected to threats report the greatest number and intensity of psychological disorders. It is twice as common for women who have been subjected to threats to suffer from much over-exertion and/or depression compared with women who have not reported any violent experiences.
15 14

5
10 11 11 11

0 No Total Pysical Sexual Threats violence violence violence violence

5

Fig 27. Pronounced bodily pain among women and type of violence to which they had been subjected (%).

0 No Total Pysical Sexual Threats violence violence violence violence

Furthermore there is a tendency for women who have been subjected to violence to report more kinds of physical disorders than women who have not. There are no very great differences in the reporting of physical disorders between women who have been subjected to violence in the last year and those whose experience of violence came earlier. Women who have been subjected to threats report the most intense ailments and the most physical disorders. Their reporting is slightly higher throughout compared with the reporting by women subjected to physical and sexual violence.

Fig 28. Pronounced overexertion among women and type of violence to which they had been subjected (%).

15 13 10 10 11 11

0 No Total Pysical Sexual Threats violence violence violence violence

Fig 29. Pronounced depression among women and type of violence they had been subjected (%).

59

Womens perceptions of the effects of violence In order to nd out how women themselves regard the relation between experience of violence and various symptoms we asked those women who had been subjected to violence in what way they considered their experiences to have affected them.7 Thirteen response options were offered: fear, feelings of shame, feelings of guilt, anger or hatred, depression, tiredness and listlessness, poor self-esteem, sleeplessness and nightmares, difculties in concentrating, difficulties in relationships with men, difculties during gynaecological examinations, difculties at work or with studies.

The womens responses indicate the most common reaction after being subjected to violence to be anger or hatred. This is stated as a consequence by 38 per cent of women. The next most common consequence is fear; 33 per cent of women having felt this. Almost as common a consequence of being subjected to violence is poor self-esteem, 30 per cent of women having marked this option. Slightly more than one woman in ve state difculties in relationships with men to be a result of being subjected to violence, and as many again report having suffered from depression. Of women who have had experience of violence, 36 per cent have not stated any consequences of the violence. 8

Violence is reported by 64 per cent of the women to have had some negative effect on them.

Anger or hatred Fear Poor self-esteem Feelings of shame Difficulties in relationships with men Depression Feelings of guilt Tiredness and listlessness Sleeplessness, nightmares Difficulties in concentrating Difficulties with studies and at work Difficulties during gynaecological examinations Other problems No consequences stated 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 5 36 35 6 9 13 18 18 23 22 22 21 30 33

38

Fig 30. Womens assessment of the consequences of violence. All violence (% of respondents, nonresponses not included).

60

The most negative consequences from threats We have cross-tabulated the womens responses stating what they consider the consequences of the violence to have been with the type of violence to which they have been subjected. If the womens responses are broken down by categories according to the type of violence they have experienced, it is apparent that women who have experienced threats report the most, and most intensely negative, consequences of violence. This applies not only to comparisons between violent experiences since the fteenth birthday but also to those between the womens experiences of violence in the last year. The difference is particularly conspicuous when experiences of threats in the last year are scrutinised. Anger or hatred is felt by 58 per cent of those who were threatened in the last year. Fear is felt by 50 per cent and 50 per cent have poor self-esteem. Of the women subjected to threats in the last year, 41 per cent report having suffered from depression while almost one woman in ve, i.e.17 per cent, states that she has experienced difculties at work or
Anger or hatred Poor self-esteem Fear Depression Difficulties in relationships with men Difficulties with studies and at work 0 10 17 20

with studies. Four out of ten women state that they have had difculties in relationships with men.
Women who have been subjected to threats report the most, and the most intensely negative, experiences compared with women who have been subjected to physical or sexual violence. Four out of ten women who have been threatened in the last year report difculties in relationships with men. Nearly one woman in ve who has been threatened in the last year reports having experienced difculties at work or with studies.

Summary and comments Of the women who have been subjected to violence, 64 per cent consider that the violence has had negative consequences for them. When we compare the consequences reported by these women with the type of violence to which they have been subjected, we nd that women who have experienced threats report the most, and the most intensely negative, consequences.
58 50 50 41 40

30

40

50

60

Fig 31. Consequences of having been subjected to threats in the last year (% of respondents, nonresponses not included).

61

Contemplating and attempting suicide The women were asked in the questionnaire whether they had ever attempted or contemplated suicide. Of women who have attempted suicide, 72 per cent have been subjected to violence. Of women who have contemplated suicide, 64 per cent have suffered violence. Thus, there is a clear correlation between womens experiencing violence and their attempting suicide. Likewise there is a strong correlation between experiencing violence and contemplating suicide. To have contemplated suicide is more than twice as common among women who have experienced violence at some point as among women who have not. Of women who have attempted suicide, 60 per cent have suffered sexual violence, 48 per cent physical violence and 42 per cent threats. Among women who have experienced violence in the last year, attempted suicide is nearly four times as common as among women who did not report such experiences, viz eleven per cent compared with three per cent. Among women who have been subjected to sexual violence in the last year, it is approximately ve times as common for a woman to have attempted suicide compared with women who do not report any violent experiences. The relation between gender-related violence to women and contemplated and attempted suicide among them is a eld of which we have essentially lacked knowledge up to now.

5 per cent of all respondents state that they have attempted suicide and 23 per cent state that they have contemplated suicide. Nearly three out of four women who have attempted suicide have been subjected to violence and nearly two out of three women who have contemplated suicide have been subjected to violence.
50 40 32 30 21 20 10 0 No violence Total violence Sexual violence Pysical violence Threats 15 Ever Last 12 mths 36 35 32 30

43 37 36

Fig 32. Contemplated suicide and type of violence (%).

16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 No violence Total violence Sexual violence Pysical violence Threats 3 5 8 Ever The last 12 mths 14 13 12 11 10 9 8

Fig 33. Attempted suicide and type of violence (%).

62

Violence and physical injury In one of the questions, the women were asked to state whether they had sustained physical injuries as a result of physical violence or sexual abuse and, if so, whether they had sought treatment for their injuries. Women who had done so were also asked whether they had been admitted to hospital for such treatment. A total of 873 women reported some form of physical injury, the most common being bruises and bodily aches/pains. Medical treatment was sought by 225 women. The injuries stated by the women to have resulted from the violence inicted on them were fairly serious. Of these women, 28 were admitted to hospital for

TYPE OF INJURY Bruises, grazes Wounds Pulled muscle, rupture or dislocation of joint (s) Fracture Injuries to teeth Miscarriage Internal damage Concussion Bodily ache/pain Other injuries

NUMBER 719 205 141 40 47 25 25 68 382 111

Table 8. Types of injury suffered by women (n=873).

treatment. Of those who did not seek treatment, 149 said that they ought to have done so, while 468 women said that they did not do so because their injuries were only minor.

Use of medication In the questionnaire, the women were asked to state whether, in the last month, they had taken medication in order to sleep, calm their nerves or relieve depression. When the womens experiences of violence since their fteenth birthday are scrutinised, it appears that treatment
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 No violence Total violence 3 3 4 5 4 5 7 Sedatives Anti-depressants Sleeping pills 8

with psychopharmacological drugs is reported by a somewhat larger proportion of women with experience of violence than of women without it. It is somewhat more common for women who have experienced threats to use medication than for other groups.

9 7 6 5 4

Sexual violence

Pysical violence

Threats

Fig 34. Use of medication and type of violence (%).

63

Violence during pregnancy The questionnaire addressed enquiries about violence associated with pregnancy only to women who reported that their present or former husband /cohabitant partner had at some time employed violence against them. The number of pregnancies was not gone into. It is therefore impossible to use the responses from the questionnaire to calculate how common it is in Sweden for violence to women to occur during pregnancy. Women subjected to violence by present or former husbands/cohabitant partners were asked in the questionnaire whether they had been pregnant by the man in question and, if so, whether they had been subjected to physical violence or sexual abuse while they were pregnant. They were also asked whether the man subjected them to threats during their pregnancy.

Violent former husband /cohabitant partner A total of 534 of the women who had a violent former husband/cohabitant partner state that they have been pregnant by him. Physical and sexual violence Sixteen per cent of women were subjected to physical violence or sexual abuse by the former husband/cohabitant partner during pregnancy. Seven per cent were subjected to violence or sexual abuse for the rst time during pregnancy. All told, 19 per cent of women had been subjected to physical or sexual violence before the child was one year old. Threats Nineteen per cent stated that they had been threatened by the husband/cohabitant partner during pregnancy. Eight per cent had been threatened for the rst

Threats during pregnancy 20 Threats began during pregnancy Physical or sexual violence during pregnancy Physical or sexual violence began during pregnancy Total physical or sexual violence before child 1 year old 8 7 5 4 3 2 0 Present husband/cohabitant partner, Former husband/cohabitant partner 2 4 19 16 19

15

10

Fig 35. Threats or physical violence by present or former husband/cohabitant partner in connection with pregnancy (%).

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time during pregnancy. Altogether nearly one woman in four had been threatened before the child was one year old.

Violent present husband /cohabitant partner Of the women who report having been subjected to violence by their present husband/cohabitant partner, 382 state that they have been pregnant by him. Of these, four per cent state that they have been subjected to threats by the husband/cohabitant partner. Approximately half of these women state that the threats began while they were pregnant. Three per cent were subjected to physical violence or sexual abuse during pregnancy. Two women out of three state that the violence began during pregnancy. Four per cent of women in all report having been subjected to violence before the child was one year old. Summary and comments Despite the fact that nearly 80 per cent of the women describe their own state of health as excellent, very good or good, it turns out that physical and psychological disorders are fairly widespread. There is a discrepancy between the womens general depiction of their state of health on the one hand and, on the other, the specic and more detailed picture which emerges from their responses. The womens responses show that there is a correlation between experience of violence and impaired physical and psychological health. Likewise, the use of psychopharmacological drugs is slightly more common among women with experience of violence. Of the various types of violence, threats and in cases of contemplated and attempted

suicide sexual violence appear to be the forms exhibiting the strongest correlation with impaired physical and psychological health. These correlations do not tell us anything about causal relations, however. When the women were asked how they themselves consider the violence has affected them, they declare clearly that they have suffered negative effects in a variety of ways. Prominent among these are such negative emotions as anger, hatred, fear and depression. A dualism emerges in the womens reporting of how their violent experiences have affected them. Anger or hatred is far the most common reaction, which indicates an attitude to their experiences in which the women do not blame themselves for being abused. Feelings of guilt and shame, for example, are reported by the women to a much less extent than feelings of anger or hatred. On the other hand a high level of poor self-esteem and depression resulting from the violence is reported, which suggests that the violence has a negative inuence on the self-image of its victims. Slightly more than one woman in ve who has been subjected to violence states that her experiences have resulted in difculties in relationships with men. The dualism manifested in the womens reporting of how violence has affected them can be interpreted to mean that women who have been subjected to violence do not consider themselves primarily as victims. However, the womens own estimation of the negative consequences of violence is that they are quite severe. Societys attitude towards gender-related violence may therefore be crucial to the way women subjected to violence interpret their experiences. When the various types of violence are
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scrutinised, it appears that experience of threats has particularly negative consequences. Not only do women subjected to threats report the greatest number and variety of negative consequences: they also report the highest level of physical and psychological disorders, the greatest use of psychopharmacological drugs, and a high level of contemplated and attempted suicide. Consequently, this study provides no evidence to support the view of threats as only threats, less serious than physical or sexual violence. Any such notion is contradicted both by the womens own reports of their state of health and by their assessment of the consequences of the violence. On the contrary, cross-tabulation of the womens responses with the type of violence to which they have been subjected shows threats to be a serious type of violence with severe consequences for its victims. There are clear correlations between experiences of violence and contemplated and/or attempted suicide. The correlation is particularly strong between attempted suicide and subjection to sexual violence in the last year, and between attempted suicide and experience of threats. Overall, the number of attempted suicides is

almost three times as high among women who have had violent experiences as it is among women who do not. Relatively few women seek treatment for the physical injuries caused by physical or sexual violence. The number of women admitted to hospital is remarkably low in proportion to the serious physical injuries for which women report having sought treatment. Only 28 women in the study report having been admitted to hospital because of the injuries resulting from violence. This may be compared with the 873 women who state that they suffered physical injuries in consequence of the violence to which they were subjected. The responses to the questionnaire indicate threats during pregnancy by violent former husbands/cohabitant partners to be four times as common as by men in current violent relationships. The reports of former husbands violence during pregnancy match up well with corresponding data from Finland. 9 As elsewhere in the reporting of violence, the gures show a great disparity between womens reports of violence on the part of present husbands/cohabitant partners and former husbands/cohabitant partners respectively.

1 2

Drossman et al 1995, Felitti 1991, Muellerman et al 1998, Dahl 1993.

Felitti 1991. 3 Scholle et al 1998, Mullen 1988. 4 Plichta et al 1996. 5 Linton 1997. 6 Hamberg & Johansson 1999. 7 Not all women stating that they had had violent experiences (3 193) answered these questions. The number of respondents in this section was 2 364 women. 8 This does not mean that the violence did not have any consequences, only that the women did not mark any of the response options. 9 Heiskanen & Pispa 1998.

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CHAPTER 7

Sexual harassment
The concept of sexual harassment comes from labour legislation. The factor determining whether an act or course of conduct is considered to be sexual harassment under the terms of the Act Concerning Equality between Men and Women (jmstlldhetslagen) is whether it happens in the place of employment or is related to the employment in such a manner that the employer can be held responsible for remedying the harassment. Behaviour which is considered to be sexual harassment may also be criminalised: sexual molestation for example, or more serious offences such as assault, sexual coercion or even rape. Other acts considered to be sexual harassment may be unspecied as offences under the terms of the Penal Code (i.e. not criminalised), but the employer will still be held responsible for remedying the relevant working conditions to ensure that the harassment ceases. The studies which have been made of the incidence of sexual harassment are limited to working life or educational environments. The figures yielded by these studies vary considerably.1 Since behaviour constituting sexual harassment may be presumed to be common outside the work environment as well, it is important to ask questions about womens experiences of sexual harassment in situations unrelated to employment. We therefore asked the women about their experiences of sexual harassment by men with whom they do not have and have not had a sexual relationship, i.e. neighbours, friends, colleagues and unknown men. Eight questions in all were asked about obscene telephone calls, indecent exposure, unwelcome comments, importunate attentions, uncomfortable proximity, sexually threatening behaviour, stalking, and threats of impaired career prospects if sexual favours are refused. It should be noted that some of the grosser forms of sexual harassment are excluded from the questions. 2 The ndings with regard to sexual harassment would probably have been higher if these grosser actions had been included as well. As with the questions relating to physical violence within relationships, we have striven to be as concrete as possible in wording the questions relating to sexual harassment. We asked about eight fairly specic incidents which the respondent may have felt to be uncomfortable or threatening, see question 24 of the questionnaire, Appendix 1. Here too we were striving to penetrate beyond any possible minimising or normalising of sexual harassment by the women concerned. The concrete wording of the questions makes it possible to circumvent the resistance which a woman might otherwise feel against defining the situation as sexual harassment and the man in question as guilty of that offence.

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The aggregate experience of sexual harassment

A total of 56 per cent of women have been subjected to sexual harassment. 16 per cent have been so subjected in the last year.

One woman in four has experienced uneasiness at some time through intrusive physical proximity on the part of a man. More than one woman in four has been made to feel ill at ease by a mans comments on her body or private life, or by his making sexual allusions. Not quite one woman in ve states that she has felt uneasy because a man asked her out several times and did not take no for an answer. Sixteen per cent of women report having been subjected to sexual harassment in the last year.
Who are the victims?

Younger women are the most liable to be sexually harassed: almost two thirds of women aged 18-24 and 25-34 have suffered sexual harassment. Nearly four out of ten women aged 18-24 have been sexually harassed in the last year. Students, irrespective of age, are the group most subject to sexual harassment. Every third female student has been sexually harassed in the last year. Nearly two thirds of students all told have experienced sexual harassment. Of women who have completed university education but do not have a degree, seven out of ten have been sexually harassed.

Age The reporting of sexual harassment differs considerably between the age groups, both with respect to experiences in the last year and as regards overall experience of sexual harassment. Young women aged 18 to 24 are the group most subject to sexual harassment; 37 per cent of women of that age range state that they have been sexually harassed in the last year. Slightly more than one woman in ve aged 25 to 34 reports sexual harassment in the last year, while seven per cent of women aged 55 to 64 had such experiences in the same period. In total, i.e. in terms of aggregate experience of sexual harassment after the age of fteen, there is no difference between the youngest age group and women aged 25-34. Approximately 64 per cent of the women in these two age groups report experiences of sexual harassment. The corresponding figure for women aged 55-64 is 40 per cent. Occupation When we scrutinise the womens occupations we nd that it is students who report the most sexual harassment. All in all 65 per cent, or nearly two thirds, of the women in this group have been sexually harassed, and one third of female students have suffered this in the last year. Of gainfully employed women, 13 per cent report sexual harassment in the last year. In total, 58 per cent of the gainfully employed women have been sexually harassed.

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Education As regards education, women who have completed university education but do not have a degree report the highest level of sexual harassment. One woman in four in this group, i.e. 26 per cent, has been sexually harassed in the last year, and altogether 71 per cent of university-educated women without a degree have had experience of sexual harassment. Women with a
Ever Last 12 mths

AGE 18-24
37 64 64 21 61 13 51 8 40 7

university degree also report a high level of such experiences, a total of 65 per cent of the group having been sexually harassed. However, compared with the group of university-educated women without a degree, women with a degree report a considerably lower level of sexual harassment, i.e. only 14 per cent, in terms of incidents in the last year. Of women whose education did not proceed beyond compulsory schooling, eleven per cent have been sexually harassed in the last year. In total, 40 per cent of women who have completed compulsory schooling have been sexually harassed.

25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 EDUCATION University, no degree University, with degree Secondary schooling Compulsory schooling No compulsory schooling OCCUPATION Student Parental leave Self-employed Wage-/salary-earner Unemployed ck-leave/disability pension Retired Looking after home
0 8 13 9
11

71 26 65 14 56
17 40 33 19

65 34 59 58 13 55 13 54 20 52 40 35 8 20 40 60

Fig 36. Women subjected to harassment, by womens background variables (%).

Income Reporting of sexual harassment differs between income groups: there seems to be a correlation between income and experiences of sexual harassment. When asked about experiences of sexual harassment after the age of fteen, women with the highest incomes have been subjected to them more than those with the lowest : 69 per cent of women earning more than SEK 20 000 a month after tax have been sexually harassed, whereas for women earning SEK 15 000 20 000 a month after tax, the gure is 61 per cent. The corresponding gure for women earning up to SEK 10 000 is 53 per cent. As regards experiences of sexual harassment in the last year, the positions are reversed: women with low incomes are harassed more than women with higher incomes. Nearly one woman in four, i.e. 24 per cent, earning less than SEK 5 000 a month after tax has been sexually harassed in the last year. The corresponding gure for women earning more than SEK 20 000 a month after tax is twelve per cent.
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INCOME > 20000 15001-20000 10001-15000 5001-10000 < 5000 0 20 12

Ever Last 12 mths

69 61 13 57 13 54 16 53 24 40 60 80

Fourteen per cent of students who have been harassed report a superior/ supervisor/teacher to have harassed them sexually while 26 per cent state that a fellow-student or fellow-pupil did so. Of salary- or wage-earners, twelve per cent were harassed by a superior and 22 per cent by a colleague.
Unknown Friend/acquaintance Colleague Superior 12 7 6 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 21 27 69

Fig 37. Women subjected to harassment, by womens income (%).

Ethnicity Women born in African countries report the highest level of harassment in the last year. Of women in this group, 42 per cent were sexually harassed during this period. As regards womens experiences of sexual harassment after the age of fteen, women born in North America report the highest level of incidents at 91 per cent. However, the groups of women born abroad are small and the percentage of responses from them was low. It is therefore hard to draw reliable conclusions from the responses of these groups.
Who are the perpetrators? In most cases of sexual harassment, the perpetrator is a man whom the woman does not know; 69 per cent of the women harassed were unacquainted with the man concerned. In total, one woman in ve, i.e. 21 per cent, of women who have been sexually harassed was subjected to the experience by work colleagues/ fellow-students or fellow-pupils. Friends, acquaintances/neighbours were reported to be the perpetrators in 27 per cent of cases.
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Customer/client Relative

Fig 38. Who are the perpetrators? (% of harassed women, N=3 862)

Summary and comments More than half of Swedish women have been sexually harassed. Younger women and students are the ones most at risk. Of female students, one in three has been sexually harassed in the last year. The perpetrators can be either men with whom the woman is unacquainted or men known to her, such as friends, work colleagues or superiors. There are differences in the total reporting of sexual harassment and the reporting of harassment in the last year, and these seem to be associated with education and income level. The lower the education and income, the more harassment was suffered in the last year, which contrasts with the considerably higher level of incidents in the total perspective reported by women of higher education and income. These correlations are not related to age. One interpretation is that women in the latter

groups are in a position which enables them to acquire knowledge and awareness with regard to sexual harassment, and this may result both in the possibility of action to put a stop to harassment and in realistic reporting, whereas the reverse situation may prevail for women less favourably situated in this respect. Another interpretation is that the public debate about gender equality produces different normative effects on these groups, which may result in under-reporting of harassment in the last year. Our discussion of the continuum concept in an earlier chapter may be of importance when interpreting and attempting to

understand womens conditions of life in terms of the incidence of sexual harassment. Along the scale hypothesised in the continuum concept, with serious crimes of violence at one end and controlling behaviour at the other, there is a slot for sexual harassment. In this way it becomes possible to observe the linkages between the various forms in which control over women is exercised, which should be of great relevance in the context of the extent of violence and the high level of reported experiences of both controlling behaviour and sexual harassment.

1 According to a study made by the National Swedish Police Board (Rikspolisstyrelsen) of female civilian employees in police service (2 700 women were included in the study), 20 per cent of women stated that they had experienced sexual harassment in the last three years. Press meddelande 990202 underskning om sexuella trakasserier, http://www.police.se/gemensam/rps/press/sextrxk.htm. A study made at Uppsala University showed that twelve per cent of the female students had been subjected to sexual harassment, Tydn 1999. 2 Some of the acts are criminalised under the terms of the Penal Code (molestation or unlawful threats) while other forms of behaviour can be very uncomfortable or intimidating to a woman even though not criminalised. Questions about grosser forms of behaviour are to be found in other sections of the questionnaire and are then categorised as sexual violence.

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CHAPTER 8

Myths about violence?

As well as the commonly accepted picture of violence towards women as a weapon used only by men of the lower social groups, men who abuse alcohol or men who are unemployed, there is another stereotype. This is the violent male immigrant, the man who practises violence as a result of his patriarchal cultural heritage. It is assumed that this cultural heritage, in contradistinction to the Swedish culture which is interpreted as being characterised by equality leads the man to commit violence.1 There is also a conception of the abused woman as being special: she experienced abuse as a child, for example, which makes her seek out violent men after reaching adulthood. In the questionnaire we enquired about the respondents education, her income after tax, her occupation and her own and her parents country of birth. We also asked for her present husbands/cohabitant partners country of birth, his parents countries of birth, his alcohol and drug habits and his education. Women who reported having had a violent former
Yes No Number % Number % 407 9.6 3 665 86.4 34 29 3 23 2 1 20.8 13.6 24.0 25.3 15.1 33.3 124 173 8 59 13 8 2 76.2 81.4 60.8 64.0 100.0 60.3 66.7 Table 9. Women subjected to violence by present husband/cohabitant partner, by his country of birth (row per cent, calculated for women in present relationships, non-responses ignored).

husband or cohabitant partner were asked about his country of birth, his parents countries of birth and his level of education and alcohol habits.

Sweden Nordic countries Europe Africa Asia North America Latin America Australia

Immigrants The number of women of foreign background who responded to the questionnaire was relatively low. The data therefore had to be weighted. In terms of exposure to violence and country of birth, a small difference is observable in the material as regards reporting by women born in the Nordic countries. 2 These show a slightly higher level of reporting of all experiences of violence since the age of fteen. The differences are small, however. Of men who according to womens responses have employed violence towards their current wife/cohabitant partner, several of the groups are too small to enable any conclusions to be drawn. 3 Where comparisons are possible, the differences are small. The exception is women whose present husband/cohabitant partner was born in the Nordic countries or Asia. These report a higher level of violent experiences at the hands of their present husband/cohabitant partner, i.e. 21 per cent and 25 per cent respectively, than the average (eleven per cent) for the whole group of women subjected to violence by their present husband/cohabitant partner.

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 Eight out of ten women subjected to violence in their present relationship are married to or cohabiting with a man who was born in Sweden

Of women subjected to violence by their present husband/cohabitant partner, 82 per cent have a husband/cohabitant partner born in Sweden. Of women stating that a former husband/cohabitant partner subjected them to violence, 72 per cent were married to/cohabiting with a man born in Sweden. Of women with a former husband/cohabitant partner who inicted violence upon them, seven per cent were married to/cohabiting with a man from the Nordic countries, seven per cent to/with a man born in Europe, two per cent to/with a man born in Asia and two per cent to/with a man born in Africa. Seven per cent of the women did not respond to this question.
Sweden Nordic country Europe Other 0 7 7 7 20 40 60 72

Social classes As regards womens reporting of violence, some differences can be detected pertaining to the education and income of the women. As regards education, women with university education but no degree show the highest total level of violence reported (53 per cent compared with an average of 46 per cent for all women subjected to violence). Slight differences in exposure to violence can also be observed with respect to the womens income. Women with the highest and lowest level of income respectively report the highest total level of violence.

INCOME 48 <5000 5001-10000 10001-15000 15001-20000 >20000 0 15 46 13 45 10 48 11 50 9 10 20 30 40 50

Fig 40. Total women subjected to violence, by womens income (%).

Fig 39. Women subjected to violence by former husband/cohabitant partner, by the mans country of birth (% of women with a violent former husband/cohabitant partner, N=970).

Fig 41. Total women subjected to violence, by womens education (%).

53 14 49 10 46 13 43 15 40 12 0 10 20 30 40 50

University, no degree University, with degree Secondary schooling compulsory schooling Compulsory schooling

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Two thirds of women subjected to violence by their present husband/cohabitant partner state that the man is a wageor salary-earner. Regarding the mans education, almost one fourth, i.e. 23 per cent, of women who have been subjected to violence by their present husband/cohabitant partner state that the man in question has a university education with a degree.
OCCUPATION Wage-/salary-earner Self-employed Unemployed Retired Student Sick-leave/disability pension EDUCATION Secondary schooling University, with degree Compulsory schooling University, no degree No compulsory schooling 0 6 1 20 40 60 23 21 47 11 7 6 5 2 65

Alcohol The women were asked to state how often they drink alcohol, how often their husbands/cohabitant partners (if any) do so, and, if they have had a husband/cohabitant partner who was violent to them, how often he consumed alcohol. The questions are thus linked to alcohol habits, not to the committing of violence; that is to say, we did not ask questions to elicit whether the man was drunk when he was violent. We found no differences of subjection to violence associated with womens alcohol consumption. Four out of ve women who have been subjected to violence by their present husband/cohabitant partner belong to the category of those stating that the man concerned consumes alcohol 1-2 times a week or less. Consequently, the majority, i.e. 83 per cent, of those men who have inicted violence on their current wife/cohabitant partner consume alcohol 1-2 times a week or less.

Fig 42. Women subjected to violence at some point by present husband/cohabitant partner, by the mans occupation and education (% of women with a violent present husband/cohabitant partner, N=499)

Every day 2-3 times/week 1-2 times/week

3 14 31 28 3 13

If we compare the men who according to the womens reports have subjected the woman to violence during their marriage/cohabitation with those who have not, there are no real differences in terms of educational level.

Once a month or so Every other month Once a year or so Never during the past year 2 Never 0 7 5 10 15 20

25

30

Fig 43. Women subjected to violence by present husband/cohabitant partner and the mans alcohol consumption (% of women subjected to violence, N=499).

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In cases where the woman has stated that her husband/cohabitant partner drinks more frequently than 1-2 times a week, and in cases where the man had not consumed alcohol during the past year, the level of violence reported is slightly higher compared with the average for the women in the group as a whole.

Sexual violence before turning fteen Yes Yes Sexual violence since turning fteen No Total N= 42.8 100% 1 416 72.5 100% 5 510 57.2 No 27.5

Previous experience of violence We asked the women two questions about their experience of violence prior to their fifteenth birthday. One of these concerned physical violence by a family member, an acquaintance or some other man unknown to the woman, while the other concerned sexual violence by a man. Thirtyone per cent of the women have been subjected to violence by an adult before their fteenth birthday (the latter group may include women who have committed violence). Twenty per cent of all women have had experience of sexual violence by a man (including sexually threatening behaviour) by the time of their fteenth birthday. Of women with experience of sexual violence prior to their fteenth birthday, 57 per cent reported having also been subjected to sexual violence after turning fifteen. Of women who did not have such experiences before their fteenth birthday, 28 per cent reported having been subjected to them since. Thus there is a correlation between experience of sexual violence before the age of fteen and the reporting of such experience later on in life as well.

Table 10. Women subjected to sexual violence before and after their fteenth birthday.

Summary and comments The results of the study indicate that violence is widespread in all groups of women. They show that Swedish men are responsible for 82 per cent of the violence inicted upon women in current marriages/cohabiting relationships. This calls into question the stereotypes of the violent immigrant male and the equal Swedish male. As regards the women, it is observable that highly educated women report a slightly higher level of violent experiences, as also do those women with the highest incomes. As far as mens education is concerned, there are no substantial differences in terms of his committing or not committing violence on his present wife/cohabitant partner. Regarding the womens alcohol habits, there are no differences between women who report experiences of violence and those who do not. Nor can the notion of the violent man as an alcoholic be substantiated. Of those women who report having been subjected to violence by their present husband/cohabitant partner, four out of ve state that the man concerned drinks alcohol once or twice a week or less.
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Consequently the stereotype idea that it is principally men of the lower social classes and/or with drinking problems who commit violence on women does not square with the results of the study. Women who reported having had experience of sexual violence before the age of fteen report a higher degree of violence since their fteenth birthday. There is accordingly a correlation between these experiences. However, the connection is not causal. The picture emerging from this study is one in which violence against women is widespread, frequent and employed in private as well as in public. The men who employ it are partners, friends, acquaintances, colleagues and unknown men. In the light of these facts, it would be somewhat surprising if women did not have experience of violence prior to the age of fteen as well. Women are born

into a society where violence to women is a common feature in all spheres and stages of life. We have no reason to believe that violence begins, say, at the fteenth birthday or any other particular age. One interpretation of the links subsisting between the reporting of sexually violent experiences before and after the fteenth birthday is that when women designate later experiences of violence as having actually been violence, this also colours their understanding of earlier experiences, in the same way as the earlier experiences may colour the later. Our results show that the question mark we used in the heading of this section can be deleted. The notion that men commit violence against a particular type of woman, and that most of these men are immigrants, alcohol abusers or ill-educated is a myth.

1 There are distinct tendencies in the Swedish debate to portray foreign cultures as patriarchal, in contrast to the Swedish culture. Whereas violence on the part of Swedish men is explained in terms of individual and/or social factors such as a difcult childhood, unemployment, drug abuse or other social problems, foreign cultures are singled out as the reason why men of foreign origin resort to violence. 2

Nordic countries does not include Sweden.

Three men were born in Australia and eleven in Africa.

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CHAPTER 9

Summary and comments

Mens violence against women: widespread, frequent and happening now The results of the prevalence study illustrate that violence against women is far from being a marginal problem. Almost every other woman has experienced violence on the part of a man at some point since her fteenth birthday. The women concerned also report repeated violence: e.g. one woman in every four subjected to violence by a former husband/cohabitant partner reports it as systematic. Nor is the violence remote either: one woman in four experiencing it did so in the last year. Violence starts early too. Almost one woman in three has experienced it before the age of fteen.
The knowledge which this study has afforded us about the extent and character of gender-related violence must have an impact on our understanding of violence. If nearly fty per cent of women in Sweden have been subjected to violence since their fteenth birthday and close to one woman in three before that and if such a large proportion of women report numerous experiences of violence and such a large proportion of these experiences are recent, as this study has shown, this means that violence is a widespread, frequent and topical phenomenon. This contradicts the notion that it is only a few men who practise violence on women. Any measures taken to stop the violence, if they are to be successful, must rest upon a new understanding in which knowledge about the role of violence in the life of women and men is linked to their everyday lives.

Violence outside sexual relationships no free zones Our study also shows that the previous focus on the so-called partner violence to which women are subjected constitutes too narrow a perspective. It is certainly true that much violence is inicted on women by their partners, in the womens own homes. At the same time, one woman in three has been subjected to violence outside a sexual relationship. It is sexual violence that seems to be particularly prevalent outside partner relationships. Thirteen per cent of all women report experiences of gross sexual assaults rape, attempted rape, sexual coercion, sexual exploitation or attempted sexual exploitation by a man outside a sexual relationship. The violence is committed in the womans home, in indoor and outdoor public places and at womens places of work. The results seem to show that there are no free zones for women.
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Violence is everywhere. Our results highlight the need for awareness of all the violence especially the sexual violence to which women are subjected by the men around them, by friends, acquaintances, colleagues and neighbours.

Sexual harassment part of the violence in womens everyday life The results of the study show sexual harassment to be widespread. More than half the women in Sweden have been sexually harassed. Nearly two out of three women aged 18-24 and 25-35 have been subjected to sexual harassment. Universities and colleges seem to be a high-risk environment; nearly two out of three female students have been sexually harassed. Of women with university education but no degree, 71 per cent have been sexually harassed. The perpetrator in 14 per cent of cases of harassment of female students was a superior/supervisor/teacher, and in 26 per cent of cases he was another student or a colleague. Of wage- or salary-earners, twelve per cent were harassed by a superior while 22 per cent were harassed by a colleague.
Sexual harassment as we have dened it, which includes harassment not connected with working life, slots in along the scale envisaged in the continuum concept, in which gross crimes of violence are placed at one end of the scale and controlling behaviour at the other. In this way sexual harassment can also be included among the diverse mechanisms for exercising power and control over women. The concept of continuum make it possible to view as a connected whole the various forms in which violence, harassment and other kinds of control over women manifest themselves. The extent of violence against women (almost fty per cent of all women have experienced violence), the distribution of its perpetrators (partners, friends and acquaintances as well as unknown men) and the places at which violence is practised (in womens homes, in public places and at work) indicate that womens experiences must be regarded as a connected whole, illuminating the conditions in which they live. From this point of view, the widespread incidence of sexual harassment is yet another manifestation of vulnerability and a life-situation, not infrequently linked to the working environment, in which violence forms one of the conditions of womens lives and everyday experience.

Mere threats The continuum concept tries to break away from the idea that there are well-defined boundaries and hierarchies separating different kinds of violence, with threats, for example, being considered as distinct from and
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less serious than so-called actual physical violence. The intention is not to deny the seriousness of so-called gross violence but to show the seriousness of incidents which might otherwise be considered less severe while also bringing to view the links that exist between the various forms of violence. The results of our study suggest there is a link between controlling behaviour by the male and his subjecting the female to violence, including threats. There is also a clear link between threats on the one hand and the exercise of physical and sexual violence on the other. Linking womens own reporting of the consequences of violence to experiences of being threatened shows that threats are a serious matter. Women who have been subjected to threats report more negative consequences of the violence, and in addition they report more physical and psychological disorders than women who have been subjected to physical or sexual violence. Women with experience of threats and women with experience of sexual violence show the highest reporting rates for contemplated and attempted suicide. Womens own understanding of their experiences shows that one cannot speak of mere threats: on the contrary, threats appear to be a severe form of violence. When we speak of psychological violence, what this may involve is a combination of threats and controlling behaviour on the part of the man - a type of violence which women who have suffered it sometimes describe as the worst kind. This perspective on the problem may provide a new angle of approach for studies of psychological violence, a phenomenon which has not previously been investigated in depth. The lack of research in this area is probably due to the fact that the phenomenon appears diffuse and difcult to pin down.

Physical violence within sexual relationships sexual violence outside sexual relationships? Our study has highlighted differences between womens reports of violence within and outside sexual relationships respectively. Physical violence appears to be a particularly common feature in partner relationships, whereas sexual violence is the most common type of violence employed by men outside partner relationships. These differences may reect the different manifestations of violence, but a supplementary interpretation might be that they express the kind of relationship the woman has with the man, whether it is sexual or not, and that this colours her interpretation of her experiences.1 The public debate has revolved around physical violence within partner relationships and this may be why it is easier for women to report such experiences rather than experiences of sexual violence. Moreover, it has been shown that one of the
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factors governing young peoples view of rape is the relationship between the girl and the boy, inasmuch as an established sexual relationship between them is a circumstance which helps to diminish or completely obscure the issue of whether the boy has committed sexual acts upon the girl against her will. 2 The analysis of young peoples reinterpretations of sexual violence committed within sexual relationships offers a possible interpretative perspective on the differences in womens reporting in our material. That is to say, perhaps adult women, just like younger people, reinterpret sexual abuse when it occurs within sexual relationships. There are differences of reporting associated with age which show that younger women are at greater risk of violence than older women, both outside relationships and on the part of boyfriends. Older women (aged 45-54 and 55-64) report a markedly lower level of violence outside partner relationships. Regarding violence perpetrated by former or current husbands/cohabitant partners, the levels reported do not differ between age groups. Perhaps the wide difference between younger and older women in their reporting of violent experiences outside relationships reects the view prevalent in our culture that younger women are more attractive. In this perspective, the low level of reporting by older women may be explained in terms of their experiences of this kind of violence dating further back in time. We shall therefore leave open the possibility that there may have been under-reporting in respect of this group.

60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Former husband /cohabitant partner Present husband /cohabitant partner Children seen or heard the violence Children subjected to physical violence Children subjected to sexual violence

Fig 44. Percentage of women who have or have had a violent husband/cohabitant partner and state that they have children.

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The violence that vanished About half of the women who stated that they had been subjected to violence by a man since their fteenth birthday did not respond to the questions relating to the most recent violent incident. Of those who did respond to this section of the questionnaire, only 15 per cent had reported the most recent violent incident to the police. The reporting of sexual violence is particularly low. When we asked women why they did not report the most recent violent incident, more than half of them replied that they thought it was too trivial to report. Women themselves thus seem to play down and minimise their experiences of violence. When we consider the substantial difference between womens reports of the childrens situation in current and terminated violent relationships respectively, it may be that even the violence inicted on children may be minimised. Perhaps the women concerned cannot bear to see the violence? 3
Of the few abused women who do seek assistance, the majority approach the health and medical - mainly psychiatric- services rather than the police. It appears that among the women who sought treatment for physical injuries, the injuries involved were relatively severe. It may be that in the same way, women who sought psychiatric treatment did not do so until serious mental health problems presented themselves. Viewed from this perspective, it is only when the consequences of violence become serious that the women concerned ask for help. Might one interpretative perspective on what amounts to a depreciation and minimising of violence be the one represented by the common attitude of society, viz that mere threats are too trivial to really count? Could it also be that the normative pressures of gender equality policy cause women to play down and minimise experiences that do not t in with the norm of an equal relationship?

Better and better day by day? The womens reports indicate terminated relationships to be considerably more violent than current ones. The reporting of violence committed by current husbands/cohabitant partners is considerably lower than that of violence by former ones. This difference forms a pattern throughout the womens responses, applying to the reporting both of controlling behaviour and of violence during pregnancy. The same applies to the children: according to the womens responses, it is four times as common for a violent former husband/cohabitant partner to have committed violence on the womans children as it is for a violent present husband/cohabitant partner to do so. On the whole, a much more favourable picture is painted of current relationships compared with relationships that the women have terminated.

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The difference between then and now can give rise to various interpretations. One way of understanding the lower level of reported violence and controlling behaviour within current relationships is that current relationships are more equal than terminated relationships and that in the long run, men who control women will eventually be left by them. Such an interpretation means that violence should generally become less prevalent in course of time. No such development is evidenced by other statistics on violence towards women, nor has it been borne out by charitable organisations or professional workers in the eld of violence to women. In the light of our earlier discussion of violence as a continuum, the dynamics of violence and the normalisation process, in the course of which we drew attention to the way in which boundaries are shifted and actions merge into one another, it is pertinent to point to the possible interpretation that the woman does not understand the violence which occurs within her

Jealous and wants to know where she goes and whom she meets Makes the woman feel inferior Calls the woman disparaging names Provokes quarrel when the woman wants to see relatives and friends Threatens to harm himself Woman not allowed to make decisions about money Forbids the woman to see relatives and friends Threatens to harm the children Forbids the woman to work outside the home 0 10 20 30

Former husband/cohabitanty partner Current husband/cohabitanty partner

Fig 45. Controlling behaviour by present and former husband/cohabitant partner respectively (%).

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current relationship and the controlling behaviour to which she is subjected by her current partner as actually being violence or controlling behaviour, which thus can result in under-reporting by the woman of the treatment to which she has been subjected. In interviews with women who have left violent men, an important difference appears in the womens retrospective understanding of the violence compared with the way they regarded the mans actions while they were still in the relationship with the man and in the violent situation. It is only when the woman is out of both the relationship and the violence that she can fully put words to her experiences as actually constituting violence. One prerequisite which has to be met to enable the woman to interpret the mans violent actions as amounting to actual violence is that she should no longer normalise these actions and no longer internalise his picture of her as the problem. 4 The de-normalisation process is a social process which requires the womans isolation to have been broken and the man to be no longer controlling her. It also requires her to be no longer at risk of more violence, i.e. to be out of the relationship. Paradoxically, as long as women are in the relationship and in the violent situation, one of the adaptive strategies which
Former husband/cohabitanty partner Current husband/cohabitanty partner 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Physical Sexual Threats violence violence Total violence

Fig 46. Types of violence in present and former marriage/cohabitant relationship respectively (%).

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they use in order to avoid triggering the violence may entail their being unable to interpret and verbalise these acts as violence. Apart from the difculties of naming violence as violence, the womans experience of being subjected to violence by her husband/cohabitant partner conicts with strong normative conceptions of what a modern Swedish heterosexual partner relationship is supposed to be like. In a culture whose ofcial message is that equality shall prevail between the sexes, it may be presumed that both men and women will develop a propensity to interpret their lives in conformity with this norm. In other words the Swedish self-image, and Swedens very strong tradition as the most equal country in the world, may set their impress on how women view and interpret their experiences of life. Gender equality can here be seen as a discursive truth, a discourse that functions as a standard for the interpretation of social life. 5 The normative character of the Swedish equality ideology may mean as far as women are concerned that they shrink from interpretations of their partners that deviate from the ideal of an equal relationship. From this perspective, the contrasting of the previous partner as a controlling and abusive gure compared with the present partner as an equal can be interpreted as a device for maintaining the womens image of themselves as equal. In this way the womans own interpretation of her life-situation is brought into harmony with the discursive imperative that women and men ought to have relationships built on gender equality and that women should leave men who abuse them.

More alike than unlike? A comparison with the Finnish study In 1997, a prevalence study of mens violence against women was carried out in Finland. The Swedish questionnaire was designed so as to facilitate comparison between the studies. 6
Comparison of the Swedish and Finnish results shows that 46 per cent of the Swedish women report having been subjected to violence by a man since their fteenth birthday while the corresponding gure in the Finnish study is 40 per cent. If experience of violence in different relationships is compared, it is found that Swedish women report less violence committed by husbands/cohabitant partners, whether former or current, but a higher level of violence by other men. One in ve women in Finland reports violence on the part of a present husband/cohabitant partner compared with one in ten in Sweden. Half the Finnish women with a former husband/partner report having been subjected to violence by him, compared with 35 per cent in Sweden. At the same time it should be noted that the total reporting of violence is higher in Sweden than
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in Finland, at 46 per cent of the Swedish women compared with 40 per cent of the Finnish. It is violence by men who are not and have not been the womans husband/cohabitant partner that is higher for Swedish women, 35 per cent of them having had experience of violence outside a husband/cohabitant partner relationship. In the Finnish study, 24 per cent of the women reported having had such experience. A comparison also reveals that the Swedish women report more sexual violence outside husband/cohabitant partner relationships than do the Finnish women: 30 per cent of Swedish women have experienced such violence compared with 17 per cent of women in the Finnish study. On the other hand the Finnish women report more physical violence and threats by husbands/cohabitant partners (present or former) than do the Swedish women. In current marriages/cohabitant relationships, 20 per cent of Finnish women report physical violence compared with seven per cent of Swedish. In former marriages/cohabitant relationships, 45 per cent of Finnish women report physical violence compared with 28 per cent of Swedish. One factor common to both studies is that physical violence by both present and former husbands/cohabitant partners is the kind of violence most frequently reported by the women. As regards other men, sexual violence is the type most frequently reported by both Swedish and Finnish women. The reporting of sexual harassment is similar in both studies at 52 per cent of Finnish and 56 per cent of Swedish women respectively. The difference in the reporting of violence prior to age fteen, at 31 per cent for Swedish women and 29 per cent for Finnish, is insignicant. The results of the two studies show that violence against women is widespread in both Sweden and Finland. However, whereas the Finnish women report more violence within marriage/cohabitant relationships, both
Violence by unknown or boyfriend Sw 35 13 30 12 Fi 24 10 17 11 Violence by Violence by Violence present former before husband/cohab husband/cohab age fteen Sw 11 7 3 1 Fi 22 20 6 9 Sw 35 28 16 19 Fi 50 45 19 34 Sw 31 18 20 Fi 29 21 16

Total violence Sw All violence Physical violence Sexual violence Threats 46 25 34 18 Fi 40 30

Table 11. Comparison between the Finnish and Swedish prevalence studies of violence against women, by relationship and type of violence (%).

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present and past, Swedish women report a higher level of violence outside such relationships. The difference between womens reporting of violence by present and former husbands/cohabitant partners is also greater in the Swedish study; Swedish womens reporting of violence committed by former husbands/cohabitant partners is more than three times as high as that by current husbands/cohabitant partners (eleven per cent compared with 35 per cent). In the Finnish study, the level of reporting is more than twice as high in this respect (22 compared with 50 per cent). One way of interpreting these differences is to say that they reect different realities. Mens violence to women is an issue of public concern and has formed the subject of legislation in Sweden to a greater extent than in Finland. This may have resulted in a diminution of violence towards women. A complementary interpretation is that the differences are connected with the inuence of the Swedish gender equality norm on the womens reporting. It may be that Sweden has a stronger gender equality norm than Finland, one which puts more pressure on women in Sweden and may manifest itself in the way women report violence on the part of their present husbands/cohabitant partners.

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Recommendations Developments in the eld of gender-related violence, resulting mainly from the efforts of scholars engaged in gender studies, have opened the way for an analysis of the inuence of structural and cultural dimensions on violence against women, and also of the signicance of gender in this respect. Our prevalence study of violence against women in Sweden forms an abundant and reliable body of empirical data furnishing a unique opportunity to enhance the knowledge we have about violence towards women. The results of the study show that violence to women is so prevalent and of such a character that some of the received explanations and theoretical interpretations of that violence must be abandoned and new theories developed.

There is an urgent need for further improvement of our theoretical and empirical expertise on the topic of violence by means of more intensive analysis of the prevalence study and the theoretical demands which it makes, especially because until now violence to women has been a neglected eld of research in Sweden. We recommend that like Norway and Finland, Sweden should establish a research programme in order to create a new understanding of gender-related violence in which results from the prevalence study which appear to be particularly interesting are studied more intensively. Theoretical developments in the field of gender studies should be applied and further elaborated within the framework of the research programme. The data amassed by our study suggest the following research elds and problem areas to be particularly interesting: Different reporting of types of violence in different relationships It appears that the type of male violence within sexual relationships which women report most frequently is physical violence, while the most common type occurring outside sexual relationships is sexual violence. How do women interpret sexual violence inside and outside sexual relationships respectively? Psychological violence Is it possible to arrive at a denition of the concept of psychological violence from the results of the study pertaining to the mutual relations between threats and violence, controlling behaviour and violence, and womens reports of how they are affected by the violence? The eld is
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unexplored, and the reliable data in the prevalence study provides an opportunity to study the relationships between various milder types of violence and control and the way in which these affect the quality of life of the women concerned and their interpretation of their violent experiences. Threats The results of the study show threats to constitute a serious violation of the woman to whom they are made. There are clear correlations between threats and the exercise of physical and sexual violence. At the same time public opinion has a tendency to minimise the importance of threats: people say they are only threats. There is a pressing need for some study to be made of the signicance of threats in the violence process, and of the possible impact which the playing down of existing threats has on the conditions of womens lives. Systematic violence The results of the study show that the majority of women subjected to violence report more than one such experience and that, for example, more than one woman in four with a violent former husband/cohabitant partner has been subjected to violence more than ten times. This situation calls for studies of the extent of systematic violence to women and of the way in which the conditions of womens lives are affected by their being victims of such violence. Children of abused women The results show that the violence to which a woman is subjected also affects her children. The children may be forced to see or hear the violence and/or may themselves suffer physical or sexual violence. The results of our study also indicate that women nd it very hard to talk about these matters. It is therefore a matter of urgency to examine more closely the situation of children whose mothers are being subjected to violence. Young women One woman in ve between the ages of 18 and 24 has been subjected to violence in the last year, and this group is also particularly liable to sexual harassment. An important task for researchers is to investigate how young women are affected by the frequent violence and what their everyday (violent) experience of life is like. What are the consequences of the violence in terms of the conditions in which young women live? Sexual harassment Sexual harassment is very widespread. Female students are particularly subject to it; one female student in three has been sexually harassed in the last year. Seven out of ten women with university education but no degree have been sexually
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harassed. How does the high incidence of harassment affect womens life-situation and opportunities for study, and what sort of structures are found in the work environments where harassment occurs? Suicide and violent experiences What links are there between contemplated and attempted suicide by women and their experiences of violence? The prevalence study provides a platform for continued studies of this unexplored eld, in which the consequences of violence in terms of womens will to live may be examined in greater detail. Violent experiences and health Previous research on the subject of violence and womens health has been conned to women who have actively approached the health and medical services. The study reveals that abused women show both psychological and physical symptoms, and the pattern of injury thus brought to light indicates serious consequences of violence. Moreover, the results of the study reveal a picture of womens use of psychopharmacological drugs. This being so, further research into the topic of abused womens health would be of great interest. Discrepancies in the womens responses There are great discrepancies in the womens responses between general and specic questions and between reported violent experiences from present and former husbands/cohabitant partners respectively. Current relationships appear considerably more tranquil than relationships which have been terminated. These discrepancies ought to be studied in more detail. Violence and culture The prevalence study brings to the fore the need to study the links between gender, violence and culture in various majority- and minority-cultural situations. The inuence of the Swedish gender equality discourse on the interpretations of violence committed by men of diverse cultural backgrounds, the view of the immigrant male as specially violent being one of these, appears to be an important subject for study, as also is its impact on the interpretations of violence committed by Swedish men. Comparisons between the Swedish and the Finnish study The results of the Swedish and Finnish prevalence studies show both similarities and differences between womens reports of their experiences of violence. These studies ought to be compared in greater detail and analysed from a (gender-) cultural perspective in which similarities as well as differences in the reporting are analysed.

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1 See Design of the questionnaire and Methodological foundations on the tendency to reinterpret, which intensies pari passu with the closeness of the relationship and the normalisation of the violence.

Jeffner 1997. Mellberg, see Bibliography. 4 Ibid. 5 Discourse in this context signies the underlying meaning in public dialogue which may also be crystallised as dened conceptions and more or less dened social practices. Lundgren 2001 p 42. 6 There are differences, such as those pertaining to the breakdown into different relationships. In the Finnish questionnaire, known and unknown men are in the same category and boyfriends are not in a separate category. In addition there are differences as to how sexual violence is dened, the Swedish questionnaire being more concretely worded in this respect and offering more response options than the Finnish questionnaire. Our denition of sexual harassment is somewhat narrower than the Finnish as well. Moreover, the Finnish study is based on a sample of women aged 18-74 while the Swedish sample consisted of women aged 18-64.
3

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Appendix

APPENDIX 1

Dear Madam
The Government has decided that an enquiry into the safety of adult women is to be carried out in Sweden. We, the body charged with conducting the enquiry, are a research team based at Uppsala University and we have commissioned Statistics Sweden (Statistiska Centralbyrn, SCB) to distribute and collect a questionnaire pertaining to the issues involved. This will be the rst major study to make an analysis of womens experiences. SCB has taken a random sample of 10 000 women aged 18-64 from the central population register, and your name is one of those selected. You are requested kindly to complete the questionnaire and return it to SCB in the envelope supplied as soon as possible. No stamp is needed. Responding to the questionnaire is voluntary, but it is important that persons selected do reply if the results of the study are to be reliable. For statistical reasons we are unable to substitute anyone else in place of a person selected for the study. Do not feel intimidated by the length of the questionnaire. It is much shorter than it seems, as many of the questions do not apply to everyone. Some questions may be difcult or painful to answer, but it is only by obtaining the responses of women themselves that we can gain knowledge of womens situation. Please do respond, even if you feel that many of the questions are not relevant to your life. Before lling in the questionnaire please read the instructions on the next page, where you will also nd information about what will be done with your answers. A separate information sheet is enclosed with details of organisations concerned with womens safety issues. If you have any queries or comments to make about the questionnaire, please telephone 0200-22 00 33. Your call will be free of charge. Any questions you may have regarding the way this enquiry is conducted will be answered by SCB, telephone 019 17 60 00. Ask for Inga-Britt Svalstedt or Marie Ling. We thank you in advance for taking part.

Eva Lundgren
Professor of Sociology, especially womens research. Department of Sociology, Uppsala University

Gun Heimer
Associate Professor and Chief Physician. Head of Swedish National Center for Battered and Raped Women, (Rikskvinnocentrum) Department of Womens and Childrens Health (Kvinnokliniken) Uppsala University Hospital

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APPENDIX 1

What will be done with your answers?

Receipt of your completed questionnaire will be noted by SCB, after which your name, address and other identity details will be destroyed. Everyone working on the study is bound by professional secrecy. SCB will assemble the answers in a computer le and hand it to us. The le will contain no identity details; thus you as a respondent will be entirely anonymous. The completed questionnaires, with no identication other than a serial number, will be handed to us for processing of open answers. If you are willing to take part in a follow-up interview you may indicate this on page 32 of the questionnaire. If you do this, your response will be de-identied when the interview is completed. SCB will notify your response to the research team (ourselves) along with your name and address to enable us to contact you. Your answers will always be treated as condential. The results will be published in a research report in such a form as to render it impossible to recognise individual persons. The report will be compiled by the research team at Uppsala University and will be published about halfway through the year 2000.

How to complete the questionnaire

Read the instructions for each question before entering your answers. It is a good idea to look through the entire questionnaire before lling it in. Your answers will be recorded mechanically. It is therefore important to keep the following in mind when answering questions. Use a pencil or ballpoint pen. Indicate your answer by means of a cross in the box adjacent to the alternative which you consider correct. Examples:

Yes No

If you mark the wrong box and wish to change to another alternative, ll up the incorrect box completely and indicate the correct one. Examples:

Yes No

Sometimes you are asked to indicate gures. Write the gures as clearly as possible inside the frame. Examples: 19

If you want to write more text than there is room for along the dotted lines provided, you may do so, but do not write too close to the boxes.

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APPENDIX 1
1. How many persons are there in your household? Household means people who live and eat together and /or use their incomes jointly. Include yourself. persons

2. Who else belongs to your household besides yourself? You may select more than one alternative: My husband or cohabitant partner My children by my partner My own children My partners own children My own or my partners parents Other persons No one else; I live alone

3. How many children are there in your household? Number of children aged 07 Number of children aged 7-14 Number of children aged 15-18

4. What is the highest stage of education which you have completed? I have not completed compulsory schooling Compulsory schooling (elementary school, comprehensive school, nineyear school) Secondary schooling (junior secondary school, girls school, upper secondary school, folk high school) University/College without a degree University/College with a degree 5. What is your occupation?

6. What is your monthly income after tax? Income includes salary, sickness benet, pension, student grant and unemployment benet State the approximate amount Not more than 5 000 SEK 5 001 10 000 SEK 10 001 15 000 SEK 15 001-20 000 SEK More than 20 000 SEK

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APPENDIX 1
7. What is your present employment status? Full-time employee (35 hours a week or more) Part-time employee (less than 35 hours a week) Self-employed farmer Other self-employment On parental leave Unemployed Retired On long-term sick leave (more than 3 months) On temporary disability pension Student Looking after the home Other; please specify

8. In which year were you born?

19

9. Where were you born? Sweden Another Nordic country Another European country Africa Asia North America Latin America Australia Dont know

10. Where were your parents born? Your mother Sweden Another Nordic country Another European country Africa Asia North America Latin America Australia Dont know Your father Sweden Another Nordic country Another European country Africa Asia North America Latin America Australia Dont know

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APPENDIX 1
11. How would you describe your state of health? Would you say that it is excellent very good good fairly good poor very poor

12. Are there things you cannot do at home, at work or at school because of functional disorder/disability or long-term health problems? Yes No Go to question 14

13. What is the functional disorder/disability or long-term health problem which restricts your activities?

14. In the last month, have you suffered much, little or not at all from the following? Much - Headaches - Recurrent pain in other parts of the body - Stomach trouble - Numbness or weakness of arms or legs - Palpitation of the heart or irregular heartbeat - Nausea or vomiting - Dizziness - Shakiness of the hands - Heavy perspiration without having exerted the body Little Not at all

15. In the last month, have you had the following symptoms? Much - Over-exertion - Impaired memory or impaired concentration - Weakness or tiredness - Sleeplessness - Nervousness or tension - Irritability - Depression - A feeling of everything becoming too much for you Little Not at all

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APPENDIX 1
16. How often do you engage in the following recreational activities? Every week - Visiting friends, relatives or acquaintances - Charitable or other voluntary work - Cultural activities or entertainments (cinema, concert, theatre etc.) - Dancing or going out with friends - Studying (e.g. through an educational association) or any other hobbies (e.g. music) - Physical exercise or sport 1-3 times Occatioa month nally Never

17. In the last month, how many times have you used alcohol and/or drugs? Alcohol (except low-alcohol and medium-strength beer); Drugs Every day 2-3 times a week 1-2 times a week Once a fortnight Once Never Dont know/Dont remember Every day 2-3 times a week 1-2 times a week Once a fortnight Once Never Dont know/Dont remember

18. In the last month, have you taken medication in order to sleep, calm your nerves or relieve depression? Select one alternative or more Yes, in order to sleep Yes, in order to calm my nerves Yes, to relieve depression No, I do not use medication in order to sleep, calm my nerves or relieve depression Go to question 20 19. Name the medication used

20. When it is dark and you are walking home alone, how do you feel? Very worried A little worried Not worried at all I never walk home alone when it is dark because I am afraid of violence I never walk home alone when it is dark Dont know

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21. How worried are you in case a family member/relative may employ violence towards you? Very worried A little worried Not worried at all I have no family Dont know

22. How worried are you in case you may be raped by an unknown man? Very worried A little worried Not worried at all Dont know

23. Have you prepared yourself for possible violent situations by Yes - carrying an object on your person capable of being used in self-defence or to call for help - thinking about how to act in a violent situation - attending a course in self-defence No

Below are some questions about your experiences of harassment by men with whom you do not have and have not had a sexual relationship (for example friends, relatives, colleagues and unknown men).

ALL QUESTIONS REFER TO EVENTS OCCURRING AFTER YOUR FIFTEENTH BIRTHDAY

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APPENDIX 1
24. Many women receive unwanted attentions from men. Has it ever happened that a man with whom you do not have and have not had a sexual relationship has Place a cross in one box for In the last twelve months and one for Earlier, i.e. two boxes completed for each response In the last twelve months Yes No made indecent or obscene telephone calls to you? exposed himself indecently to you? made you feel uneasy by commenting on your body or private life, or by making sexual allusions? made you feel uneasy by asking you out several times and not taking no for an answer? leaned over you, come too close or forced you into a corner in a way that made you feel uncomfortable? acted in a way that you felt to be sexually threatening? followed you in a way that frightened you? given you to understand that it might be bad for you in your job or your studies if you did not agree to have sex with him? Earlier Yes No

25. If you have experienced any of the above, who was/were the man/men in question? You may select more than one alternative Superior at work/supervisor/teacher Work colleague/fellow-student/fellow-pupil Client/customer/patient Doctor/psychologist/clergyman Father or stepfather Brother or stepbrother Son/stepson Grandfather Other relative Friend Acquaintance/neighbour Someone unknown Someone else; state who.

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APPENDIX 1
Below are some questions about various kinds of threats, physical violence and sexual abuse. The questions still refer only to men with whom you do not have and have not had a sexual relationship ALL QUESTIONS REFER TO EVENTS OCCURRING AFTER YOUR FIFTEENTH BIRTHDAY

26. Has any man with whom you do not have and have not had a sexual relationship ever Place a cross in one box for In the last twelve months and one for Earlier, i.e. two boxes completed for each response In the last twelve months Yes No - forced you into any form of sexual activity by threatening you, holding you or hurting you in any way? - tried to force you into any form of sexual activity by threatening you, holding you or hurting you in any way? - forced you or tried to force you into any form of sexual activity when you were unable to defend yourself, e.g. because you were asleep or under the inuence of drugs? - touched you in a sexual way against your will, e.g. by grabbing, holding, kissing or hugging you? - subjected you to physical violence (physical violence means e.g. being struck on the face or body, being pushed, forced against a wall, kicked, held in order to be struck, bitten, cut with a knife or shot)? - threatened face to face to harm you physically? - threatened by telephone or letter to harm you physically? Earlier Yes No

If you have never experienced any of the situations specified in question 26, please proceed to question 33.

27. How many times have you experienced the situations specied in question 26? In the last twelve months Once 2-10 times 11-50 times More than 50 times Dont know/Dont remember Never Earlier Once 2-10 times 11-50 times More than 50 times Dont know/Dont remember Never

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28. Which of the alternatives specied in question 26 happened most recently? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Dont know /Dont remember

29. When did this happen? Less than a year ago 1-5 years ago 6-10 years ago More than 10 years ago

30. Where were you the last time it happened? At my home At someone elses home In the courtyard or stairway of a block of ats At school or at work At a restaurant or dance hall In a car On public transport, e.g. a bus In some other indoor location In a street, square or other public place In a park or wood In some other outdoor location Dont know/Dont remember

31. Who was/were the man/men who harassed you on the last occasion? Superior at work/supervisor/teacher Work colleague/fellow-student/fellow-pupil Client/customer/patient Doctor/psychologist/clergyman Father or stepfather Brother or stepbrother Son/stepson Grandfather Other relative Friend Acquaintance/neighbour Someone unknown Someone else; state who.

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APPENDIX 1
32. Where were you when it last happened? In Sweden, in my then home district In Sweden, in a place other than my home district Abroad

The following questions (33-39) refer to threats, physical violence etc on the part of boyfriends and other men with whom you have or have had a sexual relationship but have not been married to or lived with.

If you have never had such a relationship, please proceed to question 40.

REMEMBER THAT ALL QUESTIONS REFER TO EVENTS OCCURRING AFTER YOUR FIFTEENTH BIRTHDAY

33. Has a man with whom you have or have had a sexual relationship, but have not been married to or lived with ever Place a cross in one box for In the last twelve months and one for Earlier, i.e. two boxes completed for each response In the last twelve months Earlier - used pornography in a way that you felt was Yes No Yes No unpleasant or offensive

34. Has any man with whom you have or have had a sexual relationship but have not been married to or lived with ever Place a cross in one box for In the last twelve months and one for Earlier, i.e. two boxes completed for each response In the last twelve months Earlier Yes No Yes No - forced you into any form of sexual activity by threatening you, holding you or hurting you in any way? - tried to force you into any form of sexual activity by threatening you, holding you or hurting you in any way? - forced you or tried to force you into any form of sexual activity when you were unable to defend yourself, e.g. because you were asleep or under the inuence of drugs? - touched you in a sexual way against your will, e.g. by grabbing, holding, kissing or hugging you? - subjected you to physical violence? - threatened face to face to harm you physically? - threatened by telephone or letter to harm you physically?

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APPENDIX 1
If you have never experienced any of the situations specied in question 34, please proceed to the instructions at question 40.

35. How many times have you experienced the situations specied in question 34? In the last twelve months Once 2-10 times 11-50 times More than 50 times Dont know/Dont remember Never Earlier Once 2-10 times 11-50 times More than 50 times Dont know/Dont remember Never

36. Which of the alternatives specied in question 34 happened most recently? Dont know /Dont remember

37. When did it happen? Less than a year ago 1-5 years ago 6-10 years ago More than 10 years ago

38. Where did it happen? At my own home At someone elses home In the courtyard or stairway of a block of ats At school or at work At a restaurant or dance hall In a car On public transport, e.g. a bus In some other indoor location In a street, square or other public place In a park or wood In some other outdoor location Dont know/Dont remember

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39. Where were you when it happened? In Sweden, in my then home district In Sweden, at a location other than my home district Abroad

The following questions (40-79) refer to marriage or cohabitation with a man.

40. What is your present civil status? Unmarried and not cohabiting with a man Married, living with my husband Cohabiting with a man Married but living apart from my husband Divorced/separated from a former male partner Non-cohabitant partner Widow

41. How many men have you been married to or cohabited with? Include your present husband/cohabitant partner

men

The questions which follow refer to your present marriage or cohabitant relationship. If you are not currently married or cohabiting but used to be, please proceed to question 62. If you have never been married to or cohabiting with a man, please proceed to the instructions at question 80. 42. How long has your present marriage/cohabitant relationship lasted? Please state number of years and months If more than two years, please state number of years only

years

and

months

43. In what year was your present husband/cohabitant partner born?

19

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44. How would you describe the relationship between you and your present husband/ cohabitant partner? Very good Good Satisfactory Not so good Bad Very bad

45. What is your present husbands/cohabitant partners present employment status? Full-time employee (35 hours a week or more) Part-time employee (less than 35 hours a week) Self-employed farmer Other self-employed On parental leave Unemployed Retired On long-term sick leave (more than 3 months) Student Looking after the home Other; please specify

46. What is your present husbands/cohabitant partners occupation?

47. What is the highest stage of education that your present husband/ cohabitant partner has completed?

He has not completed compulsory schooling Compulsory schooling (elementary school, comprehensive school, nineyear school) Secondary schooling (junior secondary school, upper secondary school, folk high school) University/College without a degree University/College with a degree Other. Please specify...........................................................................

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48. Where was your present husband/cohabitant partner born? Sweden Another Nordic country Another European country Africa Asia North America Latin America Australia Dont know

49. Where were your present husbands/cohabitant partners parents born? His mother Sweden Another Nordic country Another European country Africa Asia North America Latin America Australia Dont know His father Sweden Another Nordic country Another European country Africa Asia North America Latin America Australia Dont know

50. How often does your present husband/cohabitant partner drink alcohol and/or use drugs? Alcohol (except for low-alcohol and medium-strength beer) Drugs Every day 2-3 times a week 1-2 times a week Once a month or so Every other month Once a year or so Never during the past year Never Dont know Every day 2-3 times a week 1-2 times a week Once a month or so Every other month Once a year or so Never during the past year Never Dont know

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51. Place a cross in the box(es) for any one or more of the following descriptions applying to your present husband/cohabitant partner. Yes He is jealous and wants to know whom you have met and what you have been doing He calls you disparaging names He makes you feel inferior and useless He often provokes a quarrel when you are going to see relatives or friends He forbids you to see relatives or friends He does not let you make decisions about money or buy things you want He forbids you to work outside the home He threatens to harm your children He deliberately damages your belongings or things you like He threatens to harm himself if you leave him No

52. Has your present husband/cohabitant partner ever Place a cross in one box for In the last twelve months and one for Earlier, i.e. two boxes completed for each response In the last twelve months Earlier Yes No Yes No - used pornography in a way that you felt was unpleasant or offensive

53. Has your present husband/cohabitant partner ever Place a cross in one box for In the last twelve months and one for Earlier, i.e. two boxes completed for each response In the last twelve months Earlier Yes No Yes No - forced you into any form of sexual activity by threatening you, holding you or hurting you in any way? - tried to force you into any form of sexual activity by threatening you, holding you or hurting you in any way? - forced you or tried to force you into any form of sexual activity when you were unable to defend yourself, e.g. because you were asleep or under the inuence of drugs? - touched you in a sexual way against your will, e.g. by grabbing, holding, kissing or hugging you?

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54. Has your present husband/cohabitant partner ever been violent towards you in any of the following ways? Place a cross in one box for In the last twelve months and one for Earlier, i.e. two boxes completed for each response In the last twelve months Earlier Yes No Yes No - Thrown something at you which could have injured you - Pushed you, held you or dragged you - Punched you, struck you with a hard object or kicked you - Throttled you or tried to suffocate you - Banged your head against something - Threatened you with or used a knife, rearm or any other weapon - Been violent in any other way; please specify

If you have never experienced any of the situations specied in questions 53 and 54, please proceed to the instructions at question 62.

55. How many times has your present husband/cohabitant partner subjected you to any of the experiences specied in questions 53 and 54? In the last twelve months Once 2-10 times 11-50 times More than 50 times Dont know/Dont remember Never

Earlier Once 2-10 times 11-50 times More than 50 times Dont know/Dont remember Never

56. When was the rst time your present husband/cohabitant partner subjected you to some form of violence (threats, physical violence or sexual abuse)?

Less than a year ago More than a year ago 2 years ago 3-4 years ago 5-6 years ago 7-10 years ago More than 10 years ago Dont know/Dont remember

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57. When was the last time your husband/cohabitant partner did this? During the last month 2-3 months ago 4-6 months ago 7-11 months ago One year ago 2 years ago 3-4 years ago 5-10 years ago More than 10 years ago Dont know/Dont remember

58. Were you threatened or subjected to physical violence or sexual abuse by your present husband/cohabitant partner before you got married or moved in together? Yes No Dont know/Dont remember

59. If you have been pregnant by your present husband/cohabitant partner, did he subject you to any form of threats while you were pregnant? Yes, but the threats began before the pregnancy Yes, the threats began during the pregnancy No, but the threats began before the child was one year old No Dont know/Dont remember I have never been pregnant by my present husband/cohabitant partner

60. If you have been pregnant by your present husband/cohabitant partner, did he subject you to any form of physical violence or sexual abuse while you were pregnant? Yes, but the violence began before the pregnancy Yes, the violence began during the pregnancy No, but the violence began before the child was one year old No Dont know/Dont remember I have never been pregnant by my present husband/cohabitant partner

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61. If you have children, (whether by your present husband/cohabitant partner or not), have any of them ...
Yes No Dont know /Dont remember

- seen or heard your husband/cohabitant partner behave violently towards you? - been subjected to violence by your husband/cohabitant partner? - been subjected to any form of sexual abuse by your husband/cohabitant partner?

If your present relationship is the rst time you have been married or cohabiting, please proceed to the instructions at question 80.

Questions 62-79 refer to former husbands/cohabitant partners.

62. Place a cross in the box(es) for any one or more of the following descriptions applying to a former husband/cohabitant partner of yours Yes - He was jealous and wanted to know whom you had met and what you had been doing - He called you disparaging names - He made you feel inferior and useless - He often provoked a quarrel when you were going to see relatives or friends - He forbade you to see your relatives or friends - He did not let you make decisions about money or buy things you wanted - He forbade you to work outside the home - He threatened to harm your children - He deliberately damaged your belongings or things you liked - He threatened to harm himself if you left him No

63. Has a former husband/cohabitant partner ever Place a cross in one box for In the last twelve months and one for Earlier, i.e. two boxes completed for each response In the last twelve months Earlier Yes No Yes No - used pornography in a way which you felt to be unpleasant or offensive?

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APPENDIX 1
64. Has a former husband/cohabitant partner ever Place a cross in one box for In the last twelve months and one for Earlier, i.e. two boxes completed for each response In the last twelve months Earlier Yes No Yes No - forced you into any form of sexual activity by threatening you, holding you or hurting you in any way? - tried to force you into any form of sexual activity by threatening you, holding you or hurting you in any way? - forced you or tried to force you into any form of sexual activity when you were unable to defend yourself, e.g. because you were asleep or under the inuence of drugs? - touched you in a sexual way against your will, e.g. by grabbing, holding, kissing or hugging you?

65. Has a former husband/cohabitant partner ever behaved violently towards you in any of the following ways? Place a cross in one box for In the last twelve months and one for Earlier, i.e. two boxes completed for each response In the last twelve months Earlier Yes No Yes No - Threatened to injure you physically - Thrown something object at you which could have injured you - Pushed you, held you or dragged you - Punched you, struck you with a hard object or kicked you - Throttled you or tried to suffocate you - Banged your head against something - Threatened you with or used a knife, rearm or other weapon - Behaved violently in some other way; please specify...........................................................

If you have never been subjected by a former husband/cohabitant partner to the kind of physical/sexual violence or threats described in questions 64 and 65, please proceed to the instructions at question 80.

The following questions concern your most recent past relationship (marriage or cohabitation) in which you were subjected to threats, violence or sexual abuse. Thus, do not include your present relationship, even if in this relationship you are being subjected to violence and threats.

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APPENDIX 1
66. How many times have you been subjected by your former husband/cohabitant partner to the abuses specied in questions 64 and 65? In the last twelve months Once 2-10 times 11-50 times More than 50 times Dont know/Dont remember Never Earlier Once 2-10 times 11-50 times More than 50 times Dont know/Dont remember Never

67. Did your former husband/cohabitant partner subject you to any form of threats, physical violence or sexual abuse before you got married or moved in together? Yes No Dont know/Dont remember

68. If you have been pregnant by your former husband/cohabitant partner, did he subject you to any form of threats during your pregnancy? Yes, but the threats began before the pregnancy Yes, the threats began during the pregnancy No, but the threats began before the child was one year old No Dont know/Dont remember I have never been pregnant by my former husband/cohabitant partner

69. If you have been pregnant by your former husband/cohabitant partner, did he subject you to any form of physical violence or sexual abuse during the pregnancy? Yes, but the violence began before the pregnancy Yes, the violence began during the pregnancy No, but the violence began before the child was one year old No Dont know/Dont remember I have never been pregnant by my former husband/cohabitant partner

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APPENDIX 1
70. Since you and your former husband/cohabitant partner divorced or separated, has he Yes - threatened you face to face or over the telephone? - come to your home against your will? - waited for, waylaid or followed you? - subjected you to physical or sexual violence? No Dont know/ Dont remember

71. Has your former husband/cohabitant partner ever subjected you to threats, violence or harassment of the kinds specied in question 70 in connection with access to or contact with your children by that husband/cohabitant partner, or on occasions when you/he have been collecting or handing over the children? I have no children by my former husband/cohabitant partner Please proceed to question 73 No Yes. Please place a cross in the appropriate box/boxes to specify which of the alternatives in question 70 you have experienced 1 Dont know/Dont remember 2 3 4

72. If you have children, have any of your children Yes seen or heard your former husband/cohabitant partner behave violently towards you? been subjected to violence by your former husband/cohabitant partner? been subjected to any form of sexual abuse by your former husband/cohabitant partner?

No

Dont know/ Dont remember

73. What is the highest stage of education that your former husband/cohabitant partner has completed? He has not completed compulsory schooling Compulsory schooling (elementary school, comprehensive school, nine-year school) Secondary schooling (junior secondary school, upper secondary school, folk highschool) University/College without a degree University/College with a degree Other. Please specify.....................................................................................................

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74. What was your former husbands/cohabitant partners occupation while you were married/cohabiting?

75. Where was your former husband/cohabitant partner born? Sweden Another Nordic country Another European country Africa Asia North America Latin America Australia Dont know

76. Where were your former husbands/cohabitant partners parents born? His mother Sweden Another Nordic country Another European country Africa Asia North America Latin America Australia Dont know His father Sweden Another Nordic country Another European country Africa Asia North America Latin America Australia Dont know

77. During the last month you were living together, how often did your former husband/cohabitant partner drink alcohol and/or use drugs? Alcohol (except low-alcohol and medium-strength beer) Every day 2-3 times a week 1-2 times a week Every fortnight Once Never Dont know/Dont remember Drugs Every day 2-3 times a week 1-2 times a week Every fortnight Once Never Dont know/Dont remember

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APPENDIX 1
78. When did you separate for good? 19

79. How long had your relationship lasted? Please state number of years and months If it lasted more than two years, please state number of years only

years and

months

THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS REFER TO EVERY INCIDENT OF VIOLENCE AND/OR THREATS TO WHICH YOU HAVE BEEN SUBJECTED BY ANY MAN AFTER YOUR FIFTEENTH BIRTHDAY. If you have no experiences of a man subjecting you to threats, violence or sexual abuse, please proceed to the instructions at question 102.

80. Have you ever been physically injured as a result of physical violence or sexual abuse? One or more alternatives may be selected No physical injuries Please proceed to question 86 Bruises, grazes Wounds Pulled muscle, rupture or dislocation of joint(s) Fracture Broken tooth Miscarriage Internal injuries Concussion Bodily ache/pain Other injury; please specify.........................................................................

81. Did you consult a doctor about your injuries? No, since they were only minor Please proceed to question 86 No, but I should have Please proceed to question 86 Yes, I saw a doctor or nurse but was not admitted to hospital Yes, I was admitted to hospital

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82. Did you tell the person treating you that the cause of your injuries was violence by a man? Yes No 83. Were you satised with the treatment you received? Very satised Fairly satised Not so satised Dissatised 84. Did you experience any of the following problems in your contacts with the medical service? Yes - The staff made light of your case or seemed uninterested - You received little information as to other possibilities of obtaining support and help - The staff broke their professional secrecy obligation - Any other problem, please specify.......................................................................... 85. Has an afdavit regarding your injuries ever been issued during your contacts with the medical service? Yes No Dont know/Dont remember 86. How have your experiences affected you? Do you think that they have resulted in any of the following? Yes - Fear - Feelings of shame - Feelings of guilt - Anger or hatred - Depression - Tiredness and listlessness - Poor self-esteem - Sleeplessness or nightmares - Difculties in concentrating - Difculties in relationships with men - Difculties during gynaecological examinations - Difculties at work or with studies - Other problems; please specify....................................................... No No

.................................................................................
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APPENDIX 1
To be able to estimate the prevalence of violence against women, it is important to nd out whether women report violent incidents to the police. The questions which follow refer to your most recent experience of violence and whether you reported it to the police.

87. What was the most recent type of violence/abuse to which you were subjected? A man exposed himself indecently to me An unknown man touched me in a sexual way against my will Attempted rape by an unknown man Rape by an unknown man Attempted rape by a man with whom I have or have had a sexual relationship Rape by a man with whom I have or have had a sexual relationship Some other type of sexual abuse by a man with whom I have or have had a sexual relationship Attempted rape by another man whom I know Rape by another man whom I know Some other type of sexual abuse by another man whom I know Physical violence by an unknown man Physical violence by a man with whom I have or have had a sexual relationship Physical violence by another man whom I know Threats by an unknown man Threats by a man with whom I have or have had a sexual relationship Threats by another man whom I know Other; please specify

88a. Where were you when this happened? At my own home At someone elses home In the courtyard or stairway of a block of ats At school or at work At a restaurant or dance hall In a car On public transport, e.g. a bus In some other indoor location In a street, a square or other public place In a park or wood In some other outdoor location Dont know/Dont remember

117

APPENDIX 1
88b. In which country did it happen? In Sweden Abroad

89. When did it happen? Less than a year ago 1-5 years ago 6-10 years ago More than ten years ago

90. Did you report the incident to the police? Yes Please proceed to question 92 No, but the police found out about the incident in some other way No

91. If you did not report the incident to the police, what was the main reason for not doing so? Select one alternative only I did not think the police would believe me I did not think the police would be able to do anything I thought the incident was too trivial I was ashamed or had feelings of guilt I was afraid the perpetrator might take revenge I did not want the police to get involved I did not want the perpetrator to go to prison Other reason, please specify Dont know/Dont remember

If you have never been in contact with the Swedish police as a result of having been subjected to violence, threats or sexual abuse, please proceed to the instructions at question 95 The following questions refer to your experience of contact with the Swedish police.

92. When was the last time you were in contact with the police as a result of having been subjected to violence, threats or sexual abuse? Less than a year ago 1-5 years ago 6-10 years ago More than ten years ago

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APPENDIX 1
93. How satised were you with the way the police handled your case? Very satised Satised Not so satised Dissatised

94. Did you experience any of the following problems in your contacts with the police? Yes - The police did not make sufcient effort to solve the crime - The police made light of your case or seemed uninterested - You received little information as to other possibilities of obtaining support and help - The police blamed you for what had happened - Any other problem, please specify............................................................................ No

Questions 95-101 refer to your most recent marriage/cohabitant relationship in which threats, physical violence or sexual abuse occurred. (This includes your present marriage/cohabitant relationship, if applicable.) If you have never been subjected to threats, violence or sexual abuse by a husband/cohabitant partner, please proceed to question 102.

95. Have you ever sought assistance from any of the following services? If so, were you satised with the help you received? Yes and satised Yes but dissatised with the help received with the help received

No Womens refuge Victim support Social emergency service Social welfare secretary Lawyer Family counselling Psychiatrist Other medical service

Other service, please specify...................................................................

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APPENDIX 1
96. If you have never sought assistance from any of the services mentioned in question 95, what was your main reason for not doing so? Select one alternative only I did not know where to apply for help There were no such services available The waiting lists were too long I thought the incident was too trivial I felt ashamed I was afraid I would be treated as if it were my own fault No one would have believed me My husband/cohabitant partner prevented me I was afraid of losing the children I did not want to end the relationship I did not want or did not need help Other reason; please specify Dont know/Dont remember

97. Have you ever left your husband/cohabitant partner or been separated from him because of his threats, physical violence or sexual abuse? No Please proceed to question 102 Yes, I moved out Yes, he moved out Please proceed to question 99

98. If you moved out, where did you stay? One or more alternatives may be selected With friends/relatives In a new home At a womens refuge At a social services hostel At a hotel or the like Other place; please specify

99. Did you resume cohabitation? Yes No Please proceed to question 101

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100. If you resumed cohabitation, what was the main reason? Select one alternative only My husband/cohabitant partner promised to change Financial reasons I had nowhere to go For the sake of the children I was ashamed to divorce/separate I wanted to give it another try I still loved him Other reason, please specify........................................................

101. If you did not resume cohabitation, what was the main reason? Select one alternative only My husbands/cohabitant partners violence towards me or the children I wanted to lead my own life My husband/partner wanted a divorce/separation I found a new partner I wanted the children to have a better life My husband/cohabitant partner died I did not love him anymore Other reason; please specify..........................................................

The following questions apply to EVERYONE

102. Was your father/stepfather ever violent towards your mother/stepmother? Yes No I had no father/stepfather I had no mother/stepmother Dont know/Dont remember

103. Was your present husbands/cohabitant partners father/stepfather ever violent towards his partner or any other member of the family? Yes No My husband/cohabitant partner had no father/stepfather I have no husband/cohabitant partner Dont know/Dont remember

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104. Did anyone subject you to physical violence before you turned fteen years of age? Yes - Father/stepfather - Mother/stepmother - Brother - Sister - Other family member, please specify..................... - Friend or acquaintance - Someone unknown No Dont know /Dont remember

105. Before you turned fteen, did any man ever Yes - Act in a way which you felt to be sexually threatening? - Force you into any form of sexual activity? - Try to force you into any form of sexual activity? No Dont know /Dont remember

106. After you turned fteen, did any man ever get you to take part in some form of sexual activity although you did not really want to? Yes No Please proceed to question 109 Dont know/Dont remember

107. Who was it who got you to do this? Select all those applicable Boyfriend Husband/cohabitant partner Chance acquaintance Other, please specify.....................................................................

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108. How many times has this happened? In the last twelve months Once 2-10 times 11-50 times More than 50 times Dont know/Dont remember It has never happened Earlier Once 2-10 times 11-50 times More than 50 times Dont know/Dont remember It has never happened

109. Have any of your children been subjected to violence by a partner of yours? Yes, by a former husband/cohabitant partner Yes, by my present husband/cohabitant partner Yes, by a boyfriend/chance acquaintance No Dont know/Dont remember I do not have any children

110. Have any of your children been subjected to sexual abuse by a partner of yours? Yes, by a former husband/cohabitant partner Yes, by my present husband/cohabitant partner Yes, by a boyfriend/chance acquaintance No Dont know/Dont remember I do not have any children

111. If you have been subjected to rape, attempted rape or sexual abuse, were there ever two or more perpetrators? Yes No Dont know/Dont remember I have not been subjected to rape, attempted rape or sexual abuse

112. Have you ever Yes - attempted suicide? - contemplated suicide? No

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APPENDIX 1
113. Have you ever Yes - taken part in sexual activity for money? - posed for pornography for money, for example by being photographed or videotaped? - worked at a so-called porno club? No

We would also like to ask you if you would consider taking part in a follow-up to this questionnaire. This is irrespective of whether or not you have experienced violence or other abuse. Your anonymity is of course still guaranteed, but the research team making this study may contact you. You may at any point change your mind and terminate your participation.

114. Would you consider taking part in a follow-up to this questionnaire? Yes, I would consider taking part No, it is too painful No, I do not have time No, I am not interested No; other reason; please specify................................................... No

115. Finally we would like to ask you what advice you would give to a woman who is being subjected to violence

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APPENDIX 1

Thank you for taking part. We of the research team greatly appreciate your having taken the time and trouble to assist in this survey. If you have any questions, if the questions in the survey bring something to mind which you would like to discuss, or if you wish to contact us for any other reason, please telephone 0200-22 00 33. Your call will be free of charge. The enclosed folder gives information on a number of organisations and authorities which provide support to vulnerable women. Feel free to keep the folder when you return the completed questionnaire.

Once again, thank you for your help.

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APPENDIX 2

Preliminaries to the study

Pilot studies Three pilot studies were made of the questionnaire. One of the pilot groups consisted of women of multicultural background. The aim was to test the relevance of the questions and the language and readability of the questionnaire. The second pilot group comprised women of different ages and diverse professional and geographic/demographic background. With this group the aim was to test the relevance of the questions, the length of the questionnaire and the degree of difculty of the instructions. Finally, a pilot test was made on a group possessing professional qualifications in violence and/or gender theory. The aim was to obtain their opinions on the sequencing and positioning of the questions, the wording of the instructions, the length and level of difculty of the questionnaire, and whether any of the questions could be considered to violate personal integrity. Reference group A reference group was involved in the project. It met twice, in October 1998 and May 1999. Its members were Eckart Klhorn, of the National Council for Crime Prevention (Brottsfrebyggande Rdet, BR ), Britta Bjelle, DirectorGeneral of the Crime Victim Compensation and Support Authority (Brottsoffermyndigheten), Associate Professor Bo Lewin of Uppsala University, Professor Maud Eduards of Stockholm University, Professor Gunnel Gustafsson of Ume
University and Professor Sven-Olof Isacsson of Lund University. The grounds for appointment of the reference groups members were their expertise in the use of statistical methods and/or their familiarity with the research field of violence against women. At the groups rst meeting the preliminary draft of the questionnaire was discussed in general terms. At the second meeting the questionnaire was presented in a nished version which had been tested on two of the pilot groups. The purpose of this meeting was for the research team to obtain the reference groups views on the questionnaire. The members representing BR were critical of the structure and length of the questionnaire. The essence of their criticism was that the questionnaire did not provide any scope for analysing the number of occurrences of each type of abuse separately, since the question about how many times the respondent had been subjected to violence referred to several different kinds of act; see questions 27, 35, 55 and 66. BR also criticised the length of the questionnaire. It was felt that this would have a drastic effect on the percentage of responses. For the rest, the reference groups overall opinion of the questionnaire was favourable. The opinions expressed by the reference group resulted in valuable linguistic alterations and changes to the response options.

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APPENDIX 2

The Finnish prevalence study The research team paid a visit to Statistics Finland (Statistikcentralen) in Helsinki and also to Minna Piispa and Markku Heiskanen, who had worked together on the Finnish study entitled Faith, Hope and Battering. The discussions focused mainly on practical issues with regard to the design of the questionnaire and the Finnish teams experience of the compilation procedure. Parts of our questionnaire are based on the Finnish one, and the contacts we have had with the Finnish research team during the course of our work have been most valuable, particularly because their experiences enabled us to improve our questionnaire at a number of crucial points. One example of a specic change was the decision to reduce the age-range of the respondent group from women aged 18-80 to women aged 18-64, which was taken because in the Finnish study the dropout of women aged 65-plus was very large.1 Another example was the addition of a question asking respondents whether they would consider taking part in a follow-up to the study. The discussions at the meeting also conrmed the importance of making the questionnaire relatively easy to understand. Contact with respondents Information about the study was provided on the cover of the questionnaire, along with a freephone 0200 number which respondents could call with questions about the questionnaire. Collection of the data was undertaken in cooperation with Statistics Sweden (Statistiska Centralbyrn, SCB ). The continuation sheet gave a telephone
128

number to SCB which respondents could call with questions about the way the survey was being conducted. A total of 120 telephone calls were received via the 0200 number between 1 October 1999 and 15 January 2000. Of these, 59 were to the effect that the women concerned did not wish to respond to the questionnaire. Eleven of the calls were made by men on behalf of the women concerned. The remaining callers enquired about anonymity and the way in which the target population was sampled. In some instances the purpose of the call was to state that the person to whom the questionnaire was addressed was living abroad temporarily, and in a few others it was to advise that the woman in question had a severe mental disability making it impossible for her to participate. There were other cases involving women whose impaired vision made it impossible for them to read the questionnaire. Only three calls concerned interpretation of the questions. Those calling to state their unwillingness to take part in the study gave varying reasons: one woman felt that the questionnaire did not reflect her experiences since only one question was about sexual abuse in childhood; 16 women thought the questions were private and concerned matters which ought not to be enquired into; 21 women stated lack of time to be the reason. Five of the male callers stated that the woman did not speak Swedish and therefore could not answer, four men called to say that the woman did not wish to participate, and two men said that the woman did not have those problems and therefore did not intend to respond.

APPENDIX 2

Practical implementation The Population and Welfare Unit (Consumption, Opinion and Civic Inuence Programme) of Statistics Sweden (Statistiska Centralbyrn, SCB ) conducted the sampling procedure for the questionnaire (10 000 randomly selected women aged 18-64 living in Sweden) and also distributed, reminded, collected and scanned the responses. SCB assisted in designing the questionnaire form (SCB being responsible for the layout), sampling the target population, collecting the data, recording the responses and compiling a le of the results. The target population of this study was persons aged 18-64 resident in Sweden. At the time of sampling there were 2 642 563 women of the relevant age group. SCBs register of total population (RTB) was used as the sampling frame. Ten thousand persons born during the period 1935-1980 were selected with the same selection probability. Not only the variables elicited via the questionnaire but also the year of birth, marital status, county and municipality codes from SCBs population register were entered into the register of responses.

Distribution of questionnaires to the persons selected began on 15 October, and a thank-you and reminder card was sent on 27 October. A rst reminder and new questionnaire were despatched on 10 November followed by a second reminder and new questionnaire on 1 December. The cutoff date for collection of the data was 27 January 2000. By that time 6 926 responses had been received (117 women had died or emigrated, making an effective sample of 9 883 women). The total dropout was thus 2 957, corresponding to a response rate of 70.1 per cent.
4500 4000 3500 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0
991021- 991101- 991116- 991201991029 991115 991130 991229 828 344 1794 3834

Fig. Number of responses to the questionnaire received during October, November and December 1999. (Frequency)

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APPENDIX 3

Ethical scrutiny
In matters of violence towards women, methodological and ethical questions cannot be separated. Accordingly it was important that women participating in the study should be given full and correct information on such matters as the manner in which their responses to questions would be handled and the fact that taking part in the survey was voluntary. One vital ethical problem when postal questionnaires are sent to womens homes is that the questionnaire will be received by some women who are still cohabiting with abusing men. We considered that the questionnaire might be neutralised by giving it certain external attributes, such as despatching the questionnaire in SCBs envelopes, using the University logo on the questionnaire and discussing the safety of women on the rst page of the questionnaire while abstaining from the word violence. Another ethical problem concerns the difficult and painful memories which the questionnaire may reawaken among women. In spite of the complete information given to the respondent, it may be difcult for a woman to foresee the emotional reactions to which participation in the study can give rise. In other words, it is an ethical problem in itself that the actual lling in of the questionnaire may be a very painful process. We considered that this problem might be mitigated by enclosing with the questionnaire a list of telephone numbers to all womens refuges in Sweden and sundry other organisations offering advice and/or support to people in crisis. We also gave a 0200 number which women could call if they wished to enquire about or comment on the questionnaire. Two women called to talk over memories which had been aroused by the questionnaire. Despite violence to women being a difcult subject, this does not mean that a woman questioned about her experiences necessarily nds herself negatively affected. Filling in the questionnaire may also function as an opportunity for the respondent to put a name to her experiences and systematise them. The results of the pilot studies confirmed that these reactions occurred. The study was scrutinised from the ethical standpoint by the ethical committee of the Swedish Council for Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences (Humanistisk- Samh llsvetenskapliga Forskningsrdets etikkommitt). The whole of the material was placed at the disposal of the committee: description of the organisation of the study, background material, complete questionnaire, letter of introduction and the Finnish questionnaire. After requesting certain supplementary background information, the ethical committee approved the study in May 1999.

130

APPENDIX 4

Method
Data collection One important aim of the study was to describe Swedish womens experiences of male violence. We therefore decided to base the survey on a very large sample (N=10 000), enabling us to obtain a sufciency of data on female subgroups in Swedish society as well. This was also one of the reasons for selecting a postal questionnaire as the method for collecting the data. A survey study of violence to women was carried out in Finland in 1997. 2 We studied the design of the Finnish questionnaire and adapted that of the Swedish one so as to facilitate comparisons between the two countries. The questionnaire consists of 115 questions grouped in sections according to the type of relationship existing or formerly existing between the woman and man concerned. Collection of the data was carried out in cooperation with Statistics Sweden (Statistiska Centralbyrn, SCB ). The responses received were codified and recorded by SCB by means of a scanner. It was not possible to process open-ended responses in the present report. When scanning the data, mechanical checks of the variables were made and errors corrected. By the time collection of the data was complete, 6 926 replies had been received, signifying a response rate of 70.1 per cent. Bearing in mind the length of the questionnaire form and the sensitive nature of the questions, the
response frequency must be considered high. The identity number had been torn off the incoming replies in 56 instances. Although these respondents could not be identified in the sample file, they are included in the nal response le. The reasons for dropout are specied in Table 1.
Number %

Sampel 10 000 100,0 Excess coverage (dead, emigrated) 117 1,0 Effective sample 9 883 100,0 Responses recieved 6 926 70,1 Dropout 2 957 29,9 Reason for dropout: No response/Returned to sender 2 677 27,1 Refusal 218 2,2 Impediment/illness 34 0,3 Language difculties 16 0,2 Secret/protected address 12 0,1

Table 1. Sample and reasons for dropout

External and internal dropout Because SCB supplied background information (age, marital status, county, citizenship and country of birth) for both respondents and non-respondents, it was possible to make a dropout analysis comparing the two groups. Two X 2 tests were carried out to discover whether and how dropout had inuenced the effective sample. The rst one is the goodness-of-t test to estimate how representative the respondents are of the sample as a whole (see the left-hand column of Table 3). The signicance level was set at .001 and the test shows that the only signicant
131

APPENDIX 4

differences to be found between the respondents and the original sample are in respect of the citizenship and country of birth variables. A second test, the X2 test of independence, was carried out in order to assess whether the various categories of background variables show independence in their propensity to respond (right-hand column of Table 2). Here too the signicance level was set at .001, and again, the test shows that the only signicant differences of response rate to be found between the categories of variables relate to the citizenship and country of birth variables. As may be seen from Table 2, women born in Sweden had the highest response rate, followed in diminishing order by women born in the Nordic countries, Europe and other countries. Regarding the internal dropout, that is, non-response to individual questions in the questionnaire, we decided to include this in the percentage figures for all questions. 3 Part of the reason for this is that we feel that information would be lost if these answers were excluded from the reporting. Because this is the rst comprehensive study of mens violence to women in Sweden and the aim is to produce a description of the situation that is as correct as possible, we feel that even a refusal to answer is productive of information, for example concerning the delicacy of certain questions. Moreover, we have no good reason to believe that had the non-respondents in fact responded, their answers would have corresponded with the distribution of the respondents answers. Thus we consider that to exclude the non-responses would be a dubious proceeding.

Weighting The nal sample was weighted in order to correct the bias in response rates found in the citizenship and country of birth variables. However, the weighting had to be based on the country of birth variable, since this was the only variable included in the questionnaire itself. The weighting coefcients were calculated on the basis of the distribution in the total sample, with the result that women born in Sweden were weighted down while women born in the Nordic countries, Europe and other countries were weighted up. Table 2 (p.133) shows the result of the goodness-of-fit test for the other background variables after weighting based on the country of birth variable. As the table shows, there are no signicant differences between the original sample and the effective sample. Quality control Since the questionnaire consists of a number of different sections specifying different types of relationship between women and men, the respondent replies to the questions in each section only if special conditions applying to that section are met. For example, questions 42-61 apply only to women who were in a matrimonial or cohabitant relationship at the time of data collection. In order to ascertain how well the respondents had understood the instructions relating to these questions and sections, a quality-control check was made consisting of linking and matching such conditional variables (e.g. marital status) with questions from the various sections. This check showed that in almost

132

APPENDIX 4

all sections with specied conditions, there was a small number of women who responded despite their not satisfying the conditions. To correct these errors, all questions in the various sections were recoded so that women who had responded without satisfying the conditions were coded as inappropriate response, and these, along with other women who did not satisfy the conditions, were then dened as dropout in the various sections. We can only speculate as to the reason for these errors in the response le. They may possibly have been caused by linguistic difculties on the part of the respondents or insufcient clarity or visibility in the instructions.

Table 2 Goodness-of-fit after weighting for country of birth

Sample Respondents (N=10 000) (N=6 8701) Age 1 18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 Marital status Married Unmarried Divorced Widowed Region2 Gtaland Svealand Norrland Region+Storstad 3 Stockholm Malm+Skne Gtbg+V. Gtal Gtaland Svealand Norrland

2 = 1.102

df = 4 p = .894 1355 932 2251 1528 2226 1514 2290 1607 1878 1288 df = 3 p = .074 4572 3249 3975 2660 1258 832 195 129

2 = 6,940

2 =0,234

2 = 1,302

df = 2 p = .889 4680 3215 4042 2768 1270 886 df = 5 p = .935 2219 1502 1176 789 1683 1161 1821 1265 1823 1266 1270 886

Association and signicance Since the main aim of the survey is to describe women in Sweden and their experiences of male violence, we have chosen in principle not to present any coefcients of association in the report. A sample of this size (N=6 926) means that even minimal differences in the distributions of the variables are signicant, so that practically all associations between the variables in the data become signicant. Only signicant associations are presented in the report.

1 Because of rounding errors, the variables sometimes do not add up to exactly 6 870. 2 In eight cases, county was not specied, so that N= 9 992 for this variable. A broad breakdown by counties has been made here to facilitate comparisons. 3 The counties with metropolises have been segregated here from the broad breakdown by counties.

133

APPENDIX 4
Table 3. Dropout analysis of background variables

Sample (N=10 000) Age 1 18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 Age 2 18-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60-64 Marital status Married Unmarried Divorced Widowed Region 2 Gtaland Svealand Norrland Region + Storstad3 Stockholm Malm+Skne Gtbg+V. Gtal Gtaland Svealand Norrland Medborgarskap Swedish Nordic European Other Country of birth Sweden Nordic country Europe Other

Respondents (N=6 8701 )

Response No response % %

2 = 1.601
1355 2251 2226 2290 1878

df = 4 p = .809 929 1526 1503 1606 1306 df = 4 p = .732 1690 1514 1503 1588 575 df = 3 p = .167 3224 2697 820 129 df = 2 p = .395 3219 2743 908 df = 5 p = .383

2 = 5.116
68.6 67.8 67.5 70.1 69.5

df = 4 p = .276 31.4 32.2 32.5 29.9 30.5 df = 4 p = .168 31.5 33.0 31.3 29.6 30.6 df = 3 p = .001 29.5 32.2 34.8 33.8 df = 2 p = .051 31.2 32.1 28.5 df = 5 p = .005

2 = 2,018
2468 2260 2189 2255 828

2 = 6.448
68.5 67.0 68.7 70.4 69.4

2 = 5,063
4572 3975 1258 195

2 = 16.177
70.5 67.8 65.2 66.2

2 =1.857 2 = 5,278
4680 4042 1270

2 =5.942 2 = 16.892
68.8 67.9 71.5

2219 1467 1176 785 1683 1156 1821 1278 1823 1276 1270 908 2 = 42,682 df = 3 p = .000 9332 225 207 236 6533 134 112 91 df = 3 p = .000 6131 260 233 246

66.1 33.9 66.8 33.2 68.7 31.3 70.2 29.8 70.0 30.0 71.5 28.5 2 = 136.364 df = 3 p = .000 70.0 59.6 54.1 38.6 30.0 40.4 45.9 61.4 df = 3 p = .000 28.6 39.4 46.4 54.8

2 = 71.082
8592 429 435 544

2 = 227.098
71.4 60.6 53.6 45.2

1 Since 56 of the respondents could not be linked to the sample les, the number of respondents is slightly underrepresented in the dropout analysis (N=6 870 instead of 6 926). 2 In eight cases, county was not specied, so that N=9 992 for this variable. A broad breakdown by counties has been made here to facilitate comparisons. 3 The counties with metropolises have been segregated here from the broad breakdown by counties.

134

Tables

APPENDIX 5
Table 1. Women subjected to violence at least once since fteenth birthday, by womens background variables as applicable. Calculated for all women (N= 6 926). Total subjected to violence Age 18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 No response No compulsory schooling Compulsory schooling Secondary schooling University, no degree University, with degree No response Wage- or salary-earner Self-employed Parental leave Unemployed Retired Sick-leave/disability pension Student Looking after home Other No response < 5000 5001-10000 10001-15000 15001-20000 > 20000 No response Sweden Other Nordic country Europe Africa Asia North America Latin America No response Unmarried Married Cohabiting Divorced Widowed No response Lone with children < 7 years Lone with children > 7 years Lone without children Married with children < 7 years Married with children > 7 years Married without children Cohab. with children < 7 years Cohab. with children > 7 years Cohab. without children Yes 51.5 48.2 51.5 44.0 36.0 66.7 43.3 39.9 46.3 53.3 49.1 30.0 43.8 51.3 45.7 53.9 34.6 49.5 54.3 36.3 46.5 50.4 48.2 45.5 45.0 48.2 49.6 45.0 46.0 52.6 41.9 69.2 41.1 63.6 47.8 45.6 43.9 42.5 49.8 67.1 41.1 44.2 42.6 49.7 46.7 46.4 46.6 41.7 48.4 51.3 53.1 No/ No response 48.5 51.8 48.5 56.0 64.0 33.3 56.7 60.1 53.7 46.7 50.9 70.0 56.2 48.7 54.3 46.1 65.4 50.5 45.7 63.7 53.5 49.6 51.8 54.5 55.0 51.8 50.4 55.0 54.0 47.4 58.1 30.8 58.9 36.4 52.2 54.4 56.1 57.5 50.2 32.9 58.9 55.8 57.4 50.3 53.3 53.6 53.4 58.3 51.6 48.7 46.9 Number 934 1536 1530 1620 1304 3 65 1354 3197 506 1757 47 4005 195 267 378 328 218 819 67 152 496 730 2984 1941 673 316 283 5902 295 299 42 238 18 75 57 1374 3245 1581 459 117 150 253 415 150 690 1053 322 330 497 168 Total% 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Education

Occupation

Income

Country of birth

Marital status

Family situation

136

APPENDIX 5
Table 2. Women subjected to violence by former husband or cohabitant partner at least once, by womens background variables as applicable. Calculated for women who have been married or cohabiting (N=2 755).
Subjected to violence by former husband/cohabitant partner

Yes 32.7 35.7 36.7 36.2 33.5 44.0 35.0 36.2 32.2 34.6 13.1 35.8 30.5 28.1 39.3 31.1 37.5 36.7 50.3 34.7 29.7 33.0 35.9 35.2 34.7 34.9 35.8 35.5 35.8 29.0 36.4 44.2 33.3 17.6 25.0 42.8 27.6 32.0 49.7 16.0 38.9 41.4 46.6 54.1 34.4 35.9 20.3 26.9 28.3 37.5

No 65.0 62.6 61.8 60.8 64.1 100.0 52.6 62.4 61.6 66.7 63.4 86.9 62.1 64.8 68.9 59.4 67.1 62.5 60.7 49.7 63.3 67.6 64.2 62.2 62.6 62.5 62.9 63.4 62.4 60.0 69.2 63.6 55.8 66.7 76.5 75.0 53.5 70.8 66.3 48.0 82.8 59.5 55.6 49.6 44.3 63.9 62.6 78.6 72.5 70.0 59.4

No response Number 2.3 1.7 1.4 2.9 2.4 3.4 2.6 2.2 1.1 2.0 2.0 4.6 3.1 1.3 1.8 2.6 1.9 2.7 2.7 1.9 2.2 2.8 2.1 .8 2.1 4.2 1.9 374 608 613 639 519 2 29 549 1252 197 714 15 1628 83 108 151 115 85 335 21 49 179 291 1155 787 257 141 123 2333 133 130 18 85 5 28 24 558 859 770 425 82 60 98 178 61 184 270 85 153 240 92

Total% 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Age

18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 Ej svar No response Ej oblig skolgng No compulsory schooling Oblig skolgng Compulsory schooling Pbyggnadsutb Secondary schooling Univ utan examen University, no degree Univ med examen University, with degree Ej svar No response Lntagaresalary-earner Wage- or Fretagare Self-employed Frldraledig Parental leave Arbetsls Unemployed Pensionerad Retired Sjukskr/sjukbidr Sick-leave/disability pension Studerande Student Skter hemmet Looking after home Annat Other Ej svar No response < 5000 5001-10000 10001-15000 15001-20000 > 20000 Ej svar No response Sverige Sweden Norden Other Nordic country Europa Europe Afrika Africa Asien Asia Nordamerika North America Latinamerika Latin America Ej svar No response Ogift Unmarried Gift Married Sambo Cohabiting Skild Divorced nka Widowed Ej svar No response Ensamst med barn < 7 years Lone with children u Ensamst med barn > 7 years Lone with children Ensamst utanchildren Lone without barn Gift medwith children < 7 years Married barn u 7 Gift medwith children > 7 years Married barn 7 Gift utan without children Married barn Sambo med children < 7 years Cohab. with barn u 7 Sambo med children > 7 years Cohab. with barn 7 Sambo utan barn Cohab. without children

Utbildning Education

Sysselsttning Occupation

Inkomst Income

Fdelseland Country of birth

5.9 3.7 1.6 1.6 2.3 1.2 1.6 2.9 3.8 1.6 1.7 1.5 1.1 .6 1.7 3.1

Civilstnd Marital status

Familjesituation Family situation

137

APPENDIX 5
Table 3. Women subjected to violence by present husband or cohabitant partner at least once, by womens background variables as applicable. Calculated for women who have been married or cohabiting (N= 4 771).
Subjected to violence by former husband/cohabitant partner

Yes 12.5 8.8 10.4 10.9 10.6 12.9 12.6 10.0 7.7 10.1 16.8 10.7 10.3 12.1 13.1 7.7 8.7 10.2 14.3 12.8 7.9 10.0 11.0 9.6 11.4 10.0 10.1 10.5 11.6 9.2 31.3 7.8 14.3 8.8 9.3

No 83.4 87.7 85.7 84.7 82.4 50.0 81.1 82.5 85.7 88.1 84.9 77.6 84.7 87.5 83.3 80.9 86.0 86.5 85.9 83.6 83.4 87.8 86.8 84.2 86.0 84.6 82.0 85.3 85.0 85.5 85.1 62.5 88.2 85.7 85.3 83.7 86.8 85.5 86.7 82.1 83.1 83.9

No response Number 4.2 3.4 3.9 4.4 7.0 50.0 6.0 4.8 4.3 4.1 4.9 5.6 4.6 2.2 4.6 5.9 6.2 4.8 3.9 2.1 3.8 4.3 3.1 4.8 4.4 4.0 8.0 4.6 4.5 2.9 5.7 6.3 3.9 5.9 7.0 4.4 4.4 3.8 4.7 3.0 6.3 604 1086 1100 1084 895 2 43 917 2189 350 1237 34 2768 131 187 256 215 155 560 45 100 353 484 2055 1368 463 218 183 4065 192 211 26 166 11 55 43 674 1029 315 330 497 168

Total% 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Age lder

18-24 18-24 25-34 25-34 35-44 35-44 45-54 45-54 55-64 55-64 No svar Ej response No oblig skolgng Ej compulsory schooling Compulsory schooling Oblig skolgng Secondary schooling Pbyggnadsutb University, examen Univ utan no degree University, examen Univ med with degree No svar Ej response Wage- or salary-earner Lntagare Self-employed Fretagare Parental leave Frldraledig Unemployed Arbetsls Retired Pensionerad Sick-leave/disability pension Sjukskr/sjukbidr Student Studerande Looking after home Skter hemmet Other Annat No svar Ej response < 5000 < 5000 5001-10000 5001-10000 10001-15000 10001-15000 15001-20000 15001-20000 > 20000 > 20000 No svar Ej response Sweden Sverige Other Nordic country Norden Europe Europa Africa Afrika Asia Asien North America Nordamerika Latin America Latinamerika No svar Ej response

Education Utbildning

Occupation Sysselsttning

Income Inkomst

Country of birth Fdelseland

Family situation Familjesituation

Married with children < 7 years 8.8 Gift med barn u 7 Married with children > 7 years 10.1 Gift med barn 7 Married without children Gift utan barn 9.5 Cohab. with children7< 7 years 13.2 Sambo med barn u Cohab. with children7> 7 years 13.9 Sambo med barn Cohab. without children Sambo utan barn 9.8

138

APPENDIX 5
Table 4. Women subjected to violence by boyfriend, by womens background variables as applicable. Calculated for women who have or have had a boyfriend (N=5 261). Subjected to violence by boyfriend lder Age 18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 Ej svar No response Ej oblig skolgng No compulsory schooling Oblig skolgng Compulsory schooling Pbyggnadsutb Secondary schooling Univ utan examen University, no degree Univ med examen University, with degree Ej svar No response Lntagaresalary-earner Wage- or Fretagare Self-employed Frldraledig Parental leave Arbetsls Unemployed Pensionerad Retired Sjukskr/sjukbidr Sick-leave/disability pension Studerande Student Skter hemmet Looking after home Annat Other Ej svar No response < 5000 5001-10000 10001-15000 15001-20000 > 20000 Ej svar No response Sverige Sweden Norden Other Nordic country Europa Europe Afrika Africa Asien Asia Nordamerika North America Latinamerika Latin America Ej svar No response Ogift Unmarried Gift Married Sambo Cohabiting Skild Divorced nka Widowed Ej svar No response Ensamst med barn < 7 years Lone with children u 7 Ensamst med barn> 7 years Lone with children 7 Ensamst utanchildren Lone without barn Gift medwith children < 7 years Married barn u 7 Gift medwith children > 7 years Married barn 7 Gift utanwithout children Married barn Sambo med children < 7 years Cohab. with barn u 7 Sambo med children > 7 years Cohab. with barn 7 Sambo utan barn Cohab. without children Yes 19.5 18.0 16.5 11.8 7.7 19.2 12.4 15.5 20.2 13.3 15.0 12.3 13.5 16.8 23.8 11.1 22.4 19.5 5.6 17.7 18.5 16.5 16.6 13.0 14.0 10.3 11.7 14.6 15.8 11.9 27.8 11.9 44.4 28.1 13.9 15.8 14.8 14.1 13.6 12.3 18.8 16.7 16.1 17.3 17.0 15.4 15.5 15.8 14.4 9.3 No 77.6 78.8 77.7 79.7 82.6 100.0 59.8 76.0 79.5 75.4 82.4 72.9 81.9 79.1 80.3 68.7 75.1 68.1 77.5 76.1 73.8 75.8 75.3 77.4 81.5 82.3 84.3 75.6 79.9 75.4 80.1 55.6 76.2 55.6 53.1 83.3 78.0 79.1 79.6 82.6 81.9 74.9 78.3 77.9 79.5 78.4 77.2 82.2 81.9 79.9 85.7 No response Number Total % 3.0 3.1 5.8 8.6 9.8 20.9 11.6 5.0 4.3 4.3 12.1 5.8 7.3 3.0 7.5 13.8 9.5 3.0 18.3 8.5 5.8 8.2 6.0 5.5 3.7 5.4 12.7 5.4 8.9 8.0 16.7 11.9 18.7 2.8 6.1 6.2 6.3 3.8 5.9 6.3 5.0 5.9 3.3 4.6 7.4 2.3 2.3 5.8 5.0 751 1256 1213 1187 853 1 38 927 2425 413 1426 32 3058 157 217 280 197 151 677 41 123 361 548 2183 1520 548 268 195 4526 225 214 29 165 15 52 36 1044 2463 1197 358 91 109 206 328 118 557 834 251 256 379 136 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Utbildning Education

Sysselsttning Occupation

Inkomst Income

Fdelseland Country of birth

Civilstnd Marital status

Familjesituation Family situation

139

APPENDIX 5
Table 5. Women subjected to violence by men with whom they have not had a sexual relationship, by womens background variables as applicable. Calculated for all women (N=6 926).
Subjected to violence by former husband/cohabitant partner

Yes 34.4 31.6 34.8 27.7 19.4 66.7 21.9 22.6 29.2 41.3 32.5 16.6 26.8 36.4 28.6 31.9 21.6 35.7 38.3 12.6 32.2 37.1 32.6 28.0 28.6 35.0 33.3 27.1 29.5 36.1 24.8 42.3 22.6 54.5 32.6 31.6 28.2 29.2 29.5 34.1 33.6 31.7 28.7 29.1 32.4 32.7 31.1 28.3 30.1 30.6 31.6

No 62.8 64.5 60.1 66.3 69.8 50.0 66.9 66.4 54.9 63.4 60.2 68.2 59.7 66.0 58.2 65.7 56.3 58.8 73.9 62.2 54.8 61.9 66.0 66.5 61.1 61.3 57.7 65.7 55.3 64.6 34.6 63.7 45.5 52.2 57.9 65.3 65.2 64.8 60.4 60.9 64.1 66.3 66.4 63.0 63.7 64.6 69.0 65.1 64.6 64.2

No response 2.8 3.9 5.1 6.0 10.7 33.3 28.1 10.4 4.4 3.8 4.1 23.2 5.0 3.9 5.4 9.9 12.7 8.0 2.9 13.5 5.6 8.1 5.6 6.1 4.9 3.9 5.5 15.2 4.8 8.6 10.6 23.1 13.7 15.2 10.5 6.6 5.7 5.7 5.5 5.5 4.2 5.0 4.4 4.6 3.6 4.4 2.7 4.8 4.8 4.2

Number 934 1536 1530 1620 1304 3 65 1354 3197 506 1757 47 4005 195 267 378 328 218 819 67 152 496 730 2984 1941 673 316 283 5902 295 299 42 238 18 75 57 1374 3245 1581 459 117 150 253 415 150 690 1053 322 330 497 168

Total% 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Age lder

18-24 18-24 25-34 25-34 35-44 35-44 45-54 45-54 55-64 55-64 No response Ej svar No compulsory schooling Ej oblig skolgng Compulsory schooling Oblig skolgng Secondary schooling Pbyggnadsutb University, noexamen Univ utan degree University, with degree Univ med examen No response Ej svar Wage- or salary-earner Lntagare Self-employed Fretagare Parental leave Frldraledig Unemployed Arbetsls Retired Pensionerad Sick-leave/disability pension Sjukskr/sjukbidr Student Studerande Looking after home Skter hemmet Other Annat No response Ej svar < 5000 < 5000 5001-10000 5001-10000 10001-15000 10001-15000 15001-20000 15001-20000 > 20000 > 20000 No response Ej svar Sweden Sverige Other Nordic country Norden Europe Europa Africa Afrika Asia Asien North America Nordamerika Latin America Latinamerika No response Ej svar Unmarried Ogift Married Gift Cohabiting Sambo Divorced Skild Widowed nka No response Ej svar Lone with children < 7 years Ensamst med barn u 7 Lone with children > 7 years Ensamst med barn 7 Lone withoututan barn Ensamst children Marriedmed barn u 7 < 7 years Gift with children Marriedmed barn 7 > 7 years Gift with children Marriedutan barn Gift without children Cohab. with children < 7 years Sambo med barn u Cohab. with children > 7 years Sambo med barn Cohab. without children Sambo utan barn

Education Utbildning

Occupation Sysselsttning

Income Inkomst

Country of birth Fdelseland

Marital status Civilstnd

Family situation Familjesituation

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APPENDIX 5
Table 6. Women subjected to sexual harassment at least once, by womens background variables as applicable. Calculated for all women (N=6 926). Subjected to sexual harassment Age lder 18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 No response Ej svar No compulsory schooling Ej oblig skolgng Compulsory schooling Oblig skolgng Secondary schooling Pbyggnadsutb University, no degree Univ utan examen University, with degree Univ med examen No response Ej svar Wage- or Lntagaresalary-earner Self-employed Fretagare Parental leave Frldraledig Unemployed Arbetsls Retired Pensionerad Sick-leave/disability pension Sjukskr/sjukbidr Student Studerande Looking after home Skter hemmet Other Annat No response Ej svar < 5000 5001-10000 10001-15000 15001-20000 > 20000 No response Ej svar Sweden Sverige Other Nordic country Norden Europe Europa Africa Afrika Asia Asien North America Nordamerika Latin America Latinamerika No response Ej svar Unmarried Ogift Married Gift Cohabiting Sambo Divorced Skild Widowed nka No response Ej svar Lone with children u 7 Ensamst med barn < 7 years Lone with children 7 Ensamst med barn> 7 years Lone without barn Ensamst utanchildren Married barn u 7 Gift medwith children < 7 years Married barn 7 Gift medwith children > 7 years Married barn Gift utanwithout children Cohab. with barn u 7 Sambo med children < 7 years Cohab. with barn 7 Sambo med children > 7 years Cohab. without children Sambo utan barn Yes 63.6 64.1 60.9 51.0 40.2 66.7 33.3 40.0 55.5 70.8 65.4 32.6 55.3 58.4 59.0 53.9 39.6 51.9 64.5 34.6 62.0 57.2 52.8 53.9 57.4 61.0 69.0 44.4 56.5 59.8 46.3 57.7 43.2 90.9 50.0 54.4 55.7 55.3 56.1 58.0 57.8 53.7 63.2 55.8 65.6 62.5 56.0 60.9 59.0 58.8 63.9 No 33.5 33.6 35.0 43.5 50.2 42.6 49.7 40.9 26.4 32.1 40.4 40.7 40.1 37.7 36.9 47.6 37.9 32.6 55.2 34.4 36.1 40.5 41.1 38.9 35.4 27.8 42.9 39.6 34.2 41.1 23.1 46.6 9.1 30.4 35.1 38.8 39.8 39.3 37.9 36.7 41.2 33.0 39.9 31.7 33.8 39.5 37.9 38.0 37.1 35.0 No response Number Total % 2.8 2.3 4.1 5.5 9.5 33.3 24.1 10.3 3.6 2.8 2.5 27.0 4.0 1.5 3.4 9.1 12.8 10.2 2.9 10.2 3.6 6.6 6.6 5.0 3.7 3.6 3.1 12.7 3.9 6.0 12.6 19.2 10.3 19.6 10.5 5.5 4.9 4.6 4.1 5.5 5.1 3.9 4.3 2.7 3.7 4.5 1.2 3.0 4.1 1.1 934 1536 1530 1620 1304 3 65 1354 3197 506 1757 47 4005 195 267 378 328 218 819 67 152 496 730 2984 1941 673 316 283 5902 295 299 42 238 18 75 57 1374 3245 1581 459 117 150 253 415 150 690 1053 322 330 497 168 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Education Utbildning

Occupation Sysselsttning

Income Inkomst

Country of birth Fdelseland

Marital status Civilstnd

Family situation Familjesituation

141

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