Martin Killias, Jacqueline De Puy, Mathieu Simonin:
Violence experienced by women in Switzerland over their lifespan – Results of the International Violence against Women Survey (IVAWS)
There is relatively little academic re-search in Switzerland on violence against women. Initial investigations began in the 1990s, and since then have suggested that over 20% of women in Switzerland report acts of physical and/or sexual violence by any partner during their lifetime. To date the re-search has focused on domestic violence with little attention to aggression in other relationships and in the streets. The IVAWS project, of which the Swiss results are the first to be published, will constitute an important innovation because it will provide for the first time an international overview of different types of victimizations that affect women, including unreported cases. The results show that violence against women is not necessarily concentrated at home, and that characteristics of perpetrators are more important than victims' background and behaviour. Moreover, as the IVAWS was designed specifically to collect data on female victimization as part of an international, comparative study, this research will help to understand the dynamics of violence against women both at home and outside. The results question certain current perceptions and may have im-portant implications for prevention and policy responses both nationally and worldwide.
