The Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA), the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) and the European Statistics Office (Eurostat) carried out in-depth field work to understand the level of violence that women suffer from Union European (UE).
After several years of work, they presented the conclusions in a reportwhich was now released by different media.
In addition to showing a worrying figure for the situation in general, specific statistics were presented according to who the aggressor was, the type of violence exercised and in which area the episode occurred, as well as the different rates in each of the States.
A third of women suffered violence: the worrying data from the report
The results presented in the report refer to the experiences of women, aged between 18 and 74, in the 27 EU Member States.
The sample is based on 114,023 interviews, whose data was collected between September 2020 and March 2024.
The most alarming number in the study is the one that indicates that one in three women (30.7%) suffered physical violence or threats and/or sexual violence at some point in your life.
This statistic does not distinguish between types of aggressor, but includes everyone, and even records episodes in which women were attacked by other women.
In detailing the type of violence by any aggressor, the report showed that 13.5% of those surveyed suffered physical violence and/or were threatened with physical violence (but not sexual), and 17.2% suffered sexual violence (including rape and other unwanted sexual acts).
Of women who experienced physical violence or threats and/or sexual violence, 20.5% contacted a health care or social service provider as a result of the incident, while 13.9% reported it to the police.
This last piece of information is also alarming, since it follows that around 65% of women who suffered violence did not report it. As if that were not enough, the authors of the study also clarify that they estimate that many of the respondents chose not to answer the questions truthfully.
When interviewers specifically asked about episodes of violence involving their partner, 17.7% of women said they suffered physical violence, threats or sexual violence from their boyfriend/girlfriend. This rate rose to 31.8% when psychological violence was included in the question. Furthermore, 14.26% stated that they were attacked more than once.
On the other hand, when the universe of aggressor was expanded to «domestic aggressors», a category that included the partner, but also family members or any other cohabitant, 19.3% of women said they suffered physical violence or threats and/or violence.
Regarding the areas where the events occurred, the study emphasized asking if they were victims of sexual harassment in your workplace. The result was just as worrying as the general one: a 30,8 % He stated yes.
In detail, the rate of sexual harassment at work is higher (41.6%) among women in the youngest age group surveyed (18 to 29 years old) than in other groups. Furthermore, in the majority of cases, the sexual offender was a man. As for what type of employee the aggressor was, 15.8% answered that it was a co-worker, while 7.4% said it was their boss.
«The Nordic paradox»: in which countries is there the highest level of violence against women?
Not all countries in the European Union presented the same rate of statistics.
Factors that contribute to differences between States include the varying degree to which the aforementioned acts are perceived as «wrong» and/or harmful. Likewise, the varied level of awareness and recognition (including in legislation) of different types of attacks as crimes has an influence.
As violence can also be higher in certain groups of the population, it is important to mention that the rate can be influenced by the sociodemographic profile of the country.
Once the reasons were clarified, the report showed that Finland, Sweden and Hungary top the list of states with the highest level of violence —towards the woman—without differentiation of aggressor, with 57.1%, 52.5% and 49.1% respectively, while the Czech Republic, Portugal, Poland and Bulgaria occupy the lowest part of the scale, with less than 20% all.
Countries also vary in the type of violence that women mention most frequently. The rate of sexual violence is very high in some of the States that lead the overall table, such as Sweden (37.3%), although in Hungary, which is also at the top of the overall list, the rate of physical violence or threats (31.2%) is higher than that of sexual violence (17.9%).
The rate of intimate partner violence (physical violence or threats, sexual violence and/or psychological violence), for its part, varies between the 54.6% in Hungary, 52.6% in Finland and 50.8% in Slovakiaup to 22.5% in Portugal, 20.5% in Bulgaria and 19.6% in Poland.
The percentage of women who suffered sexual harassment At work, meanwhile, it oscillates between 55.4% in Sweden, 53.7% in Finland 53.0% in Slovakia and 52.9% in Luxembourg, up to 12.3% in Portugal, 12.2% in Bulgaria and 11.0% in Latvia.
In conclusion, as Sweden, Finland and – with a slightly lower rate – Denmark lead most of the statistics, the report’s authors speak of the «Nordic paradox.»
This is because the mentioned States have a high score in terms of gender equality, which is why it is striking that they are also the ones that show the highest levels of gender violence.
