Violence Experienced over Lifetime (%) (National Only)
Violence impacts women’s physical and mental health. Young women, low-income women and certain minority groups are disproportionately affected by violence and rape.1
What percentage of women are victims of violence?
Due to the serious lack of consistent and reliable data collected at the state level, the Report Card includes only national information. In addition, research did not reveal a standard benchmark, so the Report Card does not grade this indicator.
Data Source: Violence Against Women (National Only) (%), 1995-1996.
EXPLANATION: These data are for women age 18 and older in the non-institutionalized civilian population and include lifetime experiences of rape and/or physical assaults. The survey defines “rape” as an event (either attempted or completed) that occurs without the victim’s consent, that involves the use or threat of force to penetrate the victim’s vagina or anus by penis, tongue, fingers or object, or the victim’s mouth by penis. The survey defines “physical assault” as behaviors that threaten, attempt, or actually inflict harm, ranging from slapping and hitting to using a gun. For physical assaults experienced by children, however, the survey only asks about such conduct if engaged in by adult caretakers (not other people), while for adults, it includes this behavior by any perpetrator.
SOURCE: Patricia Tjaden, Prevalence, Incidence, and Consequences of Violence Against Women: Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey (Atlanta: National Institute of Justice, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1998), 2, 5-6.
Footnotes
1 National Organization for Women. “Violence against women in the united states: statistics,” available at http://www.now.org/issues/violence/stats.html, accessed July 28, 2010.
