This week I was lucky enough to attend the launch of UN Women’s Spring Campaign: Don’t be a Bystander: Say No to Violence against Women.
As befits an actuarial blog, here are some statistics from the 2005 Australian Physical Safety Survey:
- since the age of 15, two percent of women and one per cent of men had experienced violence from a current partner
- since the age of 15, some 15 per cent of women and five per cent of men had experienced violence from a former partner
- in the 12 months prior to the survey, 1.3 per cent of women and 0.6 per cent of men were sexually assaulted and
- of those who were sexually assaulted in the 12 months prior to the survey, 29 per cent of women reported that the perpetrator was a previous or current partner. No males reported sexual assault by a current or previous partner.
Those statistics, while sobering, are not as bad as similar statistics in other countries nearby.
The UN Women Campaign is not just about Australia; its focus is on our region, where, particularly in post conflict countries such as Cambodia, women can be particularly vulnerable.
Don’t be a bystander; speak up. Everyone has the ability to not be a bystander and to break the silence about violence against women.