Spousal violence has been consistently identified as one of the most common forms of violence against women in Canada.1
The majority of spousal violence victims are women, representing 83% of all victims (2007).2
Women are almost four times more likely than men to be victims of spousal violence (2011)3
More than 6% of married, common-law, same-sex, separated and divorced female spouses in Ontario report experiencing physical/sexual assault by a spousal partner (2009).4
Women experience more serious forms of spousal assault than men...
4 in 10 women victimized by their spouse report being physically injured (42%), more than twice the proportion of male victims (18%) (2009).5
Women are three times more likely to report being beaten, choked, sexually assaulted, or threatened with a gun or knife by their partner or ex-partner (2009).6
Women are more likely to experience multiple victimizations, according to self-reported data (2009).7
Most victims of domestic homicide are female, while most perpetrators are male...
95% of spousal homicide victims in Ontario are female (2011).8
There were 59 female spousal homicide victims in Canada in 2011, in comparison to 7 male victims.9
Of the homicide cases with domestic violence involvement which occurred in Ontario from 2002 to 2009, 80% of victims were women, 12% were children and 8% were men.10
Of the cases reviewed in Ontario’s 2011 Domestic Violence Death Review Committee Report, 88% of spousal homicide perpetrators were male while 89% of victims were female.11
The rate of domestic homicides against women has dropped in Canada...
The rate of homicides against female spouses dropped 46% from 1991 to 2011.12
Domestic homicides are more common in certain relationships...
Women are six times more likely to be killed by an ex-spouse than a current legally married spouse.13 In fact, the period immediately after a separation is the most dangerous for abuse victims.14
About 6 in 10 spousal homicides of women have a history of family violence involving the victim and the accused (2001-2011).15
Many incidents of domestic violence are not reported to police...
Less than one-third (30%) of female spousal violence victims state that the incident was reported to police (2009), down from 36% in 2004.16
Women choose not to report to police for a number of reasons...
Women are six times more likely than men to say the incident was not reported out of fear of their spouse (19% versus 3%) and they are almost twice as likely to say they did not want anyone to find out (44% versus 26%) (2009).17
79% of women who do report claim they are dealing with the situation in another way, while 74% do not report because they consider it a personal matter (2009).18
Certain types of spousal violence are more likely to be reported to police...19
53% of incidents where women are sexually assaulted, and 60% of incidents where women are beaten, choked or have a weapon used against them are reported to police (2009).20
Many victims are victimized multiple times before they report to police (2009).21
The link below will take you to the entire article plus footnotes:
Statistics: Domestic Violence Did You Know... Domestic violence is a gendered crime... Spousal violence has been consistently identified as one of the most common forms of violence against women in Canada. 1 The majority of spousal violence victims are women, representing 83% of all victims (2007). 2 Women are almost four times more likely than men to be victims of spousal violence (2011) 3
Domestic Violence Statistics and Facts National Domestic Violence Statistics. 1 in 4 women and 1 in 7 men will experience severe physical violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime.