Many abused women ‘living in denial’

Most women think of abuse as physical and not as emotional mistreatment, forced sex or restricted freedom, a domestic violence study has revealed.

Some women agreed with beating over unfaithfulness

To these women, abuse is confined to hitting, bruising and fractured bones. This “scary and impressive” finding showed that some women were living in denial and had a servile attitude towards men, a conference heard .

The study is the first quantitative nationwide research on domestic violence, focusing on its impact on women’s employment. The project, of the Commission on Domestic Violence, was funded by the European Social Fund and conducted by M. Fsadni and Associates.

Addressing the project-closure conference at the Hotel Le Meridien in St Julians, project leader Marika Fsadni said that while most respondents to the study believed an abused woman should not remain in the household, when asked for valid reasons for a man to hit his wife seven per cent actually agreed on it if he discovered she was unfaithful.

Launched last year and published recently, it shows that the majority of those who did not look for assist-ance were aged between 18 and 29 and lived in the Southern Harbour.

Most women informed no-one about the physical violence they experienced, and if they turned to someone, it was mostly the police, followed by lawyers.

Asked for the reasons for not seeking help, most said they did not know why, or that the violence was normal and not serious.

The most common reason for respondents to seek help was because they “could not endure more”, and the main situation that led to violence was the man’s jealousy of the woman.

Just over half of the abused women fought back but the majority never left home, while the main reasons for returning were because they did not want to leave their children, or because they loved their abuser.

The research also demonstrates that 12 per cent of the 1,154 respondents experienced physical violence by their intimate partners, which converts to 14,367 women, aged between 18 and 59, in the general population.

Of these, the majority have been pushed and shoved, slapped or been at the receiving end of an object thrown their way, with about 24 per cent of them having been choked or burnt.

Emotional abuse by intimate partners was experienced by 23 per cent of the respondents, translating to 27,297. Of these, the highest percentage were insulted and made to feel bad.

Sexual abuse by intimate partners was experienced by nine per cent, meaning 11,186 women. The majority of these were physically forced into sex.

Low percentages of respondents, hovering between three and six, felt the fact that the man was drunk, that they were sick, or that he mistreated them were not valid reasons for a married wife to refuse to have sex with her husband.

Most abused women don’t leave home

Although the percentages were low, Ms Fsadni said they existed nonetheless, and these perceptions were cause for concern.

The random 1,200 female respondents were “surprisingly very open” to the questions, Ms Fsadni said, agreeing that the survey was, however, probably the tip of the iceberg.

It showed the youngest age groups were the most prone to physical and sexual abuse and more so in non-married couples, while education does not seem to contribute to less violence, with 91 per cent of respondents having a secondary-plus level.

Abuse in figures

• 12 per cent of women are physically abused by partners
• 23 per cent experience emotional abuse
• 9 per cent are sexually abused

Beaten in pregnancy

Three per cent of pregnant women were beaten, with 40 per cent of them being punched or kicked in the abdomen, the study on domestic violence shows.

But Joanna Xuereb, chairman of the Commission on Domestic Violence, said it was known that 30 per cent of abuse cases started in pregnancy and the study now needed to be delved into to understand what exactly was happening in Malta.

“The time is ripe to extrapolate more information and important correlations from the research,” Ms Xuereb said.

“The next step is to look out for abuse in pregnancy to see whether other units are required. For example, even though the hospital has its own social workers, they may need to be trained to deal specifically with these issues,” she said.

Violence on women in pregnancy was also confirmed by Antoinette Gatt Rutter, a Family Court mediator, who has 10 years of experience at the Domestic Violence Unit.

Mater Dei Hospital’s gynaecology department regularly referred cases of domestic violence on pregnant women, she said, highlighting the atrocity that a man was beating both up his wife and child.