One in 14 women worldwide sexually assaulted by non-partner --global study
By RICHARD INGHAM, Agence France-Presse
February 12, 2014 8:19am
PARIS - Worldwide, one woman in 14 has been sexually assaulted by
someone other than a partner, according to the first global estimate
of the problem, published on Wednesday.
Its authors said that despite important gaps in data, the overall
picture was clear: sex attacks on women are a big and widely
overlooked problem.
Reporting in The Lancet, researchers carried out an overview of
investigations in 56 countries.
Their data was trawled from scientific journals as well as "grey"
literature, meaning reports in publications that may not be
peer-reviewed, an acknowledged benchmark of research.
They identified 77 usable studies, providing 412 estimates of violence.
Overall, 7.2 percent of women aged 15 years or older told interviewers
they had been sexually attacked at least once in their lives by
someone who was not their intimate partner.
"Our findings indicate a pressing health and human rights concern,"
the investigators said.
The highest rates were in sub-Saharan Africa--21 percent in the center
(Democratic Republic of Congo) and 17.4 percent in the south (Namibia,
South Africa and Zimbabwe)--followed by 16.4 percent in Australia and
New Zealand.
The lowest reported prevalence was in South Asia (India and
Bangladesh) at 3.3 percent and north Africa and the Middle East with
4.5 percent.
Within Europe, three countries in the east (Lithuania, Ukraine,
Azerbaijan) had a lower level of sexual assault (6.9 percent) than
countries in the center (10.7 percent) and west of the continent (11.5
percent). The figure for North America was 13 percent.
"We found that sexual violence is a common experience for women
worldwide and in some regions is endemic, reaching more than 15
percent in four regions," said lead investigator Naeemah Abrahams of
the South African Medical Research Council in Cape Town.
The true tally of sexual violence may be far higher in some regions,
she said, pointing to South Asia in particular.
The wide differences between regions could be explained by varying
levels of disclosure, the authors said, noting cultures in which
victims of sexual violence are stigmatized and likelier to conceal
their ordeal.
In an email exchange with AFP, Abrahams acknowledged the study's limitations.
Data were good from most of Europe, Oceania, Australasia, North
America and Southeast Asia, but sketchy or lacking in parts of South
Asia, north and central Africa and the Middle East. Some countries had
no data at all.
Also, the definition of sexual violence was determined by the authors
of the original studies, and was not standardized.
But most studies used a common, broad question, of the kind: "Were you
ever forced to have sex or perform a sexual act when you did not want
to with someone other than your partner?"
Abrahams described the paper as providing a basis for health watchdogs
and policymakers to tackle sexual violence against women.
"A prevalence of 7.2 percent is a big enough problem for any country
to be concerned about the experiences of their female citizens," she
said. --Agence France-Presse
http://m.gmanetwork.com/news/story/348059/news/world/one-in-14-women-worldwide-sexually-assaulted-by-non-partner-global-study
--
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