Violence against women affects us all

By: Gail Balfour
womenshealthmatters.ca

Each December 6th, Canadians remember the 14 young women who were killed at the École Polytechnique in Montreal in 1989. Their deaths are marked by a National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women.

On this day, government, organizations and individual Canadians pause to reflect on the work that remains to be done to prevent this violence.

‘December 6 is a shocking kind of Remembrance Day, when women and men both should stop to reflect. We remember women who did not die in battle, but who were slaughtered simply because they were female,’ said Michele Landsberg, chair of the board of the Women’s College Hospital.

‘This meaningless carnage continues daily, around the world. Our ceremonies on this day should help strengthen our resolve: Together we will do all we can to help eradicate the violence.’

Women’s College Hospital holds an annual service in memory of the 14 young women who were murdered in an act of gender-based violence at the École Polytechnique in Montreal seventeen years ago.

As part of the ceremony, fourteen individuals place roses in a vase as a gesture of remembrance as the names of the 14 murdered women are called out.

Though Dec. 6 recalls one particular event, it is meant to underscore the violence against women that happens all too often in our day-to-day lives, and highlight all that still needs to be done to put an end to it.

Women and girls make up the vast majority of victims of sexual assault worldwide.

In Canada, 74 women were murdered by their husbands in 2004 and 74 in 2005; that’s one to two women per week. (And those in common-law relationships are at five times greater risk than those legally married.)

Other alarming statistics on violence against women include:

• Police were aware of previous domestic violence in about 70 percent of homicides involving estranged female spouses.
• Among solved homicides involving victims aged 15+, one-half of all women were killed by someone with whom they had an intimate relationship at some point, either through marriage or dating. Men were more likely to be killed by an acquaintance or stranger.
• Physical and sexual abuse costs Canada $4.2 billion each year (factoring into account social services, criminal justice, lost employment days and health care interventions).
• In 2004, the spousal homicide rate against women was five times higher than the corresponding rate for men.
  Women are five times more likely to fear for their lives as a result of spousal violence. The violence or threat of violence was so severe that 38 percent of women feared for their lives compared with 7 percent of men.
• Half of Canadian women (51 percent) have been victims of at least one act of physical or sexual violence since the age of 16. Of all victims of crimes against the person in 2000, females made up the vast majority of victims of sexual assaults (86 percent), criminal harassment (78 percent) and kidnapping/hostage-taking or abduction (67 percent).
• Women are much more likely to be victimized by someone they know than by a stranger. In 2000, 77 percent of all female victims were victimized by someone they know (37 percent by a close friend or an acquaintance, 29 percent by a current or past partner, 11 percent by other family members – including parents) while 19 percent were victimized by a stranger.

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