Violence Against Women Surveys in Finland

1. Violence Against Women Surveys in Finland Markku Heiskanen European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control, Affiliated with the United Nations (HEUNI)

2. Aim • Two comparable Violence Against Women Surveys in Finland • Methods, problems, improvements • Indicators? • Examples from Finland and Sweden • IVAWS

3. Two comparable Violence Against Women Surveys in Finland • 1997 (n= 7,100) - Faith, Hope, Battering (FHB) • 2005 (n=7,200) • ?

4. Methods, problems, improvements • Method: Mail mode (in Nordic countries):+ no direct interviewer effect+ time to think about the answers+ costs- man may influence the response- limited number of questions- data quality--- > +++

5. Improvements on the 2005 questionnaire - Screening questions - Seeking help - Other (restraining order, mediation, alcohol) - Removed: costs of violence

6. Screening questions of partnership violence in FHB,1997 Has your current partner sometimes behaved violently against you, such as:(over the last 12 months/earlier) 1 Threatened you with violence? 2 Prevented you from moving or grabbed you? 3. Slapped you? 4 Thrown a hard object at you? 5 Beaten you with a fist or a hard object, or kicked you? 6 Strangled or tried to strangle you? 7 Shot at you or stabbed or cut you with an edged weapon? 8 Beaten your head against something? 9 Coerced you or tried to coerce you to have sex with him? 10 Behaved violently against you in some other manner, how?

7. Sexual violence: additional items We ask yet more accurately of certain forms of sexual violence. Has your current partner: (over the last 12 months/earlier) 1 Forced you to have sex with him by threathing you, by grabbing you or by hurting you? 2 Tried to force you to have sex with him by threathing you, by grabbing you or by hurting you? 3 Had sex or tried to have sex with you, when you were not able to refuse, e.g. when you were sleeping, drunken, stunned, inconscious or in confused condition?

8. Results • Response rate: 70 % in 1997, 62 % in 2005 • 2005 results will be published in the Autumn of 2006 • Victimisation rate high compared to the Finnish National Victimisation Survey • Example

9. Female victims of partner violence and threats during the 12 months in different age groups in the Violence against women survey and in the National victimisation survey 1997 (% of women with a partner )

10. Indicators • Idea: simple, useful, representative • Causes of death statistics, ICD10: - Deaths in couple relations / other • FHB-survey: partnership / other + Lifetime prevalence (raising the awareness)- One year prevalence (freq, continuity, trend) - Seriousness: injury hospital, first aid clinics, doctor reporting to the police psychological consequences- Use/need for victim services • Police statistics: nothing

11. The diversity of partnership violence. Classification of partnership violence of FHB by cluster analysis (Minna Piispa 2002/2004) • Short history of violence, 33 % • Partnership terrorism, 10 % • Psychological torture, 18 % • Episode in the past, 39 %

12. Dynamics of victimisation in ended couple relations ”Divorces and men's violence against women”, (Hans Ekbrand 2006) Different periods in couple relations & different forms of violence Different forms of men’s violence 1 Physical 2 Sexual 3 Psychological (controlling and dismissive behavioir) 4 Threats and warnings Sample: separated women in Sweden (Gothenburg area)

13. Dynamics of victimisation in ended couple relations Periods in couple relations: 1 The first six months of cohabitation 2 The following period until period III (median = 9 years) 3 The last six last months of cohabitation until a decision to separate is communicated 4 An optional period of cohabitation until the parties actually separate (3,5 months) 5 The period after cohabitation (until filling the questionnaire; 20 months) 6 The period of negotiations on custody, visitation or maintenance of children (if they had any)

14. Proportion of men who have used different forms of violence during different periods of partnership (Hans Ekbrand 2006) Sweden

15. International comparability • Compared to e.g. Sweden, the overall victimisation situations are quite similar, to other countries ... • International Violence Against Women Survey (IVAWS); Sami Nevala, project manager (HEUNI)

16. IVAWS: International mandate • studying “the causes and consequences of violence against women and the effectiveness of preventive measures” • Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, Fourth United Nations World Conference on Women, Beijing 1995 • “to develop crime surveys on the nature of violence against women” • Resolution on “Elimination of Violence against Women”, Sixth Session, United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, 1997

17. Goals of IVAWS • Collect cross-cultural, comparable data on prevalence, incidence of violence against women, and the consequences and characteristics of violence. • Use the results to develop criminal justice policies, crime prevention, police responses and legislation. • Raise awareness on violence against women • Started in 1997, report Autumn of 2006 by Holly Johnson, Sami Nevala and Natalia Ollus

18. IVAWS Violence Items (7+5) 1 Threatened to hurt you physically? 2 Threw something at you or hit you with something that hurt or frightened you? 3 Pushed or grabbed you or twisted your arm or pulled your hair in a way that really hurt or scared you? 4 Slapped, kicked, bit, or hit you with a fist? 5 Strangled, tried to suffocate you, burned or scalded you on purpose? 6 Used or threatened to use a knife or gun on you? 7 Other physical violence? 8 Forced you into sexual intercourse? 9 Attempted to force you into sexual intercourse? 10 Touched you sexually against your will? 11 Forced you into sexual activity with someone else? 12 Other sexual violence?

19. IVAWS: 11 participating countries • EUROPE- Denmark- Greece- Italy- Poland- Switzerland- Czech Republic • OTHER CONTINENTS- Australia- Costa Rica- Hong Kong- Mozambique- Philippines - problems; small and dissimilar samples, differences in the questionnaires

20. Question Comparable surveys, comparable modules or comparable questions?

21. Discussion • Finnish Violence Against Women Surveys have stressed the importance of studying violence against women as a separate social problem • Continuity and international comparability needed • Discrepancy between time series and development

22. Thank you!