Violence Against Women - Stats

Violence is always the responsibility of the abuser and is never justifiable. Violence against women transcends class, culture, race, and ethnicity.

• 67% of all Canadians say they personally know at least one woman who has been sexually or physically assaulted
• On average, every six days a woman in Canada is killed by her intimate partner. In 2009, 67 women were murdered by a current or former spouse or boyfriend
• Over half of Canadian women have experienced at least one incident of physical or sexual violence since the age of 16
• On any given day in Canada, more than 3,000 women (along with their 2,500 children) are living in an emergency shelter to escape domestic violence
• Violence against women exists in all cultures, ages, religions, sexual orientations, educational backgrounds and income levels.  Our calls come from a range of socio-economic backgrounds who may not all access shelters but still require critical and immediate assistance
• In just one year in Canada, 427,000 women over the age of 15 reported they had been sexually assaulted. Since only about 10% of all sexual assaults are reported to the police, the actual number is much higher
• The cost of violence against women in Canada for health care, criminal justice, social services, and lost wages and productivity has been calculated at $7.4 billion per year