Amnesty International released a report this week on domestic violence in Russia. The report gives some horrifying statistics on violence against women perpetrated by husbands, boyfriends and relatives. Here is the rundown:
- 70 per cent of women said that they had been subjected to one or another form of violence (psychological, sexual, physical and economical) by their husband
- 36 per cent of women experienced physical and psychological violence
- 7 per cent of women endured all forms of violence (physical, economic, sexual and psychological) simultaneously
- over 70 per cent of women said they suffered from some form of psychological discomfort in relation to their husband, including stress, anxiety, lack of confidence, powerlessness, dependency, despair, guilt, fear or inadequacy
- 51 per cent of women experienced restrictions of some kind or had threats made against them. Twenty-two per cent were threatened with physical harm; 15 per cent were threatened with abandonment
- 90 per cent of all respondents had either witnessed scenes of domestic psychological violence between their parents, or had experienced it in their current relationship.
And:
- 58 per cent of women had been subjected to aggression from one or another close male (current or former husband, fianc? or lover)
- 18 per cent of women found themselves in a situation of regular or severe physical mishandling by their husbands
- 48 per cent of women beaten were attacked while they were pregnant, breast feeding, had small children, were ill, had lost their job or were experiencing difficulties at work, or were experiencing physical or mental suffering and found themselves in a position of helplessness
- Over 60 per cent of women beaten by their husband had experienced various degrees of trauma as a result; 3 per cent of all those questioned required medical assistance.
If readers need to put a human face on these numbers, I suggest reading the section of the report that chronicles “Anna’s Story.” There is no need for further comment. The numbers speak for themselves. Amnesty is correct to name domestic violence as a serious human rights violation. Based on official numbers, 9000 women out of a population of 143 million are killed in 2003. For certain, the numbers are much higher. To get some perspective on the scope of the problem in Russia, here are some statistics for the United States. According to RFE/RL article on the report, 2,000 to 3,500 woman of a population of 300 million are killed annually in the U.S. at the hands of husbands, relatives, and boyfriends.
Want to throw a percentage against how many of these incidents involved the man being drunk?
I would imagine that it is a pretty high percentage considering that most acts of domestic violence against women probably occur when the man is drunk whether it be in Russia or say the United States. At the same time, considering Russia’s high levels of alcohol consumption and alcoholism, it is probably higher than other places.
So, what can I say you? I know this statistics and that numbers are terrible! But I live in Russia and I know that this facts in real life are more exciting. Russia today is wild country. Ofcause you can see nice face of our president but it’s not a true. In our country only one city – Moscow – is live not so bad. Another part of Russia are starve and can’t working, haven’t good health and medical service. And I talking about average russian citizen, not about drunk russian ppl or lazy ppl. People of Russia have no chanse to work, live and study in this country. They want to do it, but our government robbing and killing us. Our taxes are growing every month, how can I pay for that? How can adult ppl have their femilies etc?
I’m a young man what I must to do? Going into russian mafia? or to be a prostitute for fat reach man? or working in a factory for 150$ per month? Why? If I can write novels and poems and music, songs; if my mother gave me good intelligent education. Why I must to do it? Where are UN Conventions about human rights?
Russian Graf Sheremetyev who lives in New-York said that Russia is going from a barbarism to a vulgarism. This is a true.
Sorry for my english language
During my relatively short tenure in Russia (2 years), I personally witnessed two instances of women being beaten (one was in public). Additionaly, all of my close female Russian friends reported being victims of violence at the hands of their husbands.
This report doesn’t suprise me in the least.
BTW- Nice blog. I got to you through global voices online. I certainly will be checking back!
Comandante–Not much I can add to your comments. Indeed Russia has a lot of problems–domestic voilence being one of many. But I hesitate to place them in a heirarchy of importance. I don’t know if you meant it or not, but implied in your comments is that given the political-economic situation in Russia, beating women is somehow understandable, if not excusable. There of course is nothing to indicate that women would be treated any better if Russia wasn’t a “wild country”. I would to know what is meant by Sheremetev’s statement that Russia is slipping from “barbarism to vulgarism.”
Shannon–Thanks for the comments and the praise. I’ve been lucky enough to never have personally witnessed such acts, but have heard enough stories to match.
Hm… you know I doubt that level of domestic violence in Russia is a bit higher because of alcohol. I believe it is because of laws. For instance if a woman is violated in USA she can simply win a process and take a lot of money and even get her husband or lover imprisoned. You will admit that threat of imprisoning stops many men in your country, while in Russia such violators are unpunished in most cases.
We are conducting a survey on amnesty for illegal immigrants in the UK and the USA for the next 6 months at http://www.skillipedia.com . We want to hear opinions from normal people – not political parties or think tanks.
Your opinions or feedback are much appreciated