How data can strengthen the fight to end violence against women

“Woman beaten, bitten and killed in Chiang Mai.” This particularly brutal murder made headlines in Thailand earlier this year. The victim became yet another entry in the grim records of violence against women – records that are far from complete, not only in Thailand, but around the world.

A 2013 World Health Organisation study estimated that more than a third of all women globally will experience physical or sexual violence at some point in time. These statistics were collated from prevalence studies on violence against women, most of it caused by intimate partners or ex-partners, those who were meant to be trusted to respect and care for them.

In the Asia-Pacific region, studies on violence against women have taken place in many countries, including Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia and China.

A survey in one county in China found that half of the men interviewed had used physical or sexual violence against a female partner. In the Vietnam study, three out of 10 women recounted physical or sexual violence by their husbands, while in Fiji twice as many women, two out of three, reported such violence. One in three women in Auckland, New Zealand is estimated to have suffered gender-based violence.

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But numbers often don’t tell the whole story. Far too many women remain silent for a number of reasons. Their husbands or partners might beat them up again. Or they are afraid of not being taken seriously, or even of being blamed for having “provoked” the violence in the first place. These fears cause crippling isolation and guilt. The silence, stigma and prejudice involved keep the crisis hidden.

The most horrific instances – like the murder in Chiang Mai – make the news. But there are many more women whose stories will not be counted.

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The UN Population Fund’s Asia-Pacific regional office has been working with governments on safe, ethical and robust data collection to support policies and programmes in the region. This includes defining violence against women more clearly to cover a range of situations, from domestic violence to rape and other forms of gender-based violence in humanitarian settings, amid natural disasters and conflicts, which are common but seldom accurately documented.