2 in 5 German women abused

2004-09-21 18:28

Berlin - Two German women in five have been physically or sexually abused in their lifetimes, one in four at the hands of her partner, according to a study presented Tuesday by Family Minister Renate Schmidt.

Schmidt said the study, based on a survey of 10 000 German women between the ages of 16 and 85, confirmed theories that women are most often confronted with violence at home, particularly by partners they wanted to leave.

A total of 58% of women said they had been sexually harassed or abused while 13% said they had experienced sexual assault, attempted rape or sexual coercion.

The research, conducted by the University of Bielefeld, showed that women of eastern European or Turkish origin living in Germany were more frequent targets of abuse than their German-born counterparts.

Forty-four percent of eastern European women and nearly half of all Turkish women polled said they had been victims of sexual or physical abuse.

Education or social status appeared to play little role in the prevalence of domestic violence, nor did alcoholism or unemployment. But there was a high correlation between the experience of abuse in childhood and violence in later life.

Schmidt said that abused girls seemed to choose wife-beaters as partners in later life "like sleepwalkers" and that the violent men had often themselves been mistreated when they were young or witnessed attacks between their parents.

Men, too, were surveyed on violence and one in four said that he had experienced violence in a relationship with a woman at least once.

The study questioned 266 men and found that many considered violence to be normal and even expected from other men.

"Men seldom see themselves as victims, although they often are," Schmidt said, noting that threats, insults and fistfights were common among German men.

- SAPA