Women’s Refuge, supported by Contact Energy, is carrying out a “groundbreaking research project” titled Safer When, Safer How which examines family violence risk and what really works to make women safer.
Such research has never been undertaken in New Zealand before.
An unprecedented study has revealed 'startling' information about family violence in New Zealand. Photo / Stock
When women contact the service an assessment to determine their level of risk is carried out.
Analysing 3500 of those assessments completed in the past 12 months is the first phase ofSafer When, Safer How.
Women’s Refuge chief executive Dr Ang Jury ONZM said the initial results of the analysis were “startling”.
“We knew that many women who reached out for help were at a critical point, however, we were stunned at the high number of women that are at risk of extreme violence or death.
“We are not talking about minor incidents here but women whose lives are at risk.”
New Zealand has the highest rates of family violence in the OECD and one in three women will experience abuse in their lifetime in Aotearoa.
On average 50,000 women and children are referred to Women’s Refuge each year and staff answer 71 crisis calls each day.
As more than 67 per cent of family violence goes unreported, the figures do not show the full severity of the situation.
Jury said the research showed that women reach out to refuges when the risk to them is highest.
Nearly half experienced a worsening of the abuser’s physical violence in the weeks before reaching out to Refuge; 60 per cent saw “intensified intimidating behaviour” right before they sought help and the same number found that their abusers “stepped up the violence” whenever they put any safety measures in place.
“The data provided crucial insight into the many and varied ways that family violence perpetrators use coercion to get what they want,” Jury explained.
“Most go unseen by others, but seriously impact how safe women and children can be, how healthy they can be, and what resources they can have even long after the violence stops.”
Examples of invisible abuse highlighted by the research included:
One-third of the women were told to hurt or kill themselves
Half were stopped from having their own money
45 per cent were forced to hand over all their private messages to their partner
A fifth of women physically assaulted lost consciousness during the attack
76 per cent had most of their daily life controlled by their abuser
Jury said the abuse left an imprint on women’s lives even if they got free from the abuser.
“It leaves women to deal with all these other invisible problems, including money, housing, childcare, and health issues.
“But because the abuse and coercion is so invisible, everyone else might just see these as unrelated issues or needs.
“Even more concerningly, they might just be seen as bad choices the victim is making when really we should be seeing how abuse takes away all her choices.”
Research showed that women reach out to refuges when the risk to them is highest. Photo / 123RF
Jury said the data revealed more of what was in the abuser’s “toolbox of control and coercion” and why that disabled so many “choices” that the general public assumed victims had.
“Seeing it on a grand scale can feel pretty hopeless, but having a deeper and more nuanced picture of violence and coercion also shows us so many more ways we can combat those impacts on women’s and children’s lives and futures.”
Jury said the phase one results from the research also showed family violence had implications beyond specialist services.
That’s where the community came in - and could help to save many lives.
“We are often asked how you can help someone you know when someone’s abusing them,” she said.
“Anyone supporting a victim can play a really significant role by helping out with the extra burdens that abuse leaves in its wake.
“You don’t have to be an expert in solving the violence, or even know all the details of the abuse, to help remove some of that burden on her. That can be things like offering your time, help with childcare, financial support, emotional support, a safe place, validation, or taking some of the practical or life admin tasks off her.”
Women's Refuge chief executive Dr Ang Jury. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Jury said family violence can seem like a “big, scary, complex problem” and people often want to help those harmed by it but don’t know how.
“As this research highlights, helping out in practical ways can have an enormous difference by restoring some of the time, energy, emotional capacity, sleep, money, wellbeing, opportunity and credibility that the perpetrator took away – and that counts for a lot in terms of how safe women can be.”
One thing refuges across New Zealand are struggling with is cell phones for women fleeing their homes.
The Herald has learned that while many generous donations are made for victims including clothes, food and toiletries - cellphones are in hot demand and can be a struggle to provide.
“Mobile phones are something we are always looking for across the motu,” Jury told the Herald.
“So many women come to us without a mobile phone. In many cases, their phones have been taken away by their partners so they can’t reach out for help, communicate with friends, or sadly smashed.
“It seems like a luxury to many of us, but it is so hard to get by without one when it comes to staying in touch with whānau, making appointments, keeping track of court documents and dates, communicating with their children’s school etc.”
Jury said all refuges were grateful for any donations - and if people wanted to offer specific help they were welcome to check in with their local refuge and see what items they needed or were short on for their safe houses.
Shampoo/conditioner, body wash, toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant
Period products.
Baby items like nappies, blankets and baby food
Jury said the Safer When, Safer How research continued and the next phase would look further at the ways in which any person - in any role, formal or informal - can be part of addressing family violence risks and responding in ways that make a “genuine and sustainable difference to women’s and children’s safety”.
