Assessing the prevalence of violence against women in Canada

Sound statistical data is critical for the development of appropriate policies, legislation and services for women affected by violence. Significant progress has been made in Canada over the past fifteen years in the breadth and scope of surveys designed to assess the extent of violence against women and societal responses to it. Statistics Canada, the national statistical agency, has played a lead role in implementing prevalence surveys, police- and courts-based surveys, and surveys of shelters and other services for victims. Prevalence surveys are critical sources of information about the nature and extent of physical and sexual violence against women in the population; however, in conducting these surveys researchers must take account of complex methodological and ethical issues relating to emotional trauma, respondent safety, definitions of violence, and reducing response bias. Other sources of data, such as police, shelters and other services for abused women are important for describing how agencies respond to women who come to them for help. This paper argues that national statistical agencies have a leadership role to play in the design and implementation of surveys on violence against women to ensure that standards of scientific rigour are met and the work is done in an ethical manner.