Women's Aid's 2023 Annual Impact Report reveals a stark increase in domestic abuse disclosures, raising concerns about the safety of women and children in Ireland. The report indicates that awareness of available support is growing, but the alarming rise in physical and economic abuse underscores the urgent need for continued intervention and resources.
Roe McDermottThis year, Women’s Aid released its Annual Impact Report 2023, which detailed 40,048 disclosures of domestic abuse against women and children last year. This huge number marked an 18% increase in disclosures of domestic abuse compared to the previous year and the highest ever received by the organisation in its 50-year history. These reports of abuse included emotional abuse, physical violence, sexual abuse, and economic control – with many combining to constitute coercive control.
“I do think that there is a greater understanding, but it’s still not universal,” says Benson. “Domestic abuse in particular does not always mean physical violence, and we can recognise that where there is physical violence, there are always patterns of other abusive and controlling behaviour.
Abuse always exists within its social context, and with Covid, Women’s Aid was aware that many women were trapped at home with abusive partners. In Ireland, the housing crisis and cost of living crisis have made many people across the country far more financially vulnerable, and this vulnerability can heighten the danger for abuse victims.
Not that privilege always protects women, as Benson notes. “It’s really important to say that domestic abuse is one of the most democratic of all crimes. The single greatest risk factor is being born female, and after that, it is present in every ethnic group, every faith group, every socioeconomic group.” However, it is important to note that some women may face more social barriers to leaving an abusive situation than others.
For Kasia, her abuser’s ability to play the loving partner in front of others was not only chilling, it was effective: when she tried to share her experiences of abuse with loved ones, they didn’t believe her. “One time I was very ill and had to go to hospital. He behaved like he was my guardian angel in front of the medical staff. On the way home he said my life wasn’t worth the hospital fee. He jumped between these roles. My accuser and abuser in private. My rescuer and protector in public.
“Even the trope of victimhood is something that people struggle with. They’re like, ‘I don’t want to feel like a victim’, because that also brings an internalized sense of shame which is so terribly unfair, because actually the shame should be with persons who perpetrated the violence, not the victim. But we do hear ‘I don’t want to be seen as a victim’, whereas actually we are talking about criminal offenses in purely logical, legalistic terms.
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