Released by Statistics Canada on July 25, 2000, the 1999 General Social Survey (GSS) on spousal violence measures the prevalence of violence in intimate relationships across the country. The GSS findings reveal that the rates of spousal violence experienced by men and women were only slightly different - 8% for women, and 7% for men in relationships five years prior, and 4% for both women and men in their current relationships.

In a country where 3.4 wives are murdered for every one husband killed (Locke, 2000), and where previous statistics reveal that 98% of sexual assaults and 86% of violent crimes are committed by men (Johnson, 1996); where women constitute 98% of spousal violence victims of sexual assault, kidnapping or hostage taking (Fitzgerald, 1999), and where 80% of victims of criminal harassment are women while 90% of the accused are men (Kong, 1996), the GSS findings do not capture the full extent of violence against women perpetrated by men.

Limitations & Findings

• The GSS is a telephone survey excluding respondents who do not speak any of the official languages; people with speech disabilities; Aboriginal and homeless peoples, and poor people living in households without a telephone. This means that women who are in transition, who are homeless, and who may be escaping their abusive partners are not included in the survey. Hence, women who are most vulnerable and have experienced multiple forms of violence are not included.

• The GSS involves respondents' responses to questions concerning their experiences of violence and emotional abuse which they have been subjected to by their partners in the previous 12 months and 5-year period prior to the survey. However, the rates for emotional abuse are not calculated in the rates for spousal violence - they are kept separate even though in reality, emotional abuse and physical violence are intertwined, one often preceding and accompanying the other.

• Although the GSS is a victimization survey in that it asks respondents to identify their experiences of violence as opposed to the crime reporting surveys which are based on police reports of violence, the GSS has its own limitations. This includes the assumption that respondents are able to articulate their experiences of violence and are in circumstances that permit them to make such disclosures. Further, the GSS only asks respondents about the violence they have experienced from their partners in their last 5-year and 12-month periods. In contrast, the Violence Against Women Survey (VAWS, 1993) asked women about the violence they had experienced since the age of 16.

• Unlike the VAW Survey, also conducted by Statistics Canada, the GSS does not measure the full spectrum of violence to which women are subjected. The GSS spousal violence rates do not include emotional abuse rates, although these are measured separately. Neither do they include the kind of data on sexual harassment obtained in the VAW Survey or other surveys. These surveys report that 8 in 10 victims of incidents of harassment reported to the police were female and 9 out of 10 of the accused were males (Kong, 1996).

• The GSS module of questions on violence simply lists the different forms of violence ranging from minor acts such as having something thrown at you, to more severe forms such as being choked or beaten. However, the module does not tap into the dynamics of violence which cohere around power and control. Instead, the questions seem to equalize all actions as forms of violence. The survey does not take into consideration how violence may be used to exercise dominance or how violence may be used as a form of self-defence and retaliation. The intentions and context surrounding the violence are ignored.

• Despite these limitations, the GSS results reveal the true severity of violence against women. Not only were women beaten, choked, threatened with a weapon and sexually assaulted in significantly large numbers as compared to men, the consequences of the violence they suffered were multiple and extensive. As the GSS results show, women were more fearful of their lives, their children's safety, and suffered from sleeping problems, depression/anxiety attacks, and low self-esteem as a result of the violence. Women also reported being physically injured and were 5 times more likely to require medical intervention as compared to men who reported experiencing violence.

• More than twice as many women as men reported being beaten;
• 5 times as many women as men reported being choked;
• Almost twice as many women as men reported having a gun or knife used against them;
• More than 6 times as many women as men reported being sexually assaulted;
• 4 out of 10 women are afraid for their lives, as compared to 1 out of 10 men;
• 4 times as many women as men reported being threatened, harmed or having someone close to them being threatened or harmed;
• More than twice as many women reported having their property damaged or their possessions destroyed as compared to men; and,
• 4 times as many women as men reported being denied access to family income.

• The GSS on violence only captures a small section of the continuum of violence experienced by women everyday. It does not take into consideration the socio-economic and political context in which women live - a context symbolized by the pervasive objectification, sexualization, and devaluation of women as it occurs in the media, within the labour force, and in the increasing numbers of women who are made poor. Neither does it capture the full range of violence meted out to women who cross normative boundaries, or who are at the intersections of various kinds of oppressions. It does not take into consideration the extreme forms of violence, as in homicide, where other statistics reveal that for every 1 husband killed, there are 3.4 wives killed by spouses (Locke, 2000).

Fitzgerald, Robin. Family Violence in Canada: A Statistical Profile. Ottawa, ON: Statistics Canada, 1999.

Johnson, Holly. Dangerous Domains: Violence Against Women in Canada. Scarborough, ON: Nelson Canada, 1996.

Kong, Rebecca. "Criminal Harassment." Juristat, 16, 6. Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics. Ottawa, ON: Statistics Canada, 1996.

Locke, Daisy. "Family Homicide." In Family Violence in Canada: A Statistical Profile, pp. 39-44. Ottawa, ON: Statistics Canada, 2000.