JAKARTA, KOMPAS – One in three Indonesian women aged 15-64 or around 28 million women have experienced physical or sexual violence either by a partner or another person. In the last year, 8.2 million women or 9.4 percent of women faced either physical or sexual violence.
These statistics were taken from the results of the 2016 Women’s Life Experience National Survey (SPHPN) conducted by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS). The survey was done at the request of the Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry to find out the prevalence of women who have experienced either physical, psychological, sexual or economic abuse, whether by a partner or by another person.
The data is the government’s first set of data related to physical and sexual violence experienced by women. In the past, there was no representative data on violence against women because the data compiled was only data from reports, not an accurate representation.
The result of the SPHSN was presented by BPS head Suhariyanto together with the Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry’s Women Rights Protection deputy Vennetia Ryckerens Danes, BPS Social Statistics deputy head M Sairi Hasbullah and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Indonesia representative Annete Sachs Robertson at the BPS office on Thursday (30/3).
The 2016 SPHPN, which used a sample of 9,000 households, found that one in three women aged 15-64 in Indonesia had experienced physical or sexual violence, whether by their partners or by another person. It was found that one in 10 women had experienced physical or sexual violence within the last 12 months.
The prevalence of physical and/or sexual violence carried out by non-partners is higher (23.7 percent) compared to violence by partners (18 percent). So, from a total of 87 million women aged 15-64, around 15 million of them have experienced physical or sexual violence by people other than their partners. “If not by their partners, then by another person, particularly outside of the home,” Sairi said.
The most violence carried out by non-partners is sexual violence. For example, a perpetrator may comment or send messages and pictures of a sexual nature, touch or grope a woman or force a woman to have sexual intercourse. “This must be a warning. We must categorize violence against women as an extraordinary crime so that it gets more attention,” Suhariyanto said.
Urban
The survey found that more women in urban areas experienced physical and sexual violence than in rural areas.
Other than physical and sexual violence, women who are or have been married have experienced emotional (psychological) abuse and economic abuse by their husbands. Twenty-four women were subjected to economic abuse by their partners and 20.5 percent were subjected to psychological abuse by their partners.
Most physical and sexual violence is experienced by women with an education background of senior high school or above (39.4 percent) and those who are unemployed (35.1 percent).
Vennetia said the result of the SPHPN was important as it gave the government representative data that provided a comprehensive picture of the prevalence of violence against women. “In the past, data on violence was based solely on reports. Like an iceberg, we only saw the tip,” Vennetia said.
The data will be used for evaluation purposes and as the basis of the government’s planning of programs and policies related to women\'s protection. “The data should not be merely recorded; what is most important is how we use it to eliminate violence against women,” she said.
The SPHPN is the first survey in Indonesia to specifically dig for information on violence against women aged 15-64, married and unmarried. The violence experienced was in the last 12 months or at any time in a woman’s life. The SPHPN questionnaire was fashioned on the World Health Organization (WHO) questionnaire “Women’s Health and Life Experience,” which was specially designed to obtain information on violence against women.
(SON)
