Underexamined and Underreported

Underexamined and Underreported provides new analysis on the link between intimate partner violence (IPV) and suicidality, and the ways in which this disproportionately impacts women.

We show the ways in which this disproportionality is reinforced and exacerbated by experiences of multiple unmet needs and poverty.

Data within this briefing builds upon a 2022 Lancet Psychiatry article with new analyses by Sally McManus (of the Violence, Health and Society - VISION - consortium), providing further gender disaggregation and new attention to poverty and financial strain.

Findings:

• Over a quarter (27%) of women report experience of IPV in their lifetimes
• Women who have experienced IPV are three times more likely to have made a suicide attempt in the past year compared to women who have not experienced IPV
• Sexual IPV is ten times more common in women than men and is an IPV type particularly associated with self-harm and suicidality
• IPV often occurs in a context of poverty and multiple unmet needs, trapping women with fewer resources for escape
• Around half (47%) of women who are unemployed or unable to work due to sickness or disability have experienced IPV, compared to one quarter of other women (26%).
• Female victims of IPV are more than twice as likely as non-victims (23% vs 10%) to have faced five or more other adversities in their life, such as financial crises, redundancy, bereavement, and serious physical illness

As a result of these findings, we’re calling for policymakers, practitioners, funders, and commissioners to:

• Carry out trained enquiry into domestic abuse and provide support for survivors across public services
• Prioritise reducing the likelihood of economic abuse by improving women’s opportunities to leave abusers
• Provide sufficient and long-term funding for domestic and sexual abuse charities and service providers
• Develop the body of evidence to increase knowledge and understanding of the links between gender, domestic abuse, and suicide

If you are interested in finding out more, please contact the author of the report: nia@agendaalliance.org.