Of the four million women who are physically abused, an estimated 960,000 cases involved a spouse, boyfriend or girl friend. One in three female children will be sexually abused before the age of twelve. Close family members or acquaintances will perpetrate Seventy percent of these abuse cases. Women are five to eight times more likely to be abused by a spouse or lover or approximately twenty-one percent of all violent crimes against women. Spouse or lover abuse is estimated at two percent of the violent crimes against men.
Men perpetrate ninety-two percent of all domestic violence or abuse against women.
Statistics show husbands or boyfriends commit thirteen thousand violent acts against women in their workplace every year. Studies of fourteen to seventeen year old girls suggest up to forty percent of them report knowing someone who has been hit or beaten by their boyfriend. More than half the female victims of domestic violence report having children at home under the age of twelve. Children, who observed domestic violence or have been abused themselves, are at a greater risk of continuing the cycle. There are types of abusive relationships that don t involve forced sexual acts or beatings.