Women tend to be more fearful of being victims of a crime in specific situations than are men. Women are much more likely to be victimized by someone they know than by a stranger. Female victims of spousal violence tend to be more severely abused than male victims. More women are likely to be subjected to severe forms of violence such as being beaten, choked and sexually assaulted. Female victims of spousal violence are more likely than their male counterparts to suffer some kind of physical injury as a result of spousal violence.
Women are more likely than men to be victims of repeated incidents of spousal violence.
In April 1998, there were 470 shelters for abused women across Canada, up from 18 in 1978. Women made up one third of the victims in the 536 cases of homicide committed in 1999. Four out of five victims of spousal homicide are female. Two of the female victims were killed by a same-sex spouse. Young women are most at risk of being killed by their partner.