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.
During the 1990s, the rate of spousal homicide where the victim was a woman under age 25 who was married, separated or living in a common-law relationship was 29 per one million couples. A Statistical Profile.