# **1. Introduction**

Gender violence constitutes a serious violation of women’s human rights. UN Women defines violence against women and girls as _"any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual, or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.”_ Violence against women has serious short- and long-term consequences on women’s physical, sexual, and mental health and, in its most extreme form, can result in death. Gender violence not only affects the overall well-being of women and their children, but also prevents them from participating and developing their full potential in society.

Violence against women is prevalent worldwide. According to the most recent data from the World Health Organization, 30 percent of women worldwide have experienced intimate partner physical and/or sexual violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime (WHO, 2021). While women may be exposed to other forms of violence, this figure already represents a large percentage of women. Additionally, a report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime found that nearly 60 percent of all female homicides in 2017 were committed by an intimate partner or family member (UNODC, 2018). Gender-related killings are known as "femicide" or "feminicide." Intimate partner violence against women is among the most prevalent forms of violence against women and includes psychological, physical, sexual, and economic violence, as well as controlling behaviors by an intimate partner. Over 640 million women worldwide are subject to acts of violence perpetrated by an intimate partner, which corresponds to 26 percent of all women aged 15 years and over (WHO, 2021). Additionally, in 2017, 34 percent of homicides of women were committed by their current or former partners (UNODC, 2018).

This study aims to assess violence against women in Chile, focusing on intimate partner violence given its high prevalence. Specifically, the study analyzes the prevalence rates of the different forms of intimate partner violence, reporting rates, determinants of the probability that a woman will experience violence perpetrated by her partner or ex-partner, as well as determinants of the likelihood that a woman will formally report this abuse.

Data from the 2020 Survey on Intrafamily Violence and Violence against Women (ENVIF-VCM) indicate that 1 in 4 women who have been in a partner relationship reports having experienced some type of intimate partner violence over the past 12 months, whether psychological, physical, sexual, or economic. Psychological violence is the most prevalent. Additionally, 26 percent of women who reported experiencing intimate partner violence in the past 12 months were subject to multiple types of violence.

On the other hand, only 22 percent of women who report having been victims of intimate partner violence file a formal complaint. When disaggregated by type of violence, the data indicate 34 percent of the women victims of physical violence file a formal complaint, 21 percent the women victims of phycological violence, and 15 percent of the women victims of sexual violence. In addition, between 82 and 97 percent of the women who filed a formal complaint did it through the Chilean police force ( _Carabineros_ ), highlighting this institution’s relevance for receiving and accompanying abused women. The main reasons for not reporting episodes of intimate partner violence include believing that the violence episodes were not severe, feeling ashamed to report the situation, and believing that reporting is useless.

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