One in three women around the world will experience violence from an intimate partner at some point in their lifetime. That is a shocking figure. Even more shocking, though, is the fact that, in 23 countries – from the Americas and Africa to Asia and the Pacific – it is more like two in three women.
As part of a study of countries with a high prevalence of violence against women, we analysed data from the World Health Organization, the World Bank, the United Nations and academic sources. We found that countries which were colonised are 50 times more likely to have a high prevalence of intimate-partner violence against women. When a patriarchal society is combined with a history of colonialism, the risk of domestic violence increases.
