The Facts on the Workplace and Violence Against Women

Women are at risk for violence at home, in the community and in the workplace. An estimated 52.3 million women are physically assaulted and 17.7 million women are raped or sexually assaulted at least once in their lifetimes.¹ With nearly one-third of American women reporting being physically or sexually abused by a husband or boyfriend some time in their lives,² domestic violence is a concern for every employer.

Employers have many reasons to consider violence against women a workplace issue –both ethical and "bottom line" reasons. One is that employers absorb a large portion of the health care costs related to domestic violence, which total nearly $4.1 billion each year.³

Men and women are both at risk for violence, but women are affected in different ways and benefit from different prevention initiatives, services and solutions.

• Women are more likely to be victimized by a friend, family member or intimate partner than by a stranger.⁴
• In 2001, 85 percent of all surveyed victims of intimate partner violence were women.⁵
• In 2001, three in four homicide victims who were murdered by their intimate partners were women (74 percent).⁶
• Most rape victims are women. About one in six women (18 percent) has been a victim of rape or attempted rape at some time in her life.⁷
• Most stalking victims (78 percent) are women.⁸
• Women are more likely to be injured as a result of violence. Half of female domestic violence victims were injured in attacks, in comparison to one-third (32 percent) of male victims.⁹

Violence Against Women Affects the Workplace:

• For women, homicide was the second leading cause of death on the job in 2003.¹⁰
• Women are the victims in 80 percent of rapes and sexual assaults that take place in the workplace – at least 29,000 acts of rape or sexual assault each year.¹¹
• Women who have been raped or sexually assaulted report diminished work functioning, sometimes for up to eight months after the attack.¹²
• An estimated one million women are stalked each year in the U.S.,¹³ and about one-fourth of them report missing work as a result of the stalking, missing an average of eleven days.¹⁴
• One study of female domestic violence victims found that 44 percent were left without transportation when the abuser disabled the car or hid the car keys.¹⁵ ’
• In a survey of 7,000 women, 37 percent said domestic violence had a negative impact on their job performance.¹⁶
• Among a group of abused employees receiving workplace counseling, the average absenteeism rate of the group at the time of beginning counseling was about 30 percent higher than the average employee absenteeism rate.¹⁷

Employers' Perspectives:

Violence against women can occur on the job. Employers need to be concerned about their responsibility to maintain safe work sites. A single incident can have a dramatic effect on the workplace, both emotionally and financially. In one case, a wrongful death action cost an employer $850,000 for failing to help an employee who was at risk for domestic violence on the job.¹⁸

Employers are concerned:

• In a 2002 study, two in three (66 percent of) corporate leaders identified domestic violence as a major social issue.¹⁹
• Only 33 percent of those sampled said that domestic violence has a negligible impact on the "bottom line," indicating that two-thirds believed it affects business functioning.
• At a meeting of health benefit managers from small and large businesses around the country, all 25 participants described the effects of domestic violence in the workplace as absenteeism, inability to focus, poor self-esteem, low productivity, and low morale.²⁰ These same managers noted that employers who take steps to prevent domestic violence see improvements in performance, productivity, health, work site safety, job retention, and other outcomes related to employee well being.²¹
• In a survey of 29 employers who had already implemented a response to violence against women, 100 percent said that their motives for responding included "making the workplace safer," "expressing concern for the personal needs of our employees" and "being part of the solution to domestic violence or sexual assault."²²

Project Safeguard can help you schedule a workplace seminar, providing all materials needed as well as a seminar leader and legal advocates if needed.

¹ U.S. Dept. of Justice, National Institute of Justice. November, 2000. Full Report of the Prevalence, Incidence, and Consequences of Violence Against Women. NCJ 183781.
² Collins, K., Schoen, C., Joseph, S, Duchon, L. Simantov, E. & Yellowitz, M. (1999). Health Concerns Across A Woman’s Lifespan: The Commonwealth Fund. 1998 Survey of Women’s Health.
³ U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. March, 2003. Costs of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in the United States. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
⁴ U.S. Dept. of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics. February, 2003. Intimate Partner Violence, 1993–2001. NCJ 197838, p. 1.
⁵ Ibid.
⁶ Ibid.
⁷ U.S. Dept. of Justice, National Institute of Justice. November, 2000. Full Report of the Prevalence, Incidence, and Consequences of Violence Against Women. NCJ 183781.
⁸ Tjaden, P. & Thoennes, N. (April, 1998). National Institute of Justice Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Research Brief: Stalking in America: Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice.
⁹ U.S. Dept. of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics. May, 2000. Intimate Partner Violence. NCJ 178247, p. 6.
¹⁰ U.S. Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2004). Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries: Table 4. Fatal occupational injuries by worker characteristics and event or exposure, 2003.
¹¹ U.S. Dept. of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics. (August, 2001). Crime Characteristics: Summary Findings.
¹² Resick, P.A., Calhoun, K.S., Atkeson, B.M., & Ellis, E.M. (1981). Social adjustment in victims of sexual assault. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 49, 705-712, as cited in Koss, M.P. (1991). The Rape Victim. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, p. 62.
¹³ U.S. Dept. of Justice, National Institute of Justice. November, 2000. Full Report of the Prevalence, Incidence, and Consequences of Violence Against Women. NCJ 183781., pp. 14 – 15.
¹⁴ Tjaden, P. & Thoennes, N. (April, 1998). National Institute of Justice Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Research Brief: Stalking in America: Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice.
¹⁵ McFarlane, J., Malecha, A. Gist, J, Schulz, P. et al. (2000). Indicators of intimate partner violence in women’s employment: Implications for workplace action. AAOHN Journal, 48(5), 215.
¹⁶ The Body Shop. (September, 1997). The Many Faces of Domestic Violence and Its Impact on the Workplace. New York, NY: EDK Associates.
¹⁷ Urban, B.Y. (2000). Anonymous Foundation Domestic Abuse Prevention Program Evaluation: Final Client Survey Report. Chicago, IL: The University of Illinois at Chicago. Contact byurban@aol.com.
¹⁸ Burke, D.F. (January, 2000). When employees are vulnerable, employers are too. The National Law Journal.
¹⁹ Patrice Tanaka & Company, Inc. October 16, 2002. News Release: Corporate Leaders See Domestic Violence as a Major Problem That Affects Their Employees According to Benchmark Survey by Liz Clairborne, Inc. Contact Lauree Ostrofsky (212) 229-0500, x 236.
²⁰ Partnership for Prevention. (2002). Domestic Violence and the Workplace. Washington, D.C.: Partnership for Prevention, (202) 833-0009 or www.prevent.org.
²¹ Ibid.
²² Urban, B.Y. (2003). The Attorney General’s Report to Congress: Workplace Responses to Violence Against Women. An unpublished report of the Family Violence Prevention Fund, with release pending.