Background:
Agenda was established to draw attention to the needs of the most disadvantaged women and girls in our society: those who face a complex range of adversities in their lives and who are often overlooked in public debate and policy design. This study was commissioned by Agenda, with support from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, in order to provide statistics on the circumstances of such women in England.
Building on the previous report, Hidden Hurt: Violence, abuse and disadvantage in the lives of women, this report describe the circumstances of women in England who live in poverty, examines the nature and extent of violence and abuse experienced by women in poverty, and profiles the mental health and quality of life of women who experience both poverty and violence and abuse. It provides a powerful statistical picture of the combined adversity of poverty and extensive violence and abuse in women’s lives.
Key findings:
- Violence and abuse are associated with poverty: people who are in poverty are more likely to have suffered violence and abuse than those who are not. This is true for both women and men. Among women in poverty 38% have experienced violence and abuse, compared with 27% of women not in poverty.
- The association between abuse and poverty is somewhat stronger in women than men: half of women with extensive experience of abuse are in poverty (51%) while this is the case for a quarter of women who have experienced little or no abuse in their lives (27%). The comparable figures for men are 27% and 17%.
- About 4% of women are both in poverty and have experience of extensive violence and abuse in their lives: around one million women in England.
- Women in poverty are much more likely to experience almost every type of violence and abuse – at rates which are generally twice as high as those of other women. The difference is particularly pronounced for violence involving a weapon. One in twenty women in poverty (5%) have had a weapon used against them, compared with one in a hundred women not in poverty (1%).
- Women in poverty are twice as likely as other women to have been raped either as children or adults. The only kinds of abuse which are not significantly associated with poverty are nonconsensual sexual talk and touching.
- Women in poverty are particularly likely to experience the most extensive violence and abuse in their lives. 14% of women in poverty have faced extensive violence and abuse, which is more than twice the rate of women not in poverty (6%).
- The more extensive the violence and abuse experienced the more likely it is that women also face other adversities in their lives. These include poor general health, difficulties in finding work, major traumatic events or homelessness. This is true both for women in poverty and those who are not.