Child Abuse - What is it

NEWS
OLDER WOMEN SILENT ON VIOLENCE, ABUSE

December 13, 2000
© REUTERS

MELBOURNE (Reuters Health) - Older women in Australia are unlikely to report sexual or physical violence to the police, according to the Centre Against Sexual Assault. The report was released Tuesday by Sherryl Garbut, the Minister for Women's Affairs. According to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 5.5% of women over 45 years of age had been sexually or physically assaulted in 1996, however, 86% of women over 55 did not tell the police.

Ninety percent of the women did not seek any treatment or services after a physical attack and none of the women said they reported a sexual assault to a government or health service. When women do report violence, some professionals may fail to respond "in a helpful or appropriate manner," the report notes.

The findings suggest that older women need support services tailored to their needs, yet there is little information or support available for such women. This may be due in part to a lack of awareness of the problem, caused to some extent by women's fear of social stigma associated with domestic or other types of violence, according to the report.

For older women, "there are financial and emotional considerations, and for disabled women who are cared for by the abuser, there is a lack of options and fear of the consequences," said Yvonne Pilatowicz, planning and development coordinator at the Centre, in an interview with Reuters Health.

Women of different ethnic backgrounds displayed widely varying knowledge of the services available. What's more, no older indigenous women or self-identified lesbians were included in the report, suggesting that they may face even greater barriers to getting help than other women.

The report makes a number of recommendations, including a call for the development of clinical guidelines for doctors who deal with violence against older women. The report authors also recommend that older women who have experienced domestic violence run peer support groups for women recovering from violence.