Italian survey on violence against women

Abstract

The National Survey on violence against women originates from the need to disclose the problem on violence against women in Italy in terms of its prevalence, incidence, rate and nature. This is an important topic that still needs further investigation. Women rarely disclose what has happened to them and even more rarely report to the police or seek help in the crisis centres or from other social services.

It is important to study domestic violence by using dedicated surveys that take into consideration all relevant aspects with regard to the variables measured, way of posing questions, funnelling effects, use of specific terms. Surveys on violence against women are designed in such a way that helps to put the woman at ease so that she can build confidence with the interviewer. Interviewers are trained to deal with these cases and to identify them, as it is quite common that women victims of domestic violence are not always aware of what happens to them, especially in cases of more subtle forms of violence such as psychological and economic violence.

The paper describes the different phases for the implementation of the Italian Violence against Women Survey, focusing special attention on the qualitative relevance of the data collected.