Surveying prevalence of violence against women in the context of the German National Action Plan

Abstract

Against a background of three decades of activism and policy in Germany, the first national representative survey of the prevalence of violence against women was completed in 2004. Placed in the context of a National Action plan, this was the first such study explicitly designed for European comparability. It was aimed at improving policy and harmonizing numerous activities towards overcoming violence against women, taking a comprehensive and gender-based view of the problem. The findings point to important patterns related to the risk of violence and its impact; they also confirm that improved methodology on the one hand, awareness-raising on the other increase reporting. While reporting levels as such are not a useful measure for the success of policies, there is a need for more in-depth and comparative analysis to identify strategic points of intervention and ways of moving policy forward.