Istat: 14.9% of women have suffered physical or sexual violence before the age of 16

14.9% of women aged 16 to 75 have suffered at least one physical or sexual violence before the age of 16 (15.3% of Italian women and 11.4% of foreign women). This is what emerges from the Istat report on "Violence against women from childhood to adulthood". The data shows that physical violence involves substantially similar shares in the two populations (9.2% among Italians and 9.6% among foreigners), while sexual violence is more frequent among Italians (8.2% versus 3.4%), who as young people suffer sexual harassment more frequently than foreigners, exactly as happens among adult women.

The data published by Istat

The analysis highlights that this violence is perpetrated mainly by people known to the victim, as happens with violence suffered by women after the age of 16. In fact, 13.5% of Italian women and 11.2% of foreign women have suffered physical and/or sexual violence from at least one known person (including family members and relatives), while the shares referring to a stranger are equal to 2.1% and 0.6% respectively. Among known people, parents play a significant role, indicated by 3.9% of Italians and 4.3% of foreigners, in particular the father or stepfather (2.7% and 3.7%). Followed by other family members, friends, acquaintances by sight and other figures, such as teachers, healthcare personnel or religious people, with lower frequencies.