Violence Against Women is the result of gender inequality and the abuse of power and control. It is every person’s right to live free of violence and the fear of violence.
Bethlehem Housing and Support Services is a member agency of the Coalition to End Violence Against Women (CEVAW) in Niagara .
CEVAW is a collective voice of organizations from the Niagara Region that is working toward ending violence against women by raising public awareness, educating, sharing information, networking and identifying and breaking down systemic barriers that perpetuate violence.
According to the United Nations Population Fund (2005)
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Gender-based violence is perhaps the most wide-spread and socially tolerated of human rights violations. It both reflects and reinforces inequities between men and women and compromises the health, dignity, security and autonomy of its victims.
Some Canadian Statistics
- One in four women have experienced violence at the hands of a partner
- Domestic Violence Death Review Committee – 94% of violent perpetrators were male (All cases from 2002 – 2005)
- Violence against women costs Canadian taxpayers more than four billion dollars a year for health care, policing, prisons, courts, property damage and lost work time
- There have been approximately 25 female victims of spousal homicide each year in Ontario since 1975
Bethlehem Place Statistics
At any one time, approximately 80% of residents living in our transitional housing have been former victims of abuse.