Domestic Violence: Female Offenders

1. Title

Domestic Violence: The majority of offenders are males, however is the female population just as violent?

2. Introduction

The current aim of this study is to investigate and to develop a better understanding of domestic violence and whether the female gender is just as violence as the male gender population. Through this it is anticipated that the results found can assist in supporting individuals whom may unfortunately become offenders or victims of domestic violence. By identifying if the female gender is almost as violent as the male gender, it is hoped that the research will initiate additional studies to further develop knowledge and create more awareness and understanding regarding the issue. Moreover, due to previous studies

It involves a partner or carer using violent mental, physical, sexual and psychological abusive and intimidating behaviour to control and instil fear (NSW Government, 2015) It affects anyone, regardless of sexual identity, race, age, ethnicity, culture, religion, social class, located situation, (dis)ability and most importantly, gender (NSW Government, 2015). Hayes and Prenzler (2012) discuss that domestic violence is a subcategory of violence, which they have found to be largely under-represented. Although there is an incredible quantity of research completed on the topic of domestic abuse there is a lack of quantitative research completed of which is viable due to the under-representation of male respondents. Barber (2008) writes that the male gender population who suffer from domestic violence are unrecognised as men are less likely to report incidences of domestic violence due to embarrassment, fear of ridicule and also because there is a complete lack of support services for men who suffer from domestic violence. In addition to this, Baber (2008) also added that the subject of domestic violence against men carries a taboo, therefore it is usually neglected and ignored. Moreover, as discussed by Baber (2008) and Du Plat-Jones (2006) the health and social care and assistance that males require as a result of victimisation of domestic violence is never met, as there is too much taboo

An Australian Social Trends (AST) article, which was released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) (2014), stated that more than 2 million women and 1.2 million men have experienced emotional abuse by a partner, to which David Skutenko, the ABS Director of Social Progress Reporting said that the statistics found “is equal to 1 in 4 Australian women and 1 in 7 men experiencing abuse such as a partner constantly insulting them to make them feel ashamed, belittled or humiliated, or trying to control where they went or who they saw,” (ABS, 2014). However, a study completed by Trainor (2002) found that both men and women are exposed to the risk of domestic violence in almost identical proportions (Mulroney & Chan, 2005). Research conducted by the Domestic Violence Prevention Centre Gold Coast Inc. (2015) which looked into the study completed by the ABS in 2005 titled the Personal Safety Survey, found that while the vast majority of women were victimised by a male offender, a staggering 73.3% of male respondents who were identified as victims of domestic violence within the previous 12-month period also recorded that their offender was male. However, a campaign group called One in Three, which is diverse group of both male and female