Draws on the collective experiences and insights of many individuals, and in particular from the implementation of the WHO Multi-country Study on Women's Health and Domestic Violence against Women in over 10 countries. Twenty years ago, violence against women was not considered an issue worthy of international concern. Gradually, violence against women has come to be recognized as a legitimate human rights issue and as a significant threat to women's health and well-being. Now that international attention is focused on gender-based violence, methodologically rigorous research is needed to guide the formulation and implementation of effective interventions, policies, and prevention strategies. The manual has been developed in response to the growing need to improve the quality, quantity, and comparability of international data on physical and sexual abuse. It outlines some of the methodological and ethical challenges of conducting research on violence against women and describes a range of innovative techniques that have been used to address these challenges.

Violence against women is one factor in the growing wave of alarm about violence in American society. High-profile cases such as the O.J. Simpson trial call attention to the thousands of lesser-known but no less tragic situations in which women's lives are shattered by beatings or sexual assault. The search for solutions has highlighted not only what we know about violence against women but also what we do not know. How can we achieve the best understanding of this problem and its complex ramifications? What research efforts will yield the greatest benefit? What are the questions that must be answered? Understanding Violence Against Women presents a comprehensive overview of current knowledge and identifies four areas with the greatest potential return from a research investment by increasing the understanding of and responding to domestic violence and rape: What interventions are designed to do, whom they are reaching, and how to reach the many victims who do not seek help. Factors that put people at risk of violence and that precipitate violence, including characteristics of offenders. The scope of domestic violence and sexual assault in America and its conequences to individuals, families, and society, including costs. How to structure the study of violence against women to yield more useful knowledge. Despite the news coverage and talk shows, the real fundamental nature of violence against women remains unexplored and often misunderstood. Understanding Violence Against Women provides direction for increasing knowledge that can help ameliorate this national problem.

This book addresses the issue of domestic violence against women, drawing on research findings, policy developments and current debates to contextualise its alarming prevalence and to propose informed ways of addressing, through training and practice, the needs of both victims and perpetrators in current social and related care provision.

Violence against women and children is a serious public health concern, with costs at multiple levels of society. Although violence is a threat to everyone, women and children are particularly susceptible to victimization because they often have fewer rights or lack appropriate means of protection. In some societies certain types of violence are deemed socially or legally acceptable, thereby contributing further to the risk to women and children. In the past decade research has documented the growing magnitude of such violence, but gaps in the data still remain. Victims of violence of any type fear stigmatization or societal condemnation and thus often hesitate to report crimes. The issue is compounded by the fact that for women and children the perpetrators are often people they know and because some countries lack laws or regulations protecting victims. Some of the data that have been collected suggest that rates of violence against women range from 15 to 71 percent in some countries and that rates of violence against children top 80 percent. These data demonstrate that violence poses a high burden on global health and that violence against women and children is common and universal. Preventing Violence Against Women and Children focuses on these elements of the cycle as they relate to interrupting this transmission of violence. Intervention strategies include preventing violence before it starts as well as preventing recurrence, preventing adverse effects (such as trauma or the consequences of trauma), and preventing the spread of violence to the next generation or social level. Successful strategies consider the context of the violence, such as family, school, community, national, or regional settings, in order to determine the best programs.

This is an edited volume of 12 articles previously published in Social Problems that may be considered among the most influential in the development of the sociological study of violence against women.

The Third Edition of this comprehensive volume covers the current state of research, theory, prevention, and intervention regarding violence against women. The book’s 15 chapters are divided into three parts: theoretical and methodological issues in researching violence against women; types of violence against women; and, new to this edition, programs that work. Featuring new chapters, pedagogy, sections on controversies in the field, and autobiographical essays by leaders in grassroots anti-violence work, the Third Edition has been designed to encourage discussion and debate, to address issues of diversity and cultural contexts, and to examine inequalities of race and ethnicity, social class, physical ability, sexual orientation, and geographic location.