Sexual Violence Against Women

Freedom from violence is a critical aspect of women’s empowerment and greater gender equality. This indicator therefore measures the proportion of women who in the past 12 months experienced sexual violence. Considering how sensitive the collection of the data required for this indicator is, this indicator should be used only in interventions that are specifically addressing the prevention and response to sexual violence.

Collect the following data by conducting individual interviews with a representative sample of women aged 15 - 49 years:

RECOMMENDED SURVEY QUESTIONS (Q) AND POSSIBLE ANSWERS (A)

Introduction: Life often brings both good and bad moments. I would now like to ask you some questions about the bad moments that life sometimes brings. If anyone comes near us I will change the topic of our interview. I would again like to assure you that your answers will be kept secret, and that you do not have to answer any questions that you do not want to. May I continue?

A0: the respondent provided consent / the respondent refused to continue

Q1: In the past 12 months, has someone physically forced you to have sexual intercourse when you did not want to?

Q2: In the past 12 months, did you ever have sexual intercourse you did not want because you were afraid of what the person might do?

Q3: In the past 12 months, did someone ever force you to do something sexual that you found degrading or humiliating?

A1-3: yes / no / did not respond

In all instances where the answer is YES, it is recommended (though not mandatory) that you also ask the following two questions:

Q4: In the past 12 months, would you say that this has happened once, a few times or many times?

A4: once / a few times / many times / did not respond

Q5: Was this done to you by a family member or by a friend or by someone you knew or by a stranger? You do not need to tell me any name and I assure you that I will not share your response with anyone living in this area.

A5: _

1) male member of immediate or extended family

2) friend

3) someone she knew

4) stranger

5) did not respond

To calculate the indicator’s value:

  1) exclude those respondents who did not report any incidence of sexual violence but refused or could not respond to one or more questions

  2) divide the number of the remaining respondents who replied “yes” to one or more of the questions (Q1-3) by the total number of respondents (do not count those you excluded in step 1)

  3) multiply the result by 100 to convert it to a percentage

Disaggregate the data by the respondent’s age group, ethnicity, and other factors depending on the local context.

1) Collecting data about gender-based violence is sensitive and can cause serious harm. Take advantage of IndiKit's Rapid Guide to Collecting Survey Data on GBV (see below) to know how to minimize the risk of any harm and ensure the desired quality of collected data.

2) Consider including an additional question assessing whether the woman that suffered from sexual violence has told someone about it and if so, who (use general categories, such as “a friend” – do not ask about specific people or names).

3) If required for your project’s M&E purposes, you can also extend the reference period - for example, to “in the past 2 years” (however, the standard period commonly used in surveys is 12 months).

4) In order to accurately record even smaller changes in the baseline and the endline values of this indicator, consider using a larger than usual sample size (so that the margin of error is not larger than 3-4 percentage points).

5) The guidance for this indicator was developed based on WHO (2005) Multi-country Study on Women’s Health and Domestic Violence against Women and Oxfam (2017) Measuring Women’s Empowerment.