15,000 women killed by husbands: Russian wives fight back against domestic violence

[theHandpuppet]

This is an old report (nearly 20 years!) but more recent statistics would, I believe, be very difficult to find. If anyone has more recent reports, could you post them?

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/15000-women-killed-by-husbands-1591705.html
15,000 women killed by husbands
Russian wives fight back against domestic violence
Helen Womack in Moscow
Sunday 16 July 1995

THERE is an old joke which some Russians still find hilariously funny. Vasily comes home drunk and thinks to himself: "If my wife does not open the door fast enough, I will beat her." He knocks and with the swiftness of lightning, his wife throws open the door and greets him. Vasily is frustrated but thinks to himself: "Never mind, if the soup is not hot enough, I will be able to beat her." She puts a steaming bowl of soup down in front of him. He is frustrated again but thinks to himself: "Never mind, if she does not offer me a glass of vodka, I will be able to beat her." She smiles and offers him the vodka. He flings out his fist and hits her in the mouth. She starts to cry and asks why he has hit her. "For being so fussy, you old fool."

With national humour like that, it is perhaps not surprising that 15,000 Russian women were beaten to death by their husbands last year, according to new statistics from the prosecutor's office. But abusive spouses may soon have to be more careful, for Russian women, who up to now have been suspicious of Western feminism, are starting to stand up for their rights. A group of women in Moscow have set up a helpline to offer support and legal advice to the victims of violence in the home.

The helpline office is rather grim. Situated in a suburban high-rise block which otherwise houses academics studying the Far East, the room is plastered with black and white posters donated by a US women's organisation. "After some domestic disputes, husbands send their wives flowers," reads one. It shows a picture of a wreath.

But clients would be quickly put at their ease by the leader of the project, Marina Pisklakova. Dressed all in white, like an angel, she offers her visitors cups of instant coffee, chocolates and plenty of sympathy.

A statistician and sociologist by training, she became involved in the women's movement when she visited Sweden. She avoids any hint of stridency, which might deter Russian women, who think of Western feminists as aggressive man-haters. One of the first things she says is that she set up the helpline with her late husband, who in the years before his death became as committed as she is to freeing both the sexes from their stereotyped roles....

MORE at http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/15000-women-killed-by-husbands-1591705.html

[Tumbulu]

1. How do these statistics compare with ours in the US?

I have this idea that things are worse here, but perhaps I am wrong about that.

[theHandpuppet]

4. I believe the figure here in the U.S. is three women per day

So the number of women killed by domestic partners in Russia is somewhere between 10 and 15 times that of the U.S. I will note that the Russian report specified women killed by husbands, not by boyfriends or domestic partners, so that figure could be much higher.

[nomorenomore08]

5. Russia also has less than half our population. So that would be *30* times the U.S. rate.

[theHandpuppet]

2. More recent statistics, with link

http://www.refworld.org/docid/52a83c964.html

1. Overview

Sources indicate that domestic violence in Russia is "pervasive" (RFE/RL 19 Sept. 2010), "widespread" (AI Feb. 2013a, 10), or a "major problem" (US 19 Apr. 2013, 38; Russia Press Digest 4 July 2012). According to the Prague-based publication Transitions Online, which focuses on post-communist countries in Europe and the former Soviet Union, there is "almost routine violence" in Russian families (12 Mar. 2012). Several sources describe Russian society as patriarchal (UN 16 Aug. 2010, para. 22; TO 12 Mar. 2012; RFE/RL 19 Sept. 2010). Domestic violence is reportedly viewed as a private issue (UN 16 Aug. 2010, para. 22; Reuters 20 Aug. 2013) or as something "normal" (TO 12 Mar. 2012; RFE/RL 19 Sept. 2010).

Sources report that the number of women who die annually in Russia as a result of domestic violence ranges from 10,000 (Reuters 20 Aug. 2013; RFE/RL 28 Jan. 2013; AI Feb. 2013b, 7) to 14,000 women (ANNA July 2010, 6; BBC 28 Feb. 2013; US 19 Apr. 2013, 38). The 14,000 figure reportedly originates from the Russian Ministry of Interior [or Internal Affairs] in 2008 (ibid.; ANNA July 2010, 6). In correspondence with the Research Directorate, the director of the Moscow-based NGO ANNA National Centre for the Prevention of Violence said that there are no recent official statistics provided by the Ministry of Interior on their website, but that the trends from 2010 to 2013 remain similar to the previously reported time period (23 Oct. 2013).

The Moscow News reports that, according to data released by the Federal State Statistics Service, 40 percent of women in Russia are subject to verbal abuse and 20 percent are subject to physical violence by their husbands, but further details about the data were not provided (29 May 2013). Two sources report that, based on law enforcement statistics, 40 percent of all violent crimes in Russia occur in the family (Reuters 20 Aug. 2013; ANNA July 2010, 6). The BBC reports that 600,000 women in Russia are annually facing physical and verbal domestic violence "according to estimates, based on studies in a few selected regions conducted by the Russian interior ministry" (28 Feb. 2013).

An alternative report to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which was prepared by a group of experts on domestic violence led by ANNA, indicates that statistics on crimes of domestic violence are "fragmentary, difficult to obtain, or simply do not exist" (ANNA July 2010, 6). Amnesty International (AI) notes that authorities do not keep centralized disaggregated statistics related to domestic violence, and so the "true scale of domestic violence against women in Russia remains unknown" (June 2010, 12). In correspondence with the Research Directorate, an associate professor of political science and women's studies at Brooklyn College, City University of New York (CUNY), who has conducted long-term research and has had work published on violence against women in Russia, similarly stated that there are no credible statistics regarding rates of domestic violence between 2010-2013 and "[t]here is no system for collecting credible data on incidence or number of cases reported to the police, prosecuted or convictions" (Associate Professor 22 Oct. 2013).

[theHandpuppet]

3. Another report

Violence Against Women in the Russian Federation
http://www.stopvaw.org/russian_federation

[nomorenomore08]

6. As bad as things are in this country, they're almost unimaginably worse some places.

And if anyone was in any doubt about the link between misogyny and homophobia, just take a look at Russia.