Separation and men's violence against women

Separations and men's violence against women is a study that aims to increase knowledge about the connection between men's violence against women and separations. The study is a thesis at the University of Gothenburg and has been carried out with financial support from the Crime Victims Fund. The study is based on questionnaires collected from over 350 women who have separated or gone through a divorce from a heterosexual relationship. In order to get in touch with these women, the researcher has worked together with various social agencies that women who have been subjected to separation violence can come into contact with; police, women's shelters, crime victim shelters, social services and family law agencies. Questionnaires have also been sent directly to women in the Gothenburg area who have gone through a divorce. The study includes two questionnaires. Questionnaire 2 was sent after 6 months to those women who expressed interest in participating further via Questionnaire 1. The questionnaires are designed to cover different periods of the relationship and separation. They include questions about the man's behavior in certain situations, for example during discussions about joint children or assets, how conflicts have been handled, physical, psychological and sexual violence and the relationship as a whole. The results of the study show that 60 percent of the women respondents have at some point been subjected to physical violence by the man they separated from. One purpose of the study is to investigate whether it is possible to predict the risk of violence after a separation. The study shows that the risk assessment model, to assess how great the risk is that the woman will be subjected to violence even after the separation, which is used by staff at women's shelters and crime victim shelters, is preferable to the police's way of working. It also shows that negotiations in family law are affected if the man has used violence. It often turns out that the woman lowers her demands, for example regarding custody of joint children, if the man has used violence against her. Purpose: To investigate the extent of men's violence against women in connection with and after separations, separation violence, in order to be able to say something about the risk of violence that women who are considering leaving a heterosexual relationship face.