Executive Publishes Latest VAWG Report

The Executive Office has welcomed the newly published 'Ending Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG): Experiences and attitudes of adults in Northern Ireland in 2023' report.

The report presents statistics relating to people's personal experiences of a gender-based violence, their attitudes on the acceptability of gender-based violence, and what they would do if they witnessed gender-based violence.

Some of the key findings include:

• Psychological violence was the type of gender-based violence most experienced by respondents in the last five years (13%).

• A significantly higher proportion of females (10%) reported experiencing sexual violence in the last five years than males (4%).

• 18-29 year-olds experienced more sexual, psychological and online violence than other age groups. • 35% of respondents thought that most people would find cat-calling or wolf whistling acceptable compared with 21% who themselves thought that this behaviour was acceptable.

• 8% of respondents thought that sending an intimate photo/video of themselves to a woman without her agreement was acceptable compared with 19% who thought that most people would find this behaviour acceptable.

• 73% of respondents would intervene if they witnessed someone they know personally, telling a rape joke about women.

• 85% of respondents would intervene if they witnessed someone they know personally, making a woman or girl feel uncomfortable by making comments of a sexual nature.

The report is available on the Statistics and Research Branch website at:

www.executiveoffice-ni.gov.uk/publications/ending-violence-against-women-and-girls-experiences-and-attitudes-adults-northern-ireland-2023