Half of Aussie women victims of sexual violence, new report finds

A bombshell new report has raised the alarm about the long-term effect sexual violence has on Australian women.

More than half of Australian women in their 20s have experienced sexual violence, according to a new study.

The eye-opening study has revealed a third of women in their 40s have suffered sexual violence, as well as more than a quarter aged between 68 and 73.

Alarmingly, it found women in their 20s are the most likely age group to have faced sexual violence.

The findings are from a study of more than 57,000 Australian women funded by Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS).

The report found more than half of Australian women have experienced sexual violence. Picture: Generic

Chief executive Padma Raman said the findings were “shocking”.

“The evidence is shocking, but it also shows that women connected to accessible healthcare services and strong social support experience better quality of life after sexual violence,” she said.

“We need to hear that message and really invest in what works for women’s long-term recovery.”

Using data from Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health, researchers from the University of Newcastle assessed the far-reaching impact of sexual violence on women’s finances, health and wellbeing.

They found women in their 20s and 40s who are sexually abused as a child are twice as likely to have experienced sexual violence, domestic violence and physical violence as an adult.

It also said those affected are up to 45 per cent more likely to have high levels of financial stress and report worse physical and mental health, including chronic conditions and mental health issues.

Peta Former, a senior analyst on the study, said the findings connecting sexual violence in childhood to re-victimisation in adulthood needed to be taken especially seriously.

Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth called the findings disturbing. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dylan Coker

“This study disrupts some serious misconceptions about sexual violence. This research shows that sexual violence isn’t a rarity that largely happens to young women,” she said.

“Unfortunately, it’s all too common. It happens across a woman’s lifetime and sometimes starts young, in childhood.”

Ms Raman said the results showed sexual violence was a health risk and hoped the findings would inform urgent and practical change.

But researchers noted that without a nationally consistent definition of sexual violence, the true prevalence and cumulative impact go unseen.

Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth said the report was concerning.

“This research is so important to highlight this scourge which not only impacts victim-survivors in the short term, but also in a variety of ways over the long term,” she said.

The next National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children will be released in October.

Originally published as Half of Aussie women victims of sexual violence, new report finds