"Is a Husband Who Gets Hit by His Wife Also a Victim?"... Only 1 in 2 Recognize Domestic Violence

Survey on Domestic Violence Awareness by the Women’s Policy Research Institute

It was found that the stereotype that the perpetrator of domestic violence is the husband and the victim is the wife is deeply rooted. Domestic violence refers to all violence occurring among family members, but one in two adults said that "violence by a wife against her husband" is not domestic violence.

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According to the "Integrated Support and Protection Measures for Victims of Domestic Violence" published on the 23rd by the Korean Women's Development Institute (Research Director: Associate Research Fellow Jeong Yeon-ju), only 11.5% of respondents properly understood the meaning of domestic violence.

Violence by a husband against a wife, violence by a wife against a husband, violence among siblings, violence by parents against children, and violence by children against parents all fall under domestic violence as defined by the Domestic Violence Punishment Act.

When the research team asked respondents to select all types of violence that come to mind when hearing the term "domestic violence," only 0.7% gave answers that matched the legal definition.

Looking at the response rates for individual items, 91.4% of respondents selected "violence by a husband against a wife," the highest among all. Comparing by gender, 93.9% of women and 88.8% of men responded, with women showing a higher rate.

Regarding other types of violence victimization, "violence by (grand)parents against (grand)children" and "violence by a wife against a husband" were next highest but only about half (52.0%, 50.0%) recognized these as domestic violence.

"Violence between cohabiting partners" is not considered domestic violence under current law, but 41.0% of respondents regarded it as domestic violence. Other types included "violence by (grand)children against (grand)parents" (37.0%) and "violence between cohabitants who are not direct ascendants or relatives" (26.5%).

When asked about the target groups of domestic violence support agencies, "wives who have suffered violence from their husbands" was the highest at 87.9%. This was followed by "(grand)children who have suffered violence from (grand)parents" at 71.6%, "husbands who have suffered violence from their wives" at 59.5%, "(grand)parents who have suffered violence from (grand)children" at 56.2%, "minors who have suffered violence from siblings" at 55.3%, and "victims of violence from cohabiting partners" at 45.4%.

This study was conducted online from November 21 to 28, 2022, targeting 754 citizens aged 19 and older nationwide. Adults with direct or indirect experience as victims or perpetrators of domestic violence (500 people) and adults with no experience as either victims or perpetrators (200 people) were prioritized for responses, and an additional survey was conducted for those aged 60 and older, who had low participation rates in mobile surveys.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.