The Role of National Member States and the EU in Fighting Violence Against Women in 10 European Countries

Domestic violence is an important source of premature mortality for women worldwide, with an estimated one in three female homicides committed by an intimate partner. Among women in high income countries it can be even higher, with up to 1 in 2 female homicides being perpetrated by an intimate partner. The aim of the paper is to discuss the role of the National Members States and the EU in advocating, promoting and monitoring policies against gender violence; the paper will also present existing quantitative data on violence against women in ten high income European countries (Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and UK).

In the first part, we will analyze similarities and diversities in policies to combat violence against women, and the extent to which the different Member States, as well as the European Commission and Parliament have been players in policy-making. Items such as the National Welfare pattern, government funding, nongovernmental actions and community responses will be considered. Is there a European Welfare pattern in this context? Or, rather, are policies against gender violence strongly influenced by national societies and local activist movements?

The second part of the paper will compare domestic violence rates between Northern and Southern European countries. Based on an updated review of existing literature and a survey of official statistics homepages, the paper will examine in-depth the latest available national or provincial prevalence figures in these ten countries. Where data allows, it will be examined which sub-populations, e.g. younger or older women, or regions have a higher risk of femicide.