Press Release – University of Auckland
A century of sexual abuse of women in New Zealand is analysed in a University of Auckland study.
The newly-published research looks back as far as 1922 by analysing interviews with thousands of women about their lifetime experiences.
The study indicates that one in six New Zealand women experience sexual violence from an intimate partner during their lifetime, a rate that has remained remarkably constant over the past century.
Rates of child sexual abuse and non-partner sexual assault seem to have declined slightly but remain alarmingly high at 1 in 5 for child sexual abuse and 1 in 14 for non-partner sexual assault, according to Associate Professor Janet Fanslow, of the School of Population Health, who led the research.