Survey on Violence against Women in Moldova

1. Survey on violence against womenNational Bureau of Statistics of the Republic of Moldova

2. In Moldova there is a considerable demand for information on domestic violence on behalf of government and civil society. the criminal statistics as in other countries do not provide real evidence on domestic violence the latest available data refers to DHS 2005 basic legal acts: a) Law on Prevention and Combating Domestic Violence (2007); b) Law on equal opportunities for men and women and National plan on implementation of law for 2010-2012 General overview

3. I. The objective of the survey: To asses the prevalence and incidence of different types of violence, frequency and severity of violence, the authors of violence, the consequences and reporting of violence, knowledge and attitudes towards violence and gender based stereotypes II. Type of survey: Stand alone survey was preferred to ad-hoc module to be attached to ongoing survey due to its sensitiveness III. Reference population group: Women aged 15 to 65 years, who live in the household at the moment of interview IV. Reference period: During the life time Last 12 months General description of the survey

4. V. Sampling strategy: four stage sample design At the first stage there were 150 PSUs originally drawn for a master sample of LFS and HBS; At the second stage there were two phases: selection and screening of hhs to find the ones with women aged 15 to 65 years; At the third stage 1575 hhs have been randomly selected; At the fourth stage from every household only one woman of the respective age has been selected. The main selection criteria was the closest birthday to the day of interview. Limitations:using a sample of already interviewed households in other surveys has advantages in terms of costs and disadvantages in terms of difficulty to contact the selected women. This problem could be solved by doing screening at the moment of the survey, but this could lead into significant additional costs. General description of the survey

5. UNECE VAW Module version 1 – adjusted to national needs The questionnaire was divided in six sections: Household composition Section R – general information about respondent Section V – relationship with current or more recent husband or intimate partner Section N – non-partner violence Section A – attitudes and knowledge about violence Section Z – completion of interview. Questionnaire module (I)

6. Official name of the survey: Violence against women in the family Recommended alternatives Survey on Situation of Women or Survey on attitudes of women on the relationship with men Definition of partner violence Women aged 15 to 65 years living with a man, regular partner without living together hasn’t been considered Partner violence has been restricted only to two partners: current or most recent partner plus previous one. In case of more than one previous violent partner, only the most violent has to be considered. Questionnaire module (II)

7. Screening techniques: - It helps to remember the every episode, but in some case women got annoyed or even irritated; Every interviewer had to start with partner violence, BUT in case if the privacy was not possible to obtain, they were allowed to start with “non-partner section” or even with “attitudes” Definitions and wording: - complemented definitions: V03A He refuses to give you enough money forcurrent household expenses, even when he has money for other things (like alcohol, cigarettes, entertainment, etc.) Questionnaire module (III)

8. Definitions and wording: - confused questions: V02A – item c) and g) “He insists on knowing where you are…” or “expects you to ask permission …” confused with “letting him know/informing him”. misunderstanding of the meaning: V04 – d) and V08 – c) Interviewers were in a situation to give explanations: V04 “Verbally threatened you or someone you care about” e.g.If you don’t do this, I will do…something.. V08 “Did your (current/recent) husband/partner force you to do something else during the sexual intercourse…or humiliating?First reaction: What exactly do you mean? Questionnaire module (IV)

9. Questionnaire module (V) • Modified/added skips: after pretesting of questionnaire • Merged questions: V11 and V12 in one question

10. Questionnaire module (VI) • Proposed skips for discussion: It is important in case of sexual violence, as women might feel embarrassed and refuse to answer to these questions

11. Questions added: After R03 “What were the reasons for ending the last relation?” General information about employment status of women Current employment status Main reasons to work and the attitudes of partner towards it What are the main reasons of not working any longer in case of unemployment Information about current or previous partner For how many years does the relation last? Level of education, employment status Specific problems of partner (alcohol, stressed by family problems or other problems, etc.) Violent episode in woman’s and current partner family Questionnaire module (VII)

12. Questions added: Non-partner violence section: information about aggressor Level of education, employment status Specific problems of partner (alcohol, stressed by family problems or other problems, etc.) Reporting of violence for partner and non-partner section as well Questionnaire module (VII)

13. Completing the interview – Section Z: Respondents were asked, if they had anything to add regarding the issues covered in the survey They were also given a toll free telephone number and a list of center for victim of violence, if they wished to speak further about their experience. A qualitative information about reaction and behavior of woman during the interview Subjective assessment of level of sincerity of respondent, on average 7% of women haven’t been sincere, in case of victims – 5% and non-victims – 8% Questionnaire module (VIII)

14. Interviewers: Only women, preferably married or having other family experience 2 days training: gender based violence and the structure of questionnaire Data collection: In rural area mobile team of interviewers was used Face to face interview Refusal rate 17.1% Main reasons of refusal: 55% - was not possible to contact household and woman 20% - considered this activity to be useless 7% - lack of time 9% - physically were not able to participate in the survey Data collection and interviewers

15. Conclusions: Survey on VAW - challenge for NBS and it turned out to be a good experience that will improve its ability to conduct survey on sensitive topics, and to ensure policymakers with key data on domestic violence. The results of different stages of survey show that domestic violence is a complex phenomenon difficult to measure and to reveal. Selection, training and supervision of the interviewers are a crucial step in order to guarantee a reliable data on this issue. Ability to establish a good relationship between respondent and interviewer is essential in helping women disclose the violence. The presence of psychologists as a part of team would be an advantage at every step of the survey Due to sensitiveness of the studied topics and a lower probability of women disclose to an unknown person, a stand alone survey seems to be a better solution comparing to ad-hoc module. Survey on violence against women

16. Conclusions: Using mobile team of interviewers implies extra costs on transportation, but it raises the chance to get a more reliable data. At the same time, these teams should be closely supervised and monitor to avoid the tendency to shortened the interview or not to follow the rules on contacting and approaching the household and women. The structure of the questionnaire needs to be revised in order to allow respondents to skip or to refuse to answer to some type of violence. The wording of the questions doesn’t name violence and it helps women disclosure. At the same time the structure of questionnaire allows to add additional questions of national interest. Need to discuss the opportunity of combining quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection. Survey on violence against women

17. Thank you for your attention! Ala Negruta Social Statistics Department National Bureau of Statistics of Moldova ala.negruta@statistica.md