Out of 28 countries in the EU, Britain is the fourth most violent place to live if you're a woman, with 29 per cent of women (versus the EU's average of 22 per cent) reporting physical or sexual violence from a partner.
The bleak statistics were revealed earlier this week in the Violence Against Women report – the biggest ever into female abuse – by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA). They figures come amidst a slew of new statistics highlighting the reality of life for women around the world - and demonstrating just how important today's International Women's Day still is.
In addition it says that deo43 per cent of women have experienced some sort of psychological abuse from a partner, whether it be public humiliation, being locked indoors, forced to watch pornography or threatened with violence. To put that in perspective – that's four in 10 women. When it comes to sexual harassment, 68 per cent of British women have experienced it in some form since the age of 15, whereas the average for the rest of the EU is 55 per cent.
And it gets worse: 18 per cent of women have experienced some sort of stalking, whether it be in 'real life' or online, through social networks, texts or emails – with the report saying that the explosion of technlogy has made it easier to vicitimse women.
As the FRA director Morten Kjaerum puts it: 'Physical, sexual and psychological violence against women is an extensive human rights abuse in all EU member states.'
So why is Britain lagging behind the rest of the EU member states when it comes to violence against women? Dr Joanne Goodey, who co-authored the report, has a surprising and sad view – that as British women become more equal in the workplace, the inevitable 'flipside' is a rise in sexual harassment. She also said that Britain's drinking culture – specifically heavy drinking – can be directly linked to domestic violence and that we have a higher proportion of all violent crime than other EU states.
Yvette Cooper, Shadow Home Secretary, called upon the Government to do something about these figures, saying: 'The Government needs to take urgent action to stop Britain languishing at the bottom of this EU-wide league table and to stop more women becoming victims of violence.' Too true.
Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophwilkinson
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.