NASSAU, Bahamas, CMC – A new survey has found that a significant number of women in The Bahamas suffered physical or sexual violence during their lifetime and have had challenges accessing healthcare, law enforcement, and social services.
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) financed a survey on violence against women in the Bahamas conducted by Sanigest International, a Panama-based consulting and management company focusing on the social sector, on behalf of the Ministry of National Security. It used a computer-assisted telephone interview approach and involved 1,260 women between 18 and 64.
It also included focus group discussions, round tables, and personal interviews.
Lead consultant Etoile Pinder told a news conference that about one in four women reported they either received physical violence or sexual violence within their lifetime. She said of the 272 women who reported physical violence, almost 65 percent said the violence was severe and that the physical violence included being slapped, choked, burned, kicked, or threatened with a weapon.
The survey found that about sexual violence, 6.6 percent of women reported they were forced to perform degrading or humiliating acts in their lifetime.
There were several factors associated with women suffering sexual, physical, psychological, and economic abuse in relationships, including getting financial support from a man, being unable to rely on family members, and getting sexually abused as a child.
The survey found that 44 percent of women reported their overall health was poor due to psychological and emotional abuse, and 43.6 percent who suffered from psychological abuse reported having a miscarriage.
“Internationally, domestic violence is one of the top causes of death for pregnant women. And even here, we saw that for the women who reported that they had been physically abused while pregnant,” Pinder said, adding, “over 20 percent of them reported that they had been punched within their abdomen or kicked within the area where the baby would be”.
The survey noted that 28 percent of women reported being victims of physical and sexual violence for the first time, 37 percent had disclosed their abuse to friends, 31 percent to their mothers, and 53 percent sought help because they couldn’t take the abuse anymore.
Only 19 percent of the women told police they were suffering from violence.
National Security Minister Wayne Munroe said the police had established a domestic violence unit combining policing, non-profit organizations, health services, and temporary shelters.
But he acknowledged that the police must do their part in making victims comfortable to report instead of creating an “unfriendly police station” environment.
The survey found that 53 percent of women never left their abusers and that more than one in 10 stayed because they had nowhere to go or relied on their partner financially.
“You’re never going to persuade somebody to change their decision unless you get to the bottom of why they have made that decision and then persuade them that they might consider a different decision,” Munroe said.
“So, if the woman is saying he isn’t going to pay my children’s school fees or the mortgage, if that is her reason for staying with the man, you now know that you have protective orders that the court can order him to continue to pay school fees and the mortgage. That is an answer that addresses the reason that she was tolerating the abuse.”
The study also highlighted the limited number of domestic violence shelters in the country, and Pinder noted that victims on Family Islands, for example, do not have access to domestic shelters.
Social Services Minister Myles Laroda said the government intends to purchase the US$500,000 women’s shelter his financial year.
“We intend to purchase that facility within the 2023/2024 budget. We applied for renovations and furnishing in 2024/2025. So, within the next few months, we will have at least one facility to house those individuals who may be subjected to domestic violence.”
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