Help seeking behaviour of women facing sexual violence by intimate partners in Sri Lanka

Introduction: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a social, economic and health concern affecting women world over. In 1993, the UN adopted the agreement to eliminate all forms of violence against women, leading many countries to adopt measures to curb IPV. Despite these measures, it persists and is more so in the case of sexual violence. According to the Women’s Well-being Survey (WWS)-2019 conducted by the Department of Census and Statistics, Sri Lanka, 20.4% of women have experienced physical and/or sexual violence and 6.8% sexual violence by a partner in their lifetime.

Methods: This study provide a descriptive analysis as to: a) disclose the behaviour of women victims; b) identify who among the victims of sexual violence seek help and who does not; c) examine if help is sought, from which type of person/s or institutions/organizations it is sought; and d) analyse the association between selected characteristics of women and help seeking; and e) reasons for seeking or not seeking help. The study is based on secondary data using the WWS-2019. The WWS sample was 2100 ever
partnered women aged 15 years and above.

Results: Among them, 148 reported sexual violence by an intimate partner. The analysis was based on these148 women. Among them, 79.7% have stated that someone about their intimate partner’s sexual violent behaviour, while 20.3% have not told anyone. Among those who disclosed, the majority have discussed with a parent (63.0%) and 53.4% with a sibling. In addition, 52.1% have discussed this with the police. Among those who disclosed, 49.6% have sought help while 50.4% did not.

Conclusion: The study concludes that help-seeking avoidance is a pervasive issue transcending demographic and socio-economic boundaries.