Ending Violence Against Women and Girls: Experiences and attitudes of adults in Northern Ireland in 2022

The ‘Ending Violence Against Women and Girls: Experiences and attitudes of adults in Northern Ireland in 2022’ report published by The Executive Office today presents statistics relating to people’s personal experiences of a gender-based violence, their attitudes on the acceptability of violent acts or behaviours, what they would do if they saw gender-based violence and who they would report it to.

Some of the key findings include:

• One in five respondents (22%) have experienced at least one type of gender-based violence (physical, sexual, psychological, economic, online) in the last five years.
• Psychological violence was the most frequently experienced type of violence (by 16% of respondents) in the last five years.
• One in ten females (11%) and one in 50 males (2%) experienced sexual violence in the last five years.
• Younger respondents (18-39 years) experienced more gender-based violence than their older counterparts.
• One in four respondents (25%), who were aged 18-39, experienced psychological violence and almost one in five (18%) experienced online violence.
• Respondents with no religion and those with religion other than Catholic or Protestant, experienced more sexual violence, psychological violence, and online violence than those whose religion was Catholic or Protestant.
• A significantly greater proportion of respondents with disabilities experienced all types of violence compared to respondents without disabilities.
• One in five respondents (21%) found catcalling or wolf whistling acceptable behaviours.
• One in three males (29%) and one in ten females (10%) found posting a ‘joke’ or making comments of a sexual nature online acceptable.
• Three quarters of respondents (77%) would intervene if they saw someone, they personally know, telling a rape joke about women.
• Nine in ten respondents (91%) would intervene if they saw someone, they personally know, touching, hugging or kissing a woman or a girl against her will.
• If they were a victim of gender-based violence, respondents would most likely report it first to their spouse or partner, a close friend or family member, or the police.

The report is available on the Statistics and Research Branch section of The Executive Office website.

Further information relating to the collection and production of the statistics can be obtained by contacting:

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