NASSAU, Bahamas – 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.
Government and other officials at the release of the survey on domestic violence in The BahamasThe Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) financed survey on violence against women in The Bahamas, was conducted by Sanigest International, the Panama-based consulting and management company that focuses on the social sector on behalf of the Ministry of National Security, using a computer-assisted telephone interview approach involving 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 per cent 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 with regards to sexual violence, 6.6 per cent 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 per cent of women reported their overall health was poor due to psychological and emotional abuse, and 43.6 per cent 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 per cent 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 per cent of women reported being victims of physical and sexual violence for the first time, 37 per cent had disclosed their abuse to friends, 31 per cent to their mothers, and 53 per cent sought help because they couldn’t take the abuse anymore.
Only 19 per cent of the women told police they were suffering from violence.
National Security Minister, Wayne Munroe, said the police had established a domestic violence unit that would combine policing, non-profit organisations, 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 per cent 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 the decision they have made unless you get to the bottom of why they have made that decision, and then you 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, he isn’t going to pay 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 continue to pay 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 that 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 have made an application in 2024/2025 for the renovations and furnishing. So, within the next few months, we will have at least one facility to house those individuals who may be subjected to domestic violence.”
