Prevention of violence against women – Prevalence and causes

How is gender related to the prevalence of violence?

Research and authorities’ statistics show that women and girls are more likely than men and boys to be victims of intimate partner violence and sexual violence. Men, in turn, are more often the victims of violence committed by an unknown person.

Finnish and international studies show that women are more likely than men to experience repeated, long-term and severe intimate partner violence. In addition, the consequences of intimate partner violence are typically more severe for women than for men.

Women become victims of intimate partner homicide more often than men. More women die in Finland due to intimate partner violence than in other Nordic countries.

What factors explain violence against women?

Violence against women has many societal underlying factors, and knowledge of these helps to understand violence against women.

The higher prevalence of intimate partner violence and sexual violence directed at women than at men is explained by cultural perceptions of women, sexuality, equality and the acceptability of violence, as well as harmful gender norms and models of masculinity. In addition, violence is explained by learned ways of acting and individuals’ experiences in families, such as childhood attachment relationships to parents.

Historically, women in Finland have not enjoyed equal rights to safety within intimate relationships, nor equal access to education, employment, political decision-making, or economic security. For example, marital rape was not criminalised in Finland until 1994.

One underlying factor is war. According to research, violence and trauma related to wars increase the risk of intimate partner violence and may lead to a power dynamic accepting of intimate partner violence.

Sources

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Kotanen, R. (2013). Näkymättömästä näkökulmaksi: Parisuhdeväkivallan uhrit ja oikeudellisen sääntelyn muutos Suomessa. (in Finnish) Helsingin yliopisto.

Laurén, K., & Malinen, A. (2021). Shame and silences: children’s emotional experiences of insecurity and violence in postwar Finnish families. Social History, 46(2), 193–220.

Lehti, M., Kivivuori, J., Bergsdóttir, G. S., Engvold, H., Granath, S., Jónasson, J. O., Liem, M., Okholm, M. M., Rautelin, M., & Suonpää, K. (2019) Syversen, Vibeke S. Nordic homicide report : Homicide in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, 2007–2016. (in Finnish) Institute of Criminology and Legal Policy.

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Mielityinen, L., Hautamäki, S.,Hakala, V., Fagerlund, M. & Ellonen, N. (2023) Lasten ja nuorten väkivaltakokemukset 2022: Määrät, piirteet ja niiden muutokset 1988–2022 (in Finnish)

Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Statistics on offences and coercive measures [online publication]. ISSN=2342-9178. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [Referenced: 2.4.2026].

Törölä, M. & Raeste, A. (2025). Henkirikoskatsaus 2025. Kriminologian ja oikeuspolitiikan instituutti.