Women more likely to see abuse warning signs, new BGU study finds
Femicide, or the intentional murder of women, encompassing violence towards women in general, witnessed a considerable rise in Israel in 2020, with 20 women murdered in 12 months.
By SARAH BEN-NUNActivists protest against recent cases of violence against women at Habima square in Tel Aviv on October 21, 2020. (photo credit: MIRIAM ALSTER/FLASH90)
A recent study that analyzes how men and women view and treat warning signs of abuse and violence in relationships found that women are more sensitive and will be quicker to notice red flags in a relationship than men are, according to a Sunday announcement by Ben-Gurion University (BGU).A BGU research team was inspired by the drastic rise in violence against women — 33% in 2020 — most recently exhibited in the murder of Diana Raz by her police officer husband, to investigate the level of awareness and sensitivity that men and women have regarding violence and abuse in relationships.To test this, the BGU team conducted a survey that included 519 Israeli men and women. Conducted in tandem with Forum P7, a collection of organizations dedicated to women's causes, the study was led by Dr. Hila Riemer, the BGU's President's Advisor for the Advancement of the Status of Women in Academia, Dr. Yael Sne, a lecturer at the psychology department at BGU, and Ronit Lev-Ari, a criminologist from the Beit Ruth Village, a shelter for at risk women and girls.They found that, although both men and women recognize that there is far too much violence and abuse towards women, particularly within in Israel, the men thought it was less widespread and common than it actually is.Femicide, or the intentional murder of women, encompassing violence towards women in general, witnessed a considerable rise in Israel in 2020, with 20 women murdered in 12 months, 18 of them during the months of the pandemic.And yet, only two-thirds of sexual assault cases in Israel never full advanced in court because of a lack of evidence.Warning signs, or red flags, could include threats and acts of violence, and then the denial of said acts, the forcing of sexual acts, intense mood swings, specifically towards anger, isolation, and verbal abuse, among others.Regarding violence and abuse towards women in either more fringe groups of society or more insulated communities (like Arab families), both men and women said they thought it was more widespread and common among those groups.On a Monday in October, two women were murdered. Two days later, massive protests broke out all over the country against the violence.“We demand actions instead of excuses, and budgets instead of tweets,” the protesters said at the time.About 70% of respondents thought that "leaving the relationship immediately" was the best piece of advice to give someone in an abusive relationship. Only about half thought that the proper course of action is to rely on welfare services provided by the state.Both men and women expressed trust in and reliance on the police, and encouraged communication with the government body.“We want an initiative in the Knesset to send men to therapy,” Anita Friedman, chairwoman of World WIZO, toldThe Jerusalem Post in November. “This is a societal problem; it’s not a women’s issue. Unless we change the way that we see this and take care of it the way it should be taken care of, we cannot see it changing.”
