The National Federation of Women's Institutes (NFWI) has released a survey showing that almost half of WI members have experienced violence themselves or know someone who has experienced a form of violence in their lifetime. A third of these cases were domestic violence and almost a quarter were rape or sexual assault.
Now the NFWI is launching new research with Bristol University comparing and contrasting violence against women (VAW) in rural and urban settings. It is hoped that the findings will help to tackle stereotyping of VAW (for example, that it does not happen in rural areas and if it does, its only domestic violence) and also show what kind of support services are needed there.