One in four women living in Gyeonggi Province reported feeling fear of stalking, dating violence, or digital sexual violence in their daily lives.
The Gyeonggi Province Women's Family Foundation published the "2025 Gyeonggi Province Women's Violence Survey Report," its second such report following the one in 2022. The survey targeted 2,000 women aged 19 to 79 residing in the province, examining their experiences of six types of violence: physical violence, emotional violence, sexual violence, economic violence, stalking, and digital sexual violence. The report also investigated responses to incidents of violence and perceptions of violence.
According to the report, emotional violence was the most commonly experienced type of violence in the past year, affecting 18.7% of respondents. This was followed by sexual violence at 9.1%, physical violence at 5.6%, economic violence at 2.0%, stalking at 1.2%, and digital sexual violence at 0.5%. Over their lifetimes, emotional violence accounted for nearly half of all cases at 44.4%, followed by physical violence at 35.8%, sexual violence at 29.7%, stalking at 4.3%, and digital sexual violence at 2.0%.
Among those who had experienced violence, incidents perpetrated by individuals in close relationships (such as current or former spouses or partners) accounted for 40.8% of emotional violence, 38.6% of physical violence, and 29.1% of sexual violence in the past year.
The percentage of respondents who had not experienced any of the six types of violence, referred to as the "no victimization rate," was 40.8%.
The proportion of those who experienced only one type of violence, known as "single victimization," was 20.7%, while the rate of "multiple victimization," meaning experience of two or more types of violence, was 38.5%. The rate of multiple victimization was thus higher than that of single victimization.
Rates of victimization by type of violence, violence in close relationships, and multiple victimization were all higher among the following groups: the elderly, those with lower educational attainment, those with lower income, individuals who were separated, divorced, or widowed, temporary or daily workers, and those in manual or simple labor jobs.
Regarding fear of violence, the most common response was "feeling afraid when walking late at night or taking a taxi" (57.3%).
This was followed by "fear of illegal filming" (39.1%) and "fear of a stranger visiting when home alone" (38.4%). Fear of sexual harassment or sexual violence (24.0%) was also reported at a high level, indicating that at least one in four women regularly feels fear of sexual violence in their daily lives.
Fear of victimization was generally higher among women in their late teens and twenties and those in their thirties. In particular, fear of illegal filming, fear of strangers visiting, and fear of moving around late at night all exceeded 50% among women in their late teens, twenties, and thirties.
Based on the findings, the report recommends strengthening protection and support policies for victims in socioeconomically vulnerable positions, developing violence prevention education content for middle-aged and older adults, and inspecting and expanding community safety facilities in the province's 31 cities and counties.
Shim Sunhee, a research fellow at the Gyeonggi Province Women's Family Foundation, stated, "Gyeonggi Province is taking a leading role in supporting victims through the Gender Violence Integrated Response Team, so continued research and attention to the patterns of women's violence victimization are required."
This survey was conducted from May 9 to May 30 of last year, targeting 2,000 women living in the province. The survey used face-to-face interviews with tablets (with paper questionnaires also used in parallel). The sampling error is ±2.2 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.
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