Podcast: surveying gender-based violence

In the latest episode of the Eurostat podcast Stats in a Wrap, we explore how statistics approaches challenging aspects of criminal justice.

In May this year, the EU adopted a directive on violence against women and domestic violence, which obliges all EU countries to pass legislation to combat it. Eurostat, together with the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) and the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) coordinated an EU gender-based violence survey. It began in 2020 and the EU-wide data will be disseminated on 25th of November, on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

Our host Jonathan Elliot is joined by Lisa Collste, legal officer at the Violence Against Women team at the Gender Equality unit of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers (JUST), Marta Adiego Estella, technical advisor for Spain's government office against gender-based violence, and Merle Paats, who heads the team at Eurostat that conducted the survey.

In this episode, our guests discuss the advantages and disadvantages of various data collection methods, the challenges of designing surveys and collecting data on crimes that are deeply hidden, such as gender-based violence. They also emphasise the importance of creating a trusting survey environment for respondents, as well as the need for well-trained interviewers.

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The opinions expressed in the podcasts reflect solely the point of view of the speakers and can in no way be taken to reflect the position of Eurostat, the European Commission, or the European Union.