The findings of the first national survey on violence against women, carried out by the National Institute of Statistics (French: INS), revealed that 84.7% of polled women said they had been victims of at least one act of violence (of all types) since the age of 15. The national survey on violence against women aged 15 to 74 targeted a sample of 11,610 households in the main regions (Tunis, the southeast, the southwest, the east central region, the northwest and the northeast). This survey aims to produce quantitative indicators that would make it possible to measure violence and its incidence and identify the characteristics of female victims and perpetrators. The survey showed 57.1% of abused women had experienced an episode of violence in the 12 months prior to the survey. The survey was carried out late 2022 and its findings were presented Thursday at a workshop organised in Tunis to mark International Women's Day (March 8). Verbal and psychological violence is the most frequent type of violence (49.3 % in the 12 months before the launch of the survey), followed by sexual violence (15.6%), economic violence (11.4%) and physical violence (5.3%). In addition, findings showed 14.4% of acts of violence during this same period were committed in the virtual environment (social networks, messaging apps, etc.). Virtual violence poses a major threat for adolescent girls (aged 15/17), the survey reads. It emerged from the survey that 42.7% of married, divorced or widowed women had suffered at least one act of violence by their husbands or ex-husbands. Some characteristics of respondents were more associated with the prevalence of all types of violence. In the 12 months prior to the survey, violence would have affected 73.7% of young women aged 15 to 24, 80% of students, 70% of women with a higher level of education, 63.2% of working women, 67.4% of single women and 59.7% of women in urban areas (51% of women in rural areas). Nearly 1/3 of women said they had experienced at least one episode of sexual harassment in the 12 months prior to the survey, especially online. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse