Recession Triggers Rise in Domestic Abuse
Increasing Numbers of Battered Women are Seeking Shelter
Apr 28, 2009
Sheryl Ubelacker is the Health Reporter for The Canadian Press. On April 13, 2009 she wrote a story “Domestic Abuse on Rise as Families Try to Cope with Recession” that was picked up by most news outlets in Canada.
Economic Downturn Causes Spike in Abuse
Ms. Ubelacker wrote that “Since the recession took hold, social service organizations say, there has been a significant spike in the number of Canadians seeking counselling for family violence – and the level of abuse has taken a disturbing turn for the worse.”
Following up on this, the CBC program The Current reported on April 20, 2009 that, “The Calgary Women’s Emergency Shelter runs a 24-hour family violence help line. In February [2009], it took 1,366 calls. That's a 300 percent increase from the previous year."
Lisa Falkowsky is executive director of the Calgary shelter. She told The Canadian Press, “…we’re also finding that for the women coming forward, the complexity and severity of what they’re demonstrating is much more severe than we’ve seen in a long time. I’ve got counsellors who have worked in the field 20-plus years and they’ve never seen what they’re seeing now.”
Domestic Violence Rises with Recession
The increase is not restricted to Calgary; it’s going on everywhere else in Canada and outside the country as well. Dr. Etienne Kruger is director of the Department of Injuries and Violence Prevention and Disability at the World Health Organization, and he’s been studying the problem.
When The Current’s Anna-Maria Tremonte interviewed him on April 20, 2009 he said he wasn’t surprised by the jump in violence against women.
“The research shows that during a financial crisis domestic violence becomes worse,” he said. “We have research from the U.S. that shows that when a couple has financial strain domestic violence increases almost two-fold.”
However Dr. Kruger says there is not a lot of research connecting spousal abuse to economic recessions and that more work needs to be done in this area.
Sense of Self-Worth Destroyed
Back in Calgary, Lisa Falkowsky says that domestic violence is all about power and control. She told The Canadian Press: “So if a man feels he has a lot of control over his workplace...and then suddenly loses his job, he would transfer that over to the family and try to use that power and control there in a variety of ways.”
The loss of a job has a negative impact on a breadwinner’s ability to support his family. Men in this position often experience humiliation, degradation, and shame. Some become violent as a result and turn on their spouses. Others turn on themselves and commit suicide.
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