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About this booklet

• This booklet is for Inuit women and girls who are hurting because of violence in their relationship or in their family.
• This booklet is written for Inuit women and girls, but anyone—man or woman, young or old, Inuit or Qallunaat—who is being hurt or who is hurting others is encouraged to get help.
• Seeking help is not weakness but is a sign of strength in choosing to break cycles of violence and abuse.
• If you know someone who is hurting, you can tell her she is not alone ... and you can show her this booklet in a safe place.

This booklet is written for First Nations and Métis people who are hurting because of violence in their lives. However, everyone who is being hurt, or who is hurting others—woman or man, old or young, First Nations and Métis or not—is encouraged to get help.

When we say First Nations and Métis in this booklet, it includes all Indigenous people, but a separate publication in this series is available for Inuit.

Read this booklet if you:

• are living with violence or abuse at home —in your relationship, or in your family;
• want a healthier, happier home for you and your children; or
• are worried about another person in your family or community who is living with violence or abuse at home. 

This booklet contains information about family violence and abuse. It also contains suggestions about how to get help.

Family violence happens in all kinds of families, in all communities. It happens to Canadians and non-Canadians. It happens to people who are young and old. It happens between intimate partners and between parents and children. It may be happening to you.

Family should be a safe place. Family members should treat each other with respect and dignity, regardless of age or gender. Family violence or abuse is not acceptable. 

Also available in Arabic, Traditional Chinese, Dari, Korean, Punjabi, Russian, Somali, Spanish, Tamil, and Urdu.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) transcends age; yet, abuse is often thought of as age-specific, with an emphasis on women who are younger or of childbearing age. When this happens, the violence experienced by women who are older is rendered invisible and their voices are silenced.

Contributing to this problem are the inconsistent definitions used by researchers, which may leave out women who consider themselves as older but are not recognized as such. In this newsletter, we build upon research inclusive of a variety of ages in order to reflect a wider range of women's experiences.

While focused on women who are older, we recognize that the experiences of these women may be shaped by oppressions beyond those associated with age and gender (e.g. oppressions related to indigeneity, poverty, disability, immigra on status, sexual orientation).

This report proposes that there are currently three dominant theoretical frameworks used by researchers for understanding neglect, abuse and violence against older women.

These are:

1. Older adult mistreatment, informed by social gerontology and using a definition proposed in the Toronto Declaration on Elder Mistreatment (World Health Organization (WHO), 2002);

2. Older adult protection, informed by geriatrics and using a definition that was formalized by the National Research Council (NRC) (National Research Council, 2003); and

3, Intimate partner violence, informed by the domestic violence movement and adapting a definition originally formulated by the United States of America Centers for Disease Control (CDC) (Saltzman and others, 2002).

Quels obstacles les femmes plus âgées doivent-elles surmonter lorsqu'elles tentent d'utiliser les services et d'obtenir des soutiens?

Les participantes à l'étude « Vieillir sans violence » ont indiqué pourquoi elles croient que les femmes plus âgées victimes de violence n'utilisent pas les services :

• Elles croient qu'il s'agit d'une question personnelle (34 %)

• Elles croient qu'il n'y a aucune raison d'obtenir de l'aide (durée des mauvais traitements) (31 %)

• Elles ne connaissent pas les services o erts (19 %)

• Elles ne pensent pas que l'organisme soutient leur groupe d'âge (8 %)1

What barriers do older women experience when accessing services and supports?

Aging Without Violence research participants reported on why they believe older women experiencing violence do not access services:

• Believes it is a personal matter (34%)

• Feels there is no purpose in getting help (length of abuse) (31%)

• She is not aware of the available services (19%)

• She doesn't think your organization supports her age group (8%)

List of resources in Ontario for working with older women experiencing violence.

Domestic abuse is a complex, wide reaching and largely hidden phenomenon. Each year, around 2.1 million people suffer from domestic abuse in England and Wales. 1.4 million women (8.5% of the population) and 700,000 men (4.5% of the population). Crucially, 85% of victims made five attempts on average to get support from professionals in the year before they accessed effective help to stop the abuse.

Whilst the impact of domestic abuse is grave on all victims, certain groups experience additional challenges and barriers. Many surveys and studies, such as the Crime Survey for England and Wales, have excluded consideration for victims aged 60 plus, and awareness raising campaigns have consistently focused on younger victims and perpetrators. This serves to reinforce the false assumption that abuse ceases to exist beyond a certain age. The limited pool of research which does exist on domestic abuse and older people suggests that "older women's experiences of domestic abuse are markedly different from those in younger age groups and that these differences have not been adequately acknowledged or accounted for".