Prevalence of violence against girls in Réunion Island
Population and Societies
n° 592, September 2021
The VIRAGE survey on violence and gender relations conducted in 2015 reveals the scale of violence against children and adolescents across mainland France. What is the situation in the French overseas departments? Examining the results of the VIRAGE survey conducted in Réunion, Stephanie Condon and her team find that the frequency of violence against minors is even higher in Réunion Island than in mainland France. They also examine the circumstances and perpetrators of abuse.
In Réunion Island, according to the VIRAGE survey conducted in three French overseas departments, 30% of women and 25% of men reported experience of violence before age 18 in different spheres of their life (school, leisure, friends, family, immediate social circle). These roportions are much higher than in mainland France. Within the family, women reported more exposure than men to violence of all kinds (psychological, physical, sexual). Most sexual abusers of girls under age 18 are men in the extended family or the family’s immediate social circle.
