According to the 1998 Commonwealth Fund Survey of Women’s Health, nearly two of every five women have been physically or sexually assaulted, either in childhood or in their adult lives.
In all, 39% of women reported that they had been either raped, sexually assaulted, or physically abused at some point in their lives. Violence against women crossing all income, ethnic, and demographic lines, but the incidence of violence attacks was slightly greater among poor women.
Study results were based on interviews conducted with 2,011 women between May 7 and November 10, 1998. Louis Harris and Associates administered the survey, which has an error margin of plus or minus 3 points.