Study: Schooled men are just as bad

A STUDY in Eastern Highlands shows that educated men are responsible for almost a third of violent offences against women.
Conducted by the Family Voice Centre based in Goroka, and the Family and Sexual Violence Action Committee, the study between 2006 and 2008 showed that men were clearly the main offenders in physical and sexual assaults.
Violence against women awareness – White Ribbon Day – will be held on Sunday.
Of the 700 victims of violence or sexual assaults, or both, interviewed, 250 said men educated up to college and tertiary levels were the perpetrators.
More than 150 said their attackers were educated up to Grade 12, compared with at least 20 who said their assailants were educated up to primary school level.
The findings added to another report (Hidden and Neglected), by the Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), early this year which highlighted family and sexual violence.
The Medecins Sans Frontieres highlighted the urgent, unmet medical and emotional needs of the survivors of family and of sexual violence in PNG, and recommended concrete action in order to help and meet the needs.
“Family and sexual violence had been recognised as an extremely serious problem in PNG for a long time.
Various studies had revealed shocking levels of violence in the community; that it is widespread, pervasive and is devastating victims and those close to them,” PNG Ports Corporation chief executive officer Stanley Alphonse said.
“That is why we (corporate citizens) have a zero-tolerance policy on violence against women and we have supported the campaign on violence against women for many years now.”
Alphonse was commenting on the company’s preparations for White Ribbon Day.
The family voice centre study found that 84% of the violence was at home and 9% in the gardens; 48% comprised non-physical form of assaults, 32% physical and 20% sexual.
In sexual assaults, 29% of the victims in the study reported being raped, 10% reported sexual violence, 9% reported touching, 8% extra-marital affairs, another 8%  abuse, 7% adultery, 6% sexual harassment, 5%  attempted rape and 5% reported marital rape.
The study found that 38% of the victims were between the ages of 21 and 30, another 28% between 31 and 40 while 19% were in the 11 to 20-year-old age group.