Although violence is not a virus or other disease-causing agent in the conventional sense, it is nonetheless a condition that threatens the health of large numbers of women across the lifespan, beginning with child abuse and continuing through abusive dating relationships, domestic violence, assault and elder abuse.

FBI reports indicate that a woman is battered every nine seconds. Domestic violence causes more injuries than rapes, auto accidents, and muggings combined. Experts believe that current statistics underestimate the amount of violence against women in the US.

Domestic violence occurs regardless of race, culture, age, ability or educational or income levels.

Being female is a risk factor for domestic violence. In Illinois and the nation, a woman is more likely to be assaulted, injured, raped or killed by a male partner than by any other type of assailant. Mental health experts consider this particularly damaging because of the betrayal involved.

Domestic violence is a behavioral syndrome in which the level of violence tends to escalate over time. National Crime Survey data show that once a woman is victimized, her chance of being revicitmized is high. Domestic violence frequently happens over long periods of time.