Domestic violence doesn't end with age. It affects women who live in long-term, violent relationships, who enter new relationships in old age, or who experience violence for the first time in years in a previously strained relationship. Domestic violence can intensify and change due to age-related factors.
Violence against older women was long considered taboo, but today it is increasingly recognized as a problem. However, older women are often unaware of the support services available for violence and rarely take advantage of them.
Many women who have experienced war have been raped. Out of shame and inability to speak, they avoid talking about their experiences of violence. These traumas often resurface in old age and in connection with illness or caregiving. Caregivers and institutions are usually unprepared for this. Specific support services are lacking in many cases.
Violence against women in intimate relationships. A secondary analytical evaluation to differentiate severity, patterns, risk factors, and support after experiencing violence., published by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ), 5th edition, Berlin 2014, p. 106 ff.
Website for the research project “Intimate Partner Violence against older Women”: www.ipvow.org
“Living safely in old age” Brochure from the BMFSFJ, 2022
Interview with the Paula eV advice center, FHK specialist information: Inclusion – protection from violence for all women, pp. 26-29.
The following federal associations are members of the Women’s Shelter Coordination Association
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