ABSTRACT
There has been a much needed increase in research on violence against women in rural areas over the past decade. Although there are some indications that rural women in Canada may be at slightly less risk for partner violence (Johnson, 1996; Kennedy & Dutton, 1989; Lupri, 1990), the general consensus in the literature is that rural-and urban-dwelling women experience violence at similar rates (Ulbrich & Stockdale, 2002; Van Hightower & Gorton, 2002; Websdale, 1998). Given approximately equal victimization rates, the focus of this burgeoning body of research has primarily been on providing a better understanding of the unique factors impacting rural women’s lived experiences of violence and its aftermath. These research endeavours have provided a rich understanding of the vulnerable position in which many women living in rural areas find themselves (Biesenthal et al., 2000; DeKeseredy & Joseph, 2006; Hornosty & Doherty, 2001; Jiwani, Moore, & Kachuk, 1998; Kershner & Anderson, 2002; Logan, Stevenson, Evans, & Leukefeld, 2004; Logan, Walker, Cole, Ratliff, & Leukefeld, 2003; Martz & Saraurer, 2002; Shannon et al., 2006; Van Hightower & Gorton, 2002; Websdale, 1995, 1998). Nevertheless, these studies have been limited in their ability to generalize findings to the entire population. This chapter is intended to complement existing knowledge with analyses of data from three large-scale representative samples of Canada. Specifically, the purposes of this chapter are: (a) to identify the prevalence of violence against women in rural and urban areas of Canada in the 1993, 1999, and 2004 surveys; (b) to compare the operation of risk factors for violence against women in rural and urban settings across the three surveys; and (c) to compare rural and urban victims of partner violence in terms of the consequences of the violence they experience and their help-seeking behaviours across the three surveys.
