ABSTRACT
This chapter explores quantitative data from 11 Pacific Island countries that have conducted violence against women (VAW) prevalence surveys between 2000 and 2014. It presents the history of the collection of comparable quantitative data on violence against women across cultures and contexts worldwide, and, how recently the push for such data accelerated globally, to a large extent driven by the need for monitoring relevant indicators for the Sustainable Development Goals. The chapter mentions how since 2016 in the Asia-Pacific region, the kNOwVAWdata Initiative works to address the challenges of scarcity of VAW data and VAW data collection skills. It describes the diverse Pacific subregions of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia, and provide some legal context related to domestic violence and marital rape in this region. It is found that sexual violence amplifies the negative health outcomes associated with partner violence. The chapter concludes with a reflection on the challenges of only or mainly using quantitative data to understand sexual violence cross-culturally.
