Violence against Women and their Children Incident Report: Data Exploration for VAWC Awareness

Abstract

This study analyzed the cases on the Violence against Women and their Children (VAWC) in the province of Laguna to determine the level of law awareness, reasons for unreported violence incidents and preferences on reporting VAWC cases. To assess the collected responses, descriptive statistics and Kruskal Wallis were utilized. Convenience sampling was used with 356 respondents, 34 of whom were witnesses to the abuse and 65 are the victims of abuse. Majority of witnesses to the abuse were women between 16 and 20 years old while the victims were between 16 and 30 years old. Emotional abuse is the most common type witnessed regardless of age, location, civil status, occupation, or educational attainment. While physical abuse is the most common type experienced by the victims, it is frequently perpetrated by their former husbands. Ironically, respondents were “Very Aware” of the VAWC law but the 70.5% of them do not report cases due to embarrassment, fear of being blamed, inability to make own decision, and fear of societal judgment. Majority of respondents believe a mobile application and website could help report the abuses.