Third of men find violence against women 'acceptable'

FRANKFURT, Germany — More than a third of men in Germany find violence against women "acceptable", according to survey results that campaigners described as "shocking" on Sunday.

A total of 33 per cent of men aged 18-35 said they found it "acceptable" if "their hand slipped" occasionally during an argument with their female partner, according to the survey set to be published by the Funke newspaper group on Monday.

Thirty-four percent of respondents admitted that they had been violent towards women in the past.

The results are "shocking", said Karsten Kassner from the Federal Forum Men, an umbrella group that advocates for gender equality.

"It's problematic that a third of the surveyed men trivialise physical violence against women. This urgently needs to change," he told the Funke newspapers.

The nationwide survey, which questioned 1,000 men and 1,000 women aged 18-35, was commissioned by children's aid organisation Plan International Germany and carried out online from March 9-21.

It further found that 52 per cent of men said they believed their role was to be the main provider in a relationship, and that that their partner should mostly run the household.

Just under half of respondents (48 per cent) also expressed a dislike for seeing public displays of homosexuality, saying they felt "disturbed" by it.

“Traditional gender roles are still deeply ingrained in people’s minds,” Alexandra Tschacher, a spokeswoman for Plan International Germany, told the Funke newspaper group.

More than 115,000 women were victims of partner violence in 2021, according to federal police data — or 13 women each hour.

A total of 369 women were killed by their current or former partner in 2021.

Justice Minister Marco Buschmann last year said he would push for legal changes to punish violence against women more severely, saying such acts should not be downplayed as “private tragedies”.

“Gender-based violence must be named as such and punished with the necessary severity,” he said at the time.