For many people, violence against women is an intolerable behaviour taking place behind closed doors, in troubled personal relationships between underprivileged people with poor education and limited opportunities to improve their lives. But such a claim could not be furthest from truth. Violence against women is a classless phenomenon that permeates all social strata and appears to be challenging various stereotypes we might be holding true.

The results of the biggest ever violence against women survey in the EU are to be presented today (05.03.2014) in Brussels, at a high-level conference held under the auspices of the Greek Presidency and in cooperation with the Secretariat General of the Council of the EU.

The survey conducted by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) is based on interviews with 42,000 women across the EU’s 28 Member States, who have spoken out about their experiences of abuse at home, at work, in public and online.