23,000 women working in Ireland experienced domestic violence over past year

"We know this is just the tip of the iceberg."

23,000 women working in Ireland have experienced domestic violence over the past year. New research has shown that this violence, while being emotionally and physically debilitating, also has an adverse effect on a woman's financial situation. It is estimated that each working woman affected by domestic violence in Ireland loses an average of €5,648. The new international study, commissioned by Vodafone for International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, shows that 15 percent of the global female workforce has experienced domestic violence in the past 12 months. This equates to 80 million working women across 107 countries, 5,000 of whom in Ireland have had to take time off work due to a domestic abuse incident. Over one third (38 percent) of people surveyed said that they experienced reduced productivity as a result of domestic violence.  22 percent said that they sometimes decided not to go to work. The report, carried out by KPMG, estimates that four million women across nine countries also missed out on a promotion as a result of domestic abuse, suffering an average annual salary loss of €2,600 each. It is thought that overall, an estimated €18 billion in economic output is lost each year due to domestic violence. Women's Aid's CEO Sarah Benson said that the report shows that domestic violence is a crime that affects thousands of women across Ireland, irrespective of their status. "We know this is just the tip of the iceberg and believe that it is important that women are able to access really good support from support networks, health professionals and critically, at work," she said. "It is really important to see initiatives like these from employers like Vodafone who recognise that it is an issue for staff and have brought in a number of ground-breaking initiatives to support someone who is experiencing abuse.” Earlier this year, Vodafone Ireland, an Garda Síochána and Women’s Aid launched Bright Sky, a free app to help those impacted by domestic abuse. The company also introduced a domestic abuse policy for employees earlier this year.