Women most often file complaints for the offence of battery, and account for an increasing proportion of the victims of that offence. In 1998, 7,448 women, or 46.6 per cent of the total number of battery victims, were women. Those figures have continued to rise, to 8,990 (47.7 per cent) in 1999, 10,313 (50.4 per cent) in 2000 and 12,250 (51.8 per cent) in 2001.

Most of these are domestic violence cases: in 2002, 10,004 out of a total of 24,153 cases, or 40.4 per cent, occurred in the home, leading to the arrest of 7,784 perpetrators, of whom 7,028, or 90.2 per cent, were men. Women accounted for 12,818, or 52.4 per cent, of the total number of battery victims.