evidence: Domestic violence is physically, emotionally, psychologically and socially devastating to women and can have similarly devastating effects on their infants and children. The Home Office highlights that while domestic violence can be directed at men by women and can happen in same-sex relationships, the unequivocal majority of domestic abuse (more than 77%) is committed by men against women. In the UK, one in four women experiences domestic violence and this violence accounts for almost a quarter of all crime. [...] We’ve been researching the devastating effects of domestic violence on women and children in Northern Ireland for the past ten years and what we’ve found gives a good picture of how and where violence happens. Like the UK figure, one in four women in Northern Ireland will likely experience domestic violence at some point in their lives, and some 11,000 children live with domestic violence. [...] The British Crime Survey suggests that women are at greater risk of repeat victimisation and serious injury; 89% of those suffering four or more incidents are women. However the problem appears slightly greater in Northern Ireland, where the NI Crime Survey revealed that almost half (49%) of women with repeat victimisation experienced domestic violence from a perpetrator on more than one occasion, and that a quarter (27%) were victimised on four or more occasions. For 56% of this group the violence and abuse started around the time of pregnancy and delivery of a baby.