The recently released video of a woman being slapped hard in the face by a man who verbally harassed her has got France talking about sexual harassment on the streets once again. According to a study conducted in 2016, one in two women in France said they will choose trousers over a skirt to avoid becoming the victim of sexual harassment on public transport. And a 2015 survey of women commuters around Paris revealed that 100 percent of respondents said they had been a victim of sexual harassment.
85 percent of the victims were women and those living in the Paris region were at greater risk, with 7.6 percent of women aged 18-21 living in the area saying they had been sexually abused on public transport. "Young women are significantly more at risk than their older counterparts, with 2.3 percent of women aged 18-21 living in cities experiencing this behaviour," said the study.
It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of women in France are victims of abuse by their partner in every year. On the eve of International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, here's a look at the challenge France faces in combating this scourge. In France, a woman dies at the hands of her live-in partner every three days. In 2016, this amounted to 123 deaths. In 2012, 148 women were killed compared to 121 in 2011.