An Emergency Of Sexual Violence Against Native Women: Report

SEATTLE, WA - A new report from the Urban Indian Health Institute (UIHI) released this week estimates that 94 percent of homeless or low-income Native women living in the Seattle area have experienced some form of sexual violence.

According to the report "Our Bodies, Our Lives" released Wednesday, Native women are 2-1/2 times more likely to experience sexual violence than other groups - and the offender is more often non-Native. The report is based on a 2010 survey of 148 Native women living in Seattle conducted by the Urban Indian Health Institute and the Centers for Disease Control.

A little over half the women who participated in the survey lacked permanent housing, and only 8 percent reported that their attacker was convicted. The authors of the report say that acts of sexual violence against Native women are likely far under-reported.

The study mirrors a 2016 inquiry in Canada into over 1,000 missing indigenous women, including a cluster of 18 women believed murdered along a 450-mile stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway called the "Highway of Tears."

The UIHI report concludes by noting a severe lack of data on the actual rates of rape among homeless and low-income Native women.

Read the full report here:

UIHI Sexual-Violence r601 PagesFINAL by Neal McNamara on Scribd

Caption: A woman carries a fan made of feathers during a Native American dancing exhibition at the Pendleton Round-Up on Sept. 15, 2017 in Pendleton, Ore.

Photo by Natalie Behring/Getty Images