Women facing domestic violence should call police instead of tolerating it, officials from the All China Women's Federation and overseas experts said at a seminar yesterday.

More than 100 officials and Australian experts are attending the Sino-Australia Training Workshop on Domestic Violence, which will run through Friday.

"After reporting to police, the women should have a check of their injuries and keep the certificate for later use," Shi Qiuqin, vice president of the Shanghai Women's Federation, said.

According to Liu Yungeng, vice Party secretary of the Shanghai Committee of the Communist Party of China, domestic violence accounts for 10 percent of all violent crimes in the city.

"If we don't solve the problem immediately, domestic violence may lead to murders and affect the security of the whole society," Liu pointed out.

Pru Goward, sex discrimination commissioner at the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission in Australia, said domestic violence is a criminal assault. Anyone found assaulting his wife, even if the injury is just a bruise, can be jailed or get a suspended sentence in Australia.

Goward stressed the importance of a strong law and public awareness.

A recent survey by the All China Women's Federation in Liaoning, Shaanxi, Jiangxi and Hubei provinces showed 25.5 percent of respondents think it is okay for a husband to beat his wife if she did anything disloyal to him and 43.7 percent blame the assault on the wife.

And according to the Shanghai Women's Federation, among the 386 women who dialed the city's anti-family violence hot line, 57.7 percent said they were "often" beaten up.

(Shanghai Daily July 27, 2005)