Feminist research consistently reveals that police and the criminal justice system are involved in only a small proportion of sexual and physical assaults against women. Hanmer and Saunders' 1981 survey of 129 women in Leeds, for example, found that 59 percent had received some form of threat, violence, or sexual harassment in the previous year. In uncovering such 'hidden' violence against women, researchers must acknowledge the social constraints against women disclosing violent sexual and physical assaults, particularly when the assailants are spouses, ex-spouses, or acquaintances. 'Hidden' violence against women has taught women they must negotiate with violent males in their daily lives through avoidance or survival behaviors. 'Hidden' violence against women and women's fear of violence are components of a gender-stratified society, one which affords men more power (and hence safety) than women. Unless policing and crime survey researchers lend credence to the concept of gender stratification, violence against women will, on mnay levels, remain hidden and continue as a threat to women in their daily lives.