In 2023, the 3919 — the national helpline for women victims of violence — received 112,593 calls. At the same time, the government quietly lowered its target for the response rate, from 85% to 75%, due to insufficient resources to cope with the growing influx of requests. Meanwhile, domestic violence is on the rise: 271,000 victims recorded in 2023, i.e., 10% more than in 2022.
What you will learn
- What official figures reveal about the real capacity of the 3919 to respond to women in distress
- Why the government lowered its own service-quality targets rather than increasing resources
- What the persistent saturation of this line says about French policy in the fight against domestic violence
112 593 calls in 2023 for a service at the end of its rope
Created in 2007 and run by the Fédération Nationale Solidarité Femmes, the 3919 has established itself as the national point of contact for anyone facing domestic violence. Since August 25, 2021, in the wake of the Grenelle on domestic violence, the line operates 24/7 — a notable advancement designed to ensure that no victim faces an emergency alone.
In 2023, the 3919 received 112,593 treatable calls according to data from the FNSF as cited by the Senate — i.e., calls that actually reached the platform, excluding hang-ups on the introductory message. Among them, 74% concerned violence against women according to a question to the National Assembly. A volume down from previous years (122,753 in 2022, 149,794 in 2021), but which remains structurally high and indicative of the scale of demand.
A service-quality target quietly revised downward
Here lies the documented paradox. In the face of the flood of calls, the government did not choose to increase resources to meet the demand. It chose to lower its own service-quality targets.
According to a document extracted from the 2023 Finance Bill and publicly revealed by socialist MP Valérie Rabault, the 3919 service-quality target was cut from 85% to 75% — a ten-point reduction in the stated ambition. In practical terms, this means the government officially accepts that one in four calls goes unanswered, versus one in seven under the original target.
In 2022, the minister in charge of Equality, Isabelle Rome, claimed a response rate of 75.8% — precisely the new threshold, now presented as an objective rather than a floor to surpass. In 2020, the rate was 60.3%, in 2021 61.9% according to Senate data — which means that in those years, nearly 4 out of 10 calls did not receive a response.
A context of violence on a constantly rising trend
What makes this assessment particularly troubling is the context in which it sits. According to the Interior Ministry, in 2023 security services recorded 271,000 victims of violence by a partner or ex-partner — up 10% from 2022. Of these, 85% are women, and 86% of those accused are men.
The demand for help thus grows structurally while response capacities struggle to keep pace. The FNSF itself notes that the peaks in 3919 calls coincide with high-profile media events — the Weinstein case, #MeToo, Grenelle 2019, Covid-19 — illustrating how the system is sensitive to current shocks without the resources to respond to them sustainably.
The structural saturation of an underfunded line
The explanations advanced by lawmakers who questioned the government on this topic converge: the number of calls has risen massively since 2017, but staff and resources allocated to the 3919 have not followed at the same pace. In 2023, the national platform operated with 9 people at the pre-acceptance stage according to Senate data — a figure that illustrates the structural fragility of the system facing a six-figure call volume.
Senator Marie-Pierre Monier, Socialist, vice-president of the delegation for women’s rights, warned about this situation during the minister’s hearing at the Senate in October 2022: reducing the response targets is a way to mask the problem rather than solve it.
What this bilan says about French policy
The budget devoted to gender equality has indeed risen — 57.7 million euros in 2023, i.e. +15% compared to 2022 according to Public Sénat. But a significant portion of this increase was allocated to creating additional accommodation places, not to strengthening the 3919’s telephone response capacity.
Parliamentary debate also touches on a possible extension of the scheme to men who are victims of domestic violence — a path that, if not accompanied by substantial additional resources, could further strain a line that is already stretched.
112,593 calls received. A downward revision of the response target to 75%. 271,000 victims recorded in 2023. The 3919 painfully illustrates what a protection mechanism yields when its ambitions repeatedly exceed the resources allocated to it.
Sources : Fédération nationale Solidarité Femmes, Synthèse 3919-2023 — Sénat, question écrite n°843, JO du 03/10/2024 — Assemblée nationale, question n°10965 — Public Sénat, octobre 2022 — Ministère de l’Intérieur, statistiques violences conjugales 2023 — PLF 2023, programme 137
