Factors that Perpetuate
Domestic Violence
- Gender-specific socialization
- Cultural definitions of appropriate sex
roles
- Expectations of roles within
relationships
- Belief in the inherent superiority of
males
- Values that give men proprietary rights
over women and girls
- Notion of the family as the private
sphere and under male control
- Customs of marriage (bride price/dowry)
- Acceptability of violence as a means to
resolve conflict
- Economic Women’s economic dependence
on men
- Limited access to cash and credit
- Discriminatory laws regarding
inheritance, property rights, use of communal lands, and maintenance
after divorce or widowhood
- Limited access to employment in formal
and informal sectors
- Limited access to education and training
for women
- Lesser legal status of women either by
written law and/or by practice
- Laws regarding divorce, child custody,
maintenance and inheritance
- Legal definitions of rape and domestic
abuse
- Low levels of legal literacy among women
- Insensitive treatment of women and girls
by police and judiciary
- Political Under-representation of women
in power, politics, the media and in the legal and medical professions
- Domestic violence not taken seriously
- Notions of family being private and
beyond control of the state
- Risk of challenge to status
quo/religious laws
- Limited organization of women as a
political force
- Limited participation of women in
organized political system
Source:
Heise. 1994
Domestic Violence Against Women and Girls. Preliminary Edition
INNOCENTI DIGEST No.6 May 2000
UNICEF United Nations Children's Fund
Innocenti Research Centre, Florence - Italy
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