Rural Malawian Women’s Resistance to Systematic Oppression, Violence, and Abuse by Their Husbands

2016 ◽  
Vol 35 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 268-293
Author(s):  
Lucy Mkandawire-Valhmu ◽  
Wendy S. Bauer ◽  
Patricia E. Stevens ◽  
Loren W. Galvao ◽  
Katarina M. Grande ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Intimate Relationships ◽  
Partner Violence ◽  
Mixed Methods Study ◽  
Structural Interventions ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Qualitative Thematic Analysis ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Postcolonial Feminist ◽  
Depth Interviews

In Malawi, 41% of women aged 15 to 49 report ever experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV). Although there is evidence of the pervasiveness of IPV in Malawian society, the context in which it occurs and how women respond is not well described. The purpose of this study was to describe experiences of IPV of rural Malawian women. In-depth interviews were conducted with 55 rural Malawian women aged 21 to 75 years ( M = 39) as part of a larger, mixed-methods study. This qualitative thematic analysis highlights husbands’ IPV against wives and women’s actions to protect themselves and their children, and to thrive despite the violence. Our use of a postcolonial feminist perspective led us to acknowledge Malawian women’s acts of resistance in the midst of the harsh realities of IPV and gender inequality. We contend women’s resilience and resistance against oppression within intimate relationships are critical tools in the process of reducing IPV. Structural interventions that (a) address the multiple distal and proximal factors affecting IPV, (b) are tailored to and owned by local populations, and (c) involve both men and women as architects and active participants, we believe, hold the greatest promise for reducing IPV in Malawi.

scholarly journals Influence of Individual- and National-Level Factors on Attitudes toward Intimate Partner Violence

2016 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 685-701 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brittany E. Hayes ◽  
Katharine A. Boyd
Keyword(s):  
Intimate Partner Violence ◽  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Partner Violence ◽  
National Level ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Intimate Partner ◽  
Demographic And Health Surveys ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Individual

The study evaluated if individual- and national-level factors influence intimate partner violence (IPV) attitudes. Using Demographic and Health Surveys’ data, multilevel modeling was used to analyze 506,935 females nested in 41 nations. The results indicated that the respondents in nations with higher levels of gender inequality, measured by the Social Institutions and Gender Index, were more likely to agree a husband is justified to abuse his wife when she argues with him. National-level attitudes toward IPV and decision making at the individual level were significant predictors of IPV attitudes. The presence of another female while the survey was administered and differences across nations in question wording significantly affected IPV attitudes. The results confirm that both individual- and national-level factors shape individual IPV attitudes. National policies and programming should address gender inequality and patriarchal attitudes.

Seeing and Doing Gender at Work: A Qualitative Analysis of Canadian Male and Female Police Officers

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-109
Author(s):  
Sarah E. Murray
Keyword(s):  
Gender Bias ◽  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Police Culture ◽  
Canadian Province ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Female Police Officers ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Female Officers ◽  
Depth Interviews

This qualitative study examines the ways in which male and female police officers view and enact gender in their workplace. Data were generated from in-depth interviews with 20 active police officers working in a populous Canadian province. Although most male officers deny gender differences and gender bias, female officers describe experiences of workplace sexism and deploy adaptive strategies daily in their workplaces to resist gender inequality. Both men and women describe a masculine-coded ideal police officer and disparage the “old police culture” and “old boy’s club.”

scholarly journals Gender-collaborative training in elite university sport: Challenging gender essentialism through integrated training in gender-segregated sports

2020 ◽  
pp. 101269022098014
Author(s):  
MF Ogilvie ◽  
Mark McCormack
Keyword(s):  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Female Athletes ◽  
Gender Segregation ◽  
Gender Essentialism ◽  
Elite University ◽  
University Level ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Collaborative Training ◽  
Depth Interviews

Competitive teamsport at university level is predominantly segregated by gender in many western countries, despite concerns that gender segregation in sport can perpetuate sexism and gender inequality. While policies and activities seek to challenge sexism and gender inequality, the use of gender collaboration within a gender-segregated system as a method to achieve this has received little attention. In this article, we draw on a year-long ethnography of elite sport and 48 in-depth interviews with elite male and female athletes at a British university to explore the impact of various forms of gender mixing during training, which we call ‘gender-collaborative training’. While men’s and women’s teams competing against each other in practice matches resulted in gender-essentialist narratives attributing difference to biology, gender-integrated practices and workouts provided opportunities for men and women to train together without the gendered sport-specific associations that can reproduce sexism. We call for gender-collaborative training to be adopted by gender-segregated teams, and suggest that where there is resistance to any integration, teams start with mixed physical workouts and progress to mixed sport-specific training and then mixed competitive training.

scholarly journals Violence and adversity among pregnant women and new mothers in central Vietnam

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nguyễn Thanh Thanh Huyền
Keyword(s):  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Partner Violence ◽  
Psychological Trauma ◽  
Asian Countries ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Political Transitions ◽  
Vietnamese Women ◽  
Patriarchal Ideology ◽  
Central Vietnam ◽  
And Gender

Prenatal intimate partner violence (p-IPV) can harm the physical and mental health of mothers and their offspring, and the effects can persist throughout life. Among Asian countries, which are strongly influenced by patriarchal ideology, Confucian beliefs and gender norms, Vietnamese women are at high risk of physical and psychological trauma from abusive behaviours. Current social, economic, and political transitions can reinforce gender inequality, and also change expectations of partners within intimate relationship; this interplay has been associated with individual men’s use of violence.

scholarly journals Family Succession and Responsibilities Towards Female Gender in M’muock Villages, South West Region, Cameroon

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 254-268
Author(s):  
Nina Akwanga
Keyword(s):  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Female Gender ◽  
Girl Child ◽  
Family Head ◽  
West Region ◽  
The Family ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Mixed Approach ◽  
Depth Interviews

The article ‘Family succession and responsibilities towards female gender in M’muock villages” is an attempt to examine the role of successors towards the female gender and gender inequality. Using a mixed approach, 300 questionnaires were administered to randomly selected households while in-depth interviews were conducted with some family heads, traditional rulers and notables. Questionnaires were analyzed qualitatively while interviews were exploited using content analysis. Results depicts that family succession in the M’muock villages is discriminatory as the girl child is not allowed to succeed the father. This idea, which is backed by traditional beliefs and customs was supported by about 70% of the population. Women are given out for marriage and are not allowed to have a share of their father’s wealth. However, surveys revealed that women could only take over if there is no male child in the family or when he is incapacitated. This is seen as aspect of gender inequality and discrimination against the female folk. Nevertheless, the degree of responsibility of the child (30%), affectation towards a particular wife (44,4%°), level of education (10%), success in life (10%) and ignorance on the part of the deceased family head were identified as being accountable for changes in successorship. Gender that gender inequality prohibited by the law, this work recommends that parents should empower the girl child and give them equal opportunities as far as inheritance is concerned.

Can the “internal couple” be our faithful lifelong partner?

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-142
Author(s):  
Molly Ludlam
Keyword(s):  
Gender Identity ◽  
Intimate Relationships ◽  
Family Dynamics ◽  
Online Dating ◽  
Societal Change ◽  
Couple Relationships ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Internal Object ◽  
Lifelong Partner ◽  
And Gender

For over fifty years the concept of the “internal couple”, as a composite internal object co-constructed in intimate relationships, has been fundamental to a psycho-analytic understanding of couple relationships and their contribution to family dynamics. Considerable societal change, however, necessitates review of how effectively and ethically the concept meets practitioners’ and couples’ current needs. Does the concept of an internal couple help psychotherapists to describe and consider all contemporary adult couples, whether same-sex or heterosexual, monogamous, or polyamorous? How does it accommodate online dating, relating via avatars, and use of pornography? Is it sufficiently inclusive of those experimenting in terms of sexual and gender identity, or in partnerships that challenge family arrangement norms? Can it usefully support thinking about families in which parents choose to parent alone, or are absent at their children’s conception thanks to surrogacy, adoption, and IVF? These and other questions prompt re-examination of this central concept’s nature and value.

African Americans and the Crisis of Modernity

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 53-60
Author(s):  
Eric S. King
Keyword(s):  
African Americans ◽  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Black People ◽  
Black Family ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Economic Problems ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Crisis Of Modernity

This article examines Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun by exploring the conflict between a traditionally Southern, Afro-Christian, communitarian worldview and certain more destabilizing elements of the worldview of modernity. In addition to examining the socio-economic problems confronted by some African Americans in the play, this article investigates the worldviews by which these Black people frame their problems as well as the dynamics within the relationships of a Black family that lives at the intersection of racial, class, and gender inequality in Chicago during the latter 1950s.

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