“Breaking the Silence”: Determinants of under-reporting of Intimate-partner Violence (IPV) among Women Survivors in Gweru Urban, Zimbabwe

'Small small quarrels bring about happiness or love in the relationships’: Exploring community perceptions and gendered norms contributing to male perpetrated intimate partner violence in the Central Region of Ghana

“…In this light, it emerged in our study that male perpetrated IPV was a common recurring practice. Although the co-occurrence of IPV forms has been reported previously [29–31], community members also described these practices as being cyclical in manner, which may lead to complex and possible interactional sequences associated with the violence [32]. In Ghana, specifically, it has been reported that multiple forms and types of violence are experienced [33].…”

“…Similar to financial abuse, verbal IPV presents as an extension of female dependence within patriarchal societies [33]. Within these contexts, gendered inequalities may be normalized through coercive mechanisms which permit men to dehumanize women and treat them as their own property [11,12,31,38,40,41]. Unfortunately, women are often seen, less as independent individuals and more as sex objects, which has implications for violent behavior directed toward them [42].…”

“…Similar to other African countries, Ghana is known to be a patriarchal society, which normalizes gendered inequalities through these forms of IPV [11,40,12,38,41,31]. Primarily, female dependence, especially in the context of widespread poverty culturally, may permit men to treat women as their own property and expect women to be submissive, and passive within marriages [12, 38].…”

“…Perspectives on the social justification of IPV have been presented by various scholars [5,53]. Studies in Africa and Ghana especially have reported the societal endorsement of male perpetrated IPV [11,31,40], noting that women were more likely to justify IPV than men. Within this context, females accept that their disobedience and disrespect regarding domestic and sexual roles are likely to attract a disciplinary measure, which may be in any IPV form [5].…”

“…In this case, the wife is seen to be challenging her husband’s authority and prerogatives should she inquire about his extramarital involvements [61]. Previous studies suggest IPV as a social discourse, which maintains power hierarchies and inequalities, with men accorded headship of the family [11,31,37,38,43,62]. Often, this male authority extends to the entire household membership, including the female partner.…”