Social Participation After Intimate Partner Violence: Investigating the Impact on Women's Citizenship

Abstract

This large mixed methods study adopted a citizenship lens to examine the impact of intimate partner violence (IPV) on women's social participation. The study found that social participation in all categories contracted dramatically during IPV and, in most cases, never regained pre-violence levels. The study also found that following initial social withdrawal, many women went on to reengage in new ways, including through political activism on gendered violence, revealing how failures on the part of the state and community to adequately respond to IPV can lead to new forms of participatory citizenship.