The 'Last Violent Event': The Experiences of Greek Battered Women

Abstract

This article is based on qualitative and quantitative data derived from 53 interviews conducted with Greek battered women. It documents information on the structural and dynamic aspects of the Last Violent Event experienced by them before they sought help from various services. A structured, open-ended but systematically mannered interview schedule was used to capture the details of the events and achieve comparability across interviews. Reference is made to the similarities and differences in the contexts of these events and those described by other research. This article contributes to the limited literature on wife abuse in Greece and stresses the importance of such information being brought to light in order to encourage further research, raise public awareness, ensure battered women in Greece are adequately helped and supported, and to inform policy-making processes.

Voicing the Silent Fear: South Asian Women's Experiences of Domestic Violence

“…Violence against women, expressed in its most diverse form, has long been part of the social organisation of gender relations in the South Asian community (Dasgupta 2000). Domestic violence, specifically, has turned the private sphere into a focus of public attention not only in the South Asian community, but also in other communities worldwide (Chatzifotiou, Dobash and Tsougas 2001). In the past four decades, in particular, there has been increasing worldwide concern over this issue and over systems for addressing the pressing needs of female victims of domestic violence (Coomaraswamy 1999;Imkaan 2003;Gill and Rehman 2004;Patel 2003;Rai and Thiara 1997).…”

Violence against women and institutional responses: the case of Greece

“…In addition to that, scattered data presented earlier present a further picture of the problem (Antonopoulou, 1999;Chatzifotiou et al, 2002;Pendaraki, 2003;Tsikris, 1996). These data reveal that governmental actions and policies unfortunately are still not doing enough to prevent female victimisation, to ensure that women's status is not defined relatively to the men, that women's rights are been applied to every day practice, and that women are protected by law when experiencing male violence in their own home.…”

“…From 1996 to 1998 the helpline was not in operation as a result of lack of funding. At the end of 1998, the service managed to get some more funding and was operating again, offering the same services to women as in the past (Chatzifotiou et al, 2002). The line has terminated once again, but luckily a National Helpline that has obtained adequate funding for a period of only 18 months has recently been in operation.…”

Domestic Violence against Albanian Immigrant Women in Greece: Facing Patriarchy

“…Both the list of shelters and NGOs list were retrieved from organizational material about women immigrants from DIOTIMA. 1 The organization identified five shelters in Athens and eight NGOs that work with women and immigrants. Initial contact with the shelters and NGOs were made via email, inviting employees to participate in the research directly and asking for their assistance in recruiting additional participants.…”

“…There are still some countries, however, where the issue of battered women remains relatively invisible and, as such, it is usually ignored and underreported. For example, very limited systematic research has been done in Greece [1,2] and Albania [3].…”