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Abstract
Investigating the experience of violence against women and exploring women's coping strategies is a crucial component of re-tailoring the provision of services for victims/survivors. This article explores violence against women in the context of culture, theory of fear of violence and literature on spaces perceived to be ‘safe’ or ‘dangerous’ by women victims/survivors of violence in Ethiopia. To collect the relevant data, we conducted 14 semi-structured interviews with Ethiopian women who are victims/survivors of violence and three interviews with gender experts in Ethiopia. Our group of women suffer in ‘silence’ and confide only in friends and relatives. They did not resort to institutional support due to lack of awareness and general societal disapproval of such measures. This contrasts with claims by experts that the needs of these women are addressed using an institutional approach. Culture, migration status and lack of negotiating power in places of work are key factors when considering violence. The majority of the respondents in this study occupy both public and private spaces such as bars and homes and have experienced violence in those spaces. The social relations and subsequent offences they endured do not make spaces such as these safe. Education of both sexes, creation of awareness, sustainable resource allocation to support victims/survivors, ratification of the Maputo protocol and effective law enforcement institutions are some of the practical strategies we propose to mitigate the incidence of violence in Ethiopia.
Investigar la experiencia de la violencia contra mujeres y explorar las estrategias de éstas para enfrentarla es un componente crucial de la readecuación de la provisión de los servicios para las víctimas/sobrevivientes. Este artículo analiza la violencia contra las mujeres en el contexto de la cultura, la teoría del miedo a la violencia y la literatura sobre los espacios que son percibidos como ‘seguros’ o ‘peligrosos’ por las mujeres víctimas/sobrevivientes de la violencia en Etiopía. Para recabar los datos relevantes, llevamos a cabo 14 entrevistas semiestructuradas con mujeres etíopes que son víctimas/sobrevivientes de violencia, y tres entrevistas con expertos en género en Etiopía. Nuestro grupo de mujeres sufren en “silencio” y sólo confían sus experiencias a amigos y parientes. No recurrieron al apoyo institucional debido a la falta de conciencia y la desaprobación social general de dicha medida. Esto contrasta con lo dichos por los expertos de que las necesidades de estas mujeres son encaradas utilizando un enfoque institucional. La cultura, el estatus migratorio y la falta de poder de negociación en los lugares de trabajo son factores claves cuando se considera la violencia. La mayoría de las encuestadas en este estudio ocupan tanto espacios públicos como privados tales como bares y los hogares y han experimentado violencia en esos espacios. Las relaciones sociales y las subsecuentes ofensas que padecieron hacen que estos espacios no sean seguros. La educación de ambos sexos, la creación de conciencia, la designación sostenida de recursos para apoyar a las víctimas/sobrevivientes, la ratificación del protocolo de Maputo y unas instituciones efectivas que hagan cumplir la ley son algunas de las estrategias prácticas que proponemos para mitigar la incidencia de la violencia en Etiopía.
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Acknowledgements
We are very grateful to the editors and all the referees of our paper. Many thanks also to Noel Admasachew who helped in the data collection effort for this research.
Notes
1. Victims are defined as women who are still enduring violence and survivors are those who have managed to move on. Often women fit into both categories at different times and in different spaces; hence, we have used the terminology victim/survivor throughout this article.
2. In some extreme cases, victims who suffer from ‘Stockholm Syndrome’ may identify with their abusers.
3. The interviews were carried out by one of the co-authors of this article who used a broker of the employment agency to contact the women who finally consented to be interviewed. The researcher is Ethiopian. See discussion of ethical issues in the text for further information.
4. The housewife interviewed in this study was recruited by a tip-off from one of the gender experts who was involved in this study. The opportunity to involve 20 more housewives was explored but it was not pursued due to time constraints.
5. Note that the agency staff members were not well informed about the major focus of this study mainly for safety and confidentiality reasons (WHO Citation2001).
6. Over 50 job-seeking men and women spend their mornings at the employment agency waiting for an approach from a potential employer. In Ethiopia employment agencies for unskilled labour are run informally, predominantly by male agents. The recruitment process is ad hoc and no contract is signed between the agent, employee and employer. The staff members of the employment agency and managers we approached played a vital role in spreading information about the purpose of our research. The agency staff and the research informants (except for the gender experts) were compensated for their time and cooperation in the form of a modest payment (Zink and Putman 2005).
7. The field researcher was a 31-year-old Ethiopian woman who speaks the official Ethiopian language Amharic as her mother tongue.
8. The money given was not part of a research fund budget for the study. It was simply what the researcher felt was appropriate to give to the persistent brokers.
9. There was an occasion on which an informant cried over the fact that she had lost her job due to the abusive behaviour of her ex-boss. On this occasion, the researcher proposed to take her out for a treat and provided information about the work of Ethiopian Women Lawyers' Association (EWLA) and its support for victims of abuse.
10. The researchers self-funded this study. Conducting the study was difficult due to the sensitive nature of the content.
11. Many of these women, especially those working in the sex industry, found it difficult to reveal their employment status. In addition, recruiting housewives through a neighbourhood by word-of-mouth proved difficult as such women found it shameful to indicate that their intimate partners abuse them.
12. EWLA is a non-statutory body working in gender-related issues and which provides free legal advice for women in seven different parts of Ethiopia.
13. These women have been victims of arranged marriages, which are commonly practised especially in the northern part of Ethiopia. Violence often results when the women object to the traditional arrangement of marriage. The violence can come from the future husband, his relatives or relatives of the victim/survivor herself.
14. Domestic servants can be abused by both men and women. Here, we discuss only the violence perpetrated by men.
15. Both of these women indicated that their status as mothers has made it difficult to break free. In Ethiopia there is a great degree of stigma attached to children who are raised without a father figure.
16. HIV is a highly prevalent sexual health problem in Ethiopia.
17. In Ethiopia, it is common for housemaids to eat the leftovers of their employers or only food that they are permitted to eat.
18. The real names of informants have been changed for confidentiality reasons.
19. As will be highlighted in the remaining part of this article, in Ethiopia there is not much institutionalised provision for victims/survivors of violence.
20. Despite the fact that her husband battered her several times, Anita has never reported such incidents to the police. The worst-case scenario was when he threw her and their seven children out of the house they jointly owned. She sued him under property law, which enabled her and her children to live in the house. Suing him under property law however does not involve reporting him to the police.
21. To our knowledge, this is the only women's refuge in Ethiopia.
22. In essence, our research was conducted to encourage the formulation of themes based on what the informants thought rather than reflecting other ‘ideals’.
23. This is a protocol in the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on women's rights which is designed to harmonise national laws with international standards and take all necessary measures to fight against violence against women. This is done particularly by tackling discrimination which encourages such violations and which perpetuates the marginalisation of women, particularly as regard to their access to justice.