Session 5(b): Bonds of Intimacy and Violence
Session 5b: Bonds of Intimacy and Violence
Chair: Kenneth A. Parsons
Domestic Violence Perpetrators Abuse of Information and Communication Technologies
Tammy Hand*, Donna Chung** and Margaret Peters
*School of Social Work and Social Policy, University of South Australia, Australia, **Director Centre for the Study of Safety and Wellbeing, School of Health and Social Studies, University of Warwick, United Kingdom
In recent years, information and communication technologies (ICT) have becomes more readily accessible, affordable and utilised by large proportions of the Australian and global community. There is evidence to suggest that these technologies, including but not limited to, mobile phones and the internet, are being used by some people to abuse, harass, stalk, intimidate and to perpetrate violence. Further these technologies are being used by abusers to perpetrate domestic violence against former and current intimate partners. While the phenomenon of domestic violence is not new, abusers are finding new methods to perpetrate domestic violence against current and former partners through the use of information and communication technologies.
One of the key aspects we have identified about ICT is that women may be unaware that they are even under surveillance by a current or former partner, or by a stranger. Thus it is important that women are aware how they can keep themselves safe while utilising information and communication technologies as part of their daily lives.
This presentation will examine how abuse and surveillance is being perpetrated with the use of information and communication technologies. The presentation will outline the types of technologies being used (which can be categorised as either telephone technologies, location and surveillance technologies and computer and internet technologies) and how such technologies are being employed by perpetrators to survey and harass current and former intimate partners. The presentation will also discuss ways in which women can keep themselves safe while using information and communication technologies and discuss the implications of safety planning and education for women where ICT forms of abuse and surveillance are occurring.
NGOs and Children, Partners in the Prevention of Domestic Violence: Experiences from Plan International’s work in Latin America
Monica Denomy
Program Manager, Plan Canada, Canada
Children in Latin America are particularly vulnerable to violence: of the 185 million children and youth in the region, over six million are victims of severe aggression, and another 80,000 are killed every year in the ‘safety’ of their own homes. PAHO identified that more than 36% of girls and 29% of boys have suffered sexual abuse.
In addressing the problem of domestic violence in the region, government institutions and community organizations typically focus on adults: either women, who are perceived as the victims, or men, who are seen as the primary aggressors. Little attention has been focused on children, however, either as victims or as partners in domestic violence prevention.
As a child-centred community development organization, Plan International has been working since 2004 to develop models for domestic violence prevention and awareness-raising, with a focus on children and youth.
By the close of the project in 2010, the project will strengthen the capacity of 15,000 children and youth and 16,000 adults in Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Honduras, El Salvador and Peru. Training sessions covered a variety of topics, including family violence, gender equity, children’s and women’s rights, violence prevention and case recognition and referral.
A number of important conclusions and recommendations have emerged from the project to date. One primary discovery was that protagonist role of children and youth in conducting community training activities for adults has not only helped to build awareness about the problem of domestic violence, but has also supported increased communication and respect between adults and children. In addition, the youth involvement in activities served to draw additional attention to the effect on children of domestic violence. Youth facilitators have built considerable skills and self-confidence through the process, which has enabled them to take an active role in other community development processes.
The Social Construction of Saudi Women’s Marital Life: Patriarchy and Domestic Violence
Haifa Baha Ezzi
Social & Marital Consultations Center, Saudi Arabia
Domestic abuse is widespread across the world. In Saudi Arabia, it is also widespread in many different forms but commonly kept under-reported and conspicuously ongoing due to strong cultural and legal reasons. The Saudi Arabian government does not collect or publish statistics about prosecutions of men who have been accused of assaulting their wives. Therefore, such cases of violence cannot be traced in official figures or statistics. Those figures collated by the Ministry of Justice represents the most reliable formal and official indicator of the problem, which are also the only available from the courts. Thus, information related to the issue of domestic violence in Saudi Arabia is still veiled or limited and has its own approach to this particular issue.
It is clear that the issue of domestic abuse is of considerable importance in Saudi Arabia but there is little research that has been carried out on this topic. If the society is to develop ways to solve this problem, the experience of women who are victims of domestic abuse needs to be explored. This exploration needs to be carried out without bias or prejudice and social science offers the framework within which such work can be conducted. It is crucially important to explore both public domain or ‘ macro ‘ level features of societies, for example the legal, political and economic and the private ‘ micro ‘ level of interaction in such societies, such as interaction between men and women within a marital relationship. It is also important to explore the linkages between public and private contexts and relationships. It is suggested that Saudi women suffer domestic abuse, since they remain the weaker partner in the marital relationship.
The objectives of this work is based on academicals study of the presenter and are as follows:
1. To identify the kind of marital relationship women and men are experiencing and how domestic abuse might occur in intimate relationships as a result of the different expectations of each spouse.
2. To identify the socio-structural, socioeconomic , cultural, political religious, relational and individual factors that influence the marital relationship in Saudi society.
3. To explore the views of married women subjected to domestic violence and the views of husbands in relation to how far they control their wives.
4. To identify the social and organizational assistance, if any, which that is available to women subjected to domestic abuse as a result of a stressful or abusive marital relationship
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