Description
This paper explores how women from different backgrounds and perspectives navigate their experiences of violence in different ways and at different points in time. The paper explores both the social and legal barriers for women, alongside how their perceptions of both violence and justice inform these decision-making processes. There is a lot of literature exploring social meanings surrounding violence and on a continuum of violence, as well as more social and economic literature that explores barriers to state systems – such as accessing police and courts. Drawing on ongoing research from 2019 to present, we have found that this picture is far more complex and there are a lot of factors that inform the different modes and means women employ to navigate a whole host of challenges and structures. Using a gendered post-colonial lens, we analyse these women’s experiences with extensive empirical insights into how and why women make decisions in relation to violence.
