domestic violence

• domestic abuse

  incidents of physical, psychological or sexual abuse by a current or previous partner
• statistics

  • one incident of domestic violence is reported to the police every minute.
  • two women a week are killed by a current or former male partner.
  • for every three victims of domestic violence, two are women and one is male.
  • Yearshire: on average, a women suffers thirty-five assaults before making a report.
• impact of family life on career prospects

  • fear that a woman may become pregnant can limit promotion prospects.
  • women are seen as less reliable workers as they are more likely to take time off if their children are unwell.
  • women are seen as less committed to their careers after having children compared to men, due to roles at home.
• impact of triple shift on women 


  • Green: women tend to see their leisure time as time away from work and family commitments, whereas men consider any time away from paid work as free time.
  • Bernard: men are more satisfied with their marriage than their wives, who express feelings of emotional loneliness.
  • Oakley: women feel boredom and depression similarly to line workers in factories.
• issues with stats on domestic violence

  • Cheal found that state agencies are reluctant to get involved in the family because they assume that the family is private and individuals are free to leave if they wish.
  • victims do not report abuse to the police because of the fear of reprisal, fear of not being believed or the belief that they are to blame.
  • some abuse is difficult to prove (emotional or psychological).
  • Dar: may be difficult to separate incidents if they are continuous or if the victim cannot accurately recall.
• radical feminism on domestic violence

  • Dobash and Dobash argue that DV is evidence of patriarchy and is caused when male authority is challenged. link to recent crisis of masculinity.
  • evaluation: Elliot: not all men are violent, men can be victims too.
• the new right on domestic violence

  • Murray argues that DV only occurs in dysfunctional families and there are higher rates in lower classes due to low moral standards.
  • evaluation: domestic violence is not limited to the working-class. too much focus on violence compared to other types of abuse.
• postmodernism on domestic violence

  • Giddens argues that DV is caused by the emotional intensity of family life. increasing isolation of nuclear families increases this intensity and therefore people escalate to violence.
  • evaluation: not all families are abusive, and we choose our family structures so we can have people to vent to who are not necessarily extended family.
• Marxist feminism on domestic violence

  • Wilkinson and Pickett: DV is the result of stress on family members caused by social inequalities. having less resources than others can lead to stress and violence out of frustration. Ansley: women are takers of shit; men are frustrated by their oppression at work and take it out on their wives.
  • evaluation: does not explain male victims; not limited to working-class; not all men are violent to their wives.