“Can’t Fight With My Fate”: Reasons Explaining Violence-Accepting Behavior of Women in Pakistan

Abstract

Accepting physical, psychological, and economic violence is a very common practice in developing countries like Pakistan, which not only adds to the sufferings of women but also strengthens the taboos about violence in society. In this regard, a multimethod study was conducted to identify key socio-economic and legal reasons that lead to violence-accepting behavior among women in Pakistan. In the first phase, a survey of 308 women was conducted to identify 23 critical domestic violence cases. In the second phase, these critical cases were further explored using in-depth interviews to identify reasons that forced these women to accept physical, psychological, and economic violence throughout their marital life. Emerging themes included social taboos, trust deficit in legal authorities, financial dependency on parents, fear of losing children, the threat of divorce, sympathies for men, and concern for children’s rights and welfare as reasons that do not let women raise their voices against the violent behavior of their spouses. In the third phase, a focus group discussion with nine member legal and social experts was done to seek solutions to the identified reasons. Based on a detailed thematic analysis of the focus group discussion, six themes emerged, context-specific conflict resolution mechanisms, creating awareness about laws, strengthening socio-cultural and family institutions, educational reforms, awareness about rights and duties, and the role of government. The research provides indigenous reasons leading to violence-accepting behaviors and context-specific legal and social remedies to these for women in Pakistan, which is the contribution of the study.