Towards an understanding of wife battering in Zulu society
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Date
1993
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Abstract
Violence by men against women has become a common occurrence. Exact statistics are, however, not available as police, hospital and social service records reflect only those incidences that are reported, while suspected large percentage of abused cases remain hidden form public awareness.
The present study has been motivated by the fact that there is lack of literature on empirical investigations of women abused in South African families.
The aim of the study is to present^ an understanding of violence-related interactional patterns in wife battering amongst the Zulu society in Natal.
The project focused on interviewing wife-battering couples. The interviews involved individual (interviewing husband and wife separately) and joint interviews with the focus on the husband's wife's views on family interactions and battering.
The results of the study indicate that wife battering in Zulu society is embedded in cultural conflicts. Men adhere to tradition, while women are pushing for a changed definition that is more westernized.
This then, can be used as a basis for further exploratory studies which test wife battering and treatment programmes.
Description
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Clinical Psychology) in the Department of Psychology University of Zululand, 1993.
Keywords
Women abuse, Wife battering