Help Seeking Experiences of Female Victims of Intimate Partner Violence: Legal and Social Protections

Abstract

This article seeks to bring out the lived experiences of women in seeking help from the formal and informal help providers in two study sites. It mainly aims to explore the prevailing norms, cultural practices and perceptions about intimate partner violence (IPV) in the study sites through a qualitative study. It provides insightful information about the challenges victims of IPV face in pursuing redress. This paper reveals that most victims of IPV often seek help from informal help providers. In these situations, their definition of victimhood is not recognized by the society y and large. The society rather seeks to protect the integrity of the family by advising the victims to tolerate the violence. The few women who pursued formal avenues are not provided with a comprehensive remedy. Starting from the way they are treated by the police up to final judicial decisions, their peculiar situation as victims is not given the necessary consideration. This article relying on the lived experiences of female victims of IPV shows the plight of women in seeking help and recommends measures that should be taken to improve the assistance victims of IPV receive from the formal and informal help providers.

Keywords: Intimate Partner Violence, Help Seeking, Gender Based Violence, Power and Control, Legal Protections