Voices of strength and struggle: women's coping strategies against spousal violence in Pakistan

Journal of Interpersonal Violence
Rubeena ZakarAlexander Krämer

Abstract

This article documents the coping strategies adopted by women victims of spousal violence in Pakistan. By drawing on 21 in-depth interviews conducted in Lahore and Sialkot (Pakistan), we found that the women tried to cope with violence by using various strategies, both emotion focused (e.g., use of religion, placating the husband, etc.) and problem focused (e.g., seeking support from formal institutions, etc.). The data showed that a majority of the women used emotion-focused strategies, especially spiritual therapies, which somehow reduced the violence and provided them with psychosocial solace. Nonetheless, these strategies incurred some costs, such as the consumption of scarce resources, time, and emotional energy. Our data also showed that few women opted for problem-focused strategies, such as seeking help from formal institutions, as these strategies could lead to overt confrontation with their husbands and may result in divorce, the outcome least desired by most of the Pakistani women. We noted that the coping behavior of Pakistani women was complex, subjective, and nonlinear and that the boundaries between emotion-focused and problem-focused strategies were diffuse and blurred. Although the women never surrendered to vi...Continue Reading

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Citations

Dec 30, 2014·Violence Against Women·Julie YinglingJuyoung Song
Dec 12, 2017·Social Work in Health Care·Saltanat ChildressJacquelyn C Campbell
Jun 20, 2019·Violence Against Women·Blanca Ramirez, Devon Thacker Thomas
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