Domestic Violence and Women’s Dis-Empowerment in West Point Township-Monrovia, Liberia
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Date
2018-05
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Publisher
Kampala International University, Colleges of humanities and social sciences
Abstract
This study was done to establish the impact of domestic violence on women’s disempowerment in West Point Township Monrovia, Liberia, the study objectives were to determine the forms of domestic violence, examine the causes of domestic violence and how domestic violence dis empowers women in West Point Township. The study was conducted based on a sequential mixed method design in which both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection were used. Quantitatively the study used questionnaires administered to 55 women and qualitatively 8 key informant interviews and 4 gender segmented focus group discussions were conducted. The results indicate that beating constituted the highest response on domestic violence with 24%, verbal abuse 20% followed, then abandonment 17%, pushing 11%, stalking 7%, sexual assault 6% and economic violence 6%, rape 4%, marital rape 4% and isolation 4% followed as other forms of violence. The major cause of domestic violence was poverty (55% of the respondents) f followed by cultural beliefs 24%, alcoholism 15% and parenting 7%. The results further show that domestic violence has dis-empowered women in west point in various ways including Iow self-esteem, dependence, low skills, low self-confidence, and inability to solve problems, trauma, stigma, and job loss. The focus group discussion and key informant guides further show that the forms of domestic violence are majorly verbal abuses and the causes were house hold poverty and cultural issues. It was further established that domestic violence dis-empower women through earnings, education, health and the general social setup. It can be concluded that domestic violence exists in different forms in West point with the major form being physical violence in the form of beating. The study also shows that poverty and cultural barriers are the major causes of domestic violence. The study further shows that domestic violence dis-empowers the women by highly creating dependency on the family and husbands, stigma, trauma, loss of self-confidence and loss of employment. The study recommends that among others that intervention into the family management should be undertaken and the culprits of domestic violence should be apprehended. There is also need to address poverty among women through economic empowerment initiatives so that women become economically independent instead of depending on their male partners.
Description
A Research Dissertation Submitted to The College of Higher Degrees and Research in Partial Fulfillment of The Requirement for The Award of Degree of Masters of Conflict Resolution and Peace Building of Kampala International University
Keywords
Domestic Violence, Women’s Dis-Empowerment