Ending abusive endings: curbing separation/divorce violence against women

Abstract

This chapter looks at some policies and practices that include a gender-based approach, in line with the empirically informed feminist assumption that the largest proportion of separation and divorce mechanisms of violence are perpetrated by men against women. Struggles for effective social support services are also hindered because high levels of underreporting result in low estimates of abuse and ultimately decrease the probability of resources being mobilized to curb separation/divorce assault and other variants of female victimization in intimate contexts. Based on an in-depth review of the extant literature, “separation and divorce” means physically, legally, or emotionally exiting a marital or cohabiting relationship. Preventing abuse that occurs during and after “dangerous exits” requires much more than legal and criminal justice reforms. Commonly, any help available to stop their abuse is culturally foreign to them, and may be only available in a language in which they are not fluent.