Domestic Violence and Patriarchy in Turkey

Abstract

Violence against women being a global epidemic that kills tortures and maims women physically and psychologically. The most common and widespread form of the violence is domestic violence. Violent behaviors such as beating, pushing, slapping or throwing things by family members; sexual, emotional, economic violence against women in the home, within the family or in a relationship is considered as domestic violence. Domestic violence is common place in Turkey though majority of women do not justify its occurrences as indicated by different nationwide studies conducted in Turkey. Instead nearly half of women who were subjected to violence remained isolation and overwhelming majority of victims avoided to get help from status apparatus. This study attempts to find out that why nearly half of women who are subjected to physical violence in Turkey did not share their experiences of violence to anyone before these studies. This study regards the patriarchal system and practices as the obstruction which deter overwhelming majority of women who are subjected to physical violence to express their suffering and seek help from state apparatus