NCJ Number
176317
Journal
Journal of Interpersonal Violence Volume: 12 Issue: 3 Dated: June 1997 Pages: 433-455
Date Published
1997
Length
23 pages
Annotation
This article studies ways in which family members, in particular female kin such as mothers-in-law, contribute to the violence perpetrated by husbands against wives in Bombay, India.
Abstract
Analysis of 15 case studies of domestic violence in Bombay, India, disclosed patterns that varied from the typical scenario of the lone man battering the lone woman. Structurally and culturally, older women in Indian families are subject to the authority of men, whereas supervision of younger daughters-in-law is delegated by men to older women. Older women's position as generational superiors can conflict with their loyalties to younger women on the gender hierarchy. These factors, along with the economic dependence of daughters-in-law, set the context in which domestic violence, when it occurs, can include not only the husband and wife but female kin as well. Notes, references