Research in search of an answer:
Understanding one of the social dynamics that keep battered women in abusive relationships –
cultural diversity under the hammer
by
Divya Singh
Divya Singh is director of the School of Criminal Justice at UNISA.
This paper was particularly difficult to articulate in a formal, structured format because it brings together a polyglot of intrinsically linked – yet individually independent – factors that all impact upon the development of the thinking around the topic. It is also difficult to attribute absolute themes or patterns based on racial or cultural diversity because of the differences that operate within the particular race or cultural grouping. However, acknowledging the cultural and racial heterogeneity that marks our country, it is a subject that demands interrogation and there some findings that show certain peculiarities that bear repeating for the lessons they provide.
Davis finds that societies are essentially divided into four conspicuous categories –
- Those in which male dominance is unambiguously approved.
- Those in which power is generally vested with the men but amongst sectors of the population, there is greater emphasis on equality between the sexes.
- Those where the egalitarian norms are replacing the patriarchal norms throughout the social strata.
- Those in which sexual equality and freedom are openly approved.
And power within the family is dependant on two key factors:
- the relative resources of the husband and wife and
- the cultural norms that define legitimate authority.
In Which Category Would You Place South Africa Firstly, in Terms of the Law and Secondly, in Terms of Practice? Does your answer differ?
I would argue that in South Africa, whilst there have been many (more on paper and less in practice) modifications of the historic patriarchal norms, male domination is still firmly entrenched. While there may exist an appearance of intellectual lip service to egalitarian norms, even the more educated men express a sense of threat and evidence signs of tacit support towards the maintenance of male domination.
Bearing out this assertion, in a research project undertaken with 320 male respondents constituting a cross section of South African society,
24% agreed that a man should do whatever needs to be done to ensure that his wife behaved appropriately
64% of the sample agreed that it was OK to hit a woman to chastise her
This was in keeping with the evidence from a training programme when a senior police officer expressed outrage that he should not hit his wife – 'how will I get her to obey me,' he asked.
In cases of domestic violence, central to the consideration of the battered woman's actions as reasonable – and not clinical or pathological – is to position her race and her cultural reality.
RaceGondolf and Fisher conducted a study amongst the Hispanic community in America. They found that the acknowledged superior role of the man coupled with other realities such as women marrying at a younger age, having large families, being economically dependant, and less educated than other black and white respondents, proved to be factors that locked women into abusive relationships - burdened as they were not only by language differences and discrimination, but also by limited mobility due to larger families, less personal income and more imposing marital norms.
Shamim made the same findings in India noting that despite Constitutional equality, India remains a distinctly patriarchal society and cultural factors support – and encourage – the belief in the superior role of men. She notes that battered or not, these women dislike to come out of their dependant and protected existence and face the world. They prefer economic 'security' and do not like to take risks. Moreover, employment opportunities are meagre and women often do not qualify for lack of education and skills. From her research, she states that 'In our Asian societies, the conception of marriage is the "be all and end all" for women. She perceives it as her fate and believes that nothing can undo it. Even after repeated tortures have been inflicted on her, she refuses to implicate her husband.'
This attitude was evident – with bells and whistles – in the English case of R v Ahluwalia where, despite being viciously and violently abused on numerous occasions, the accused (an Indian University graduate) wrote to her husband after he had left her as follows:
Deepak, if you come back I promise you – I won't touch black coffee again, I won't go town every week, I won't eat green chilli, and I ready to leave all my friends. Even I am not going to attend Bully's wedding. I won't laugh if you don't like, I won't dye my hair even, I don't go to my neighbours house, I won't ask you for any help.
I mention them because echoes of the plight of South African women resonate clearly in these case studies.
Traditional/Cultural Practices
Research also shows that the difference in marital norms shaped by cultural standards definitely affects a woman's decision to remain in or leave an abusive relationship. Thus, in communities where 'loyal motherhood' is given prominence, and in communities where the woman's status is based upon her position as a wife, mother and housekeeper, breaking away from the violent relationship means losing her standing and respect within the community.
It is not uncommon for the abuser to assault his victim in private and on parts of her body where the bruising does not show or cannot be seen. (So who will believe her when she declares that she's been abused?) Added to this, the shame and embarrassment (externally initiated and endemically internalised) of being an abused wife, social standards and family loyalties also often prevent the victims from confiding in other people.
As stated in the case of Jai Fong Zhou, both her friend and sister testified 'We do not normally talk to other people about what happen in our family. I mean, we talk about the good, we do not talk about the bad.'
This remained the prevalent mindset despite the parties having emigrated to New Zealand and having been living there.
Ho confirms that these values are particularly entrenched in the cultural teachings of Asian families. Accepting this as a fact, however, it is more apposite to acknowledge that similar cultural standards are the reality in most group-oriented cultures where each individual represents the entire family. The existing notion of 'loss of face' implies that the extended family clan loses respect and status when an individual is shamed. This places a severe pressure on the individual to keep harmony and order, and to minimise the conflicts and problems which could bring shame and guilt to the family. It is also interesting to recognise that in many cases, adherence to these normative values is totally unrelated to education, profession, or wealth – they are the cultural standard and must be maintained!!
Thus, in Muy Ky Chayy, she said:
I tried very hard because it is tradition that I live with my husband. Even how bad he did me but I still try very hard to be with him because the custom have to be like that. ... My custom also, even the husband do anything to us we have to be very patient.
Chayy, too, found herself living in Australia but her Chinese culture remained the overriding influence.
Similarly, during a research project on intimate violence, one of the respondents, an Indian medical doctor, stated categorically that she would never institute divorce proceedings against her husband 'because her religion did not permit her to take such a step'. She would not oppose any divorce action instituted by her husband but she would not initiate the proceedings. (He, of course, was quite content to allow the status quo to remain.)
Law and Police
About two years ago, a training programme on domestic violence was conducted with members of the South African Police Service and the standard question was raised: Why do you not attend to calls from women claiming domestic violence. The responses came quick and fast but the one that is apposite for today is that 'wife beating is accepted by black custom and reflects the traditional and tribal norms'. When checked with Professor Zungu of the Department of isi-Zulu at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, she is outspoken in her view that that was never the case, was a male styling of the traditional customs, and is a reflection of men's desire to retain patriarchal superiority.
Further, and you will hear more from Dr Olivier, our current criminal justice process is based on conduct that is often completely quite foreign to the traditional black person. For instance, the criminal justice system operates on the assumption that one can get information simply by asking questions. However, work by Stubbs and Tolmie indicates that direct questions are not culturally appropriate amongst Aboriginal English speakers as a means of eliciting personal information and often when not happy with the manner in which enquiries are made, second language English speakers will respond with 'I don't know' or 'I don't understand'.
Also, research by Lollie Makhubu on the use of the pause is relevant. Black persons speaking English will use the pause to consider and become comfortable with a thought: However, because silence functions in a negative way amongst first-language English speakers, black English speaking witnesses in court often have their silences interrupted or an inference of dishonesty is made. The problem is exacerbated in the case of victims of intimate abuse confronted with an unfamiliar, unfriendly court process. The sensitive character of the evidence, the fact that they have to accept that they are flouting several cultural norms, and their personal feelings of guilt, shame, embarrassment, result in them being loathe and slow to respond to issues.
Women also do not want to go to court – not because they're lying (and so scared) or masochistic - with a resistance to being assisted. As Walker and McCormack note, in many cases:
the act of seeking help is an acknowledgement that she has failed in her traditional role of wife and mother. Secondly, medical science recognises that there is a general trend amongst patients of post traumatic stress disorder to avoid the repetition of the traumatic event or aspects thereof.
Traditional Stereotypes
Further, based on their study, Johan and Osanka note that women who have fought back against their abusers have, traditionally, been considered unwomanly or malelike, biologically or genetically defective or simply maladjusted. The very notion of a violent female is particularly threatening to society since violence is antithetical to the traditional concepts of that which is feminine.
Thus Moore writes, the new generation of African American woman is viewed as angry, masculine, domineering, strong, sexually permissive – characteristics that are unlikely to signify them as a 'victim'. In her research on intimate abuse, Beri agrees that the same description may be attributed to Maori women, where she noted the opinion was that 'these women are often depicted as being able to endure hardships no lady is supposed to be capable of enduring.' The same attitude is often also demonstrated with reference to many African women.
Whilst these stereotypes prevail, black women face the hurdle of being viewed as participants in the violence perpetrated against them and not worthy of protection. However, such a description often forgets that most black women were forced to fight to protect themselves because of the demands of their lives and socialisation.
Consequently, there emerged at one time, a trend for women who were found guilty of the same offence as men to be sentenced to harsher punishments than their male counterparts. Just as often, they were found guilty of a more serious offence as compared to men who killed.
For example, Dong Lu Chen hammered his wife to death because he found out that she was being unfaithful to him. The defence argued that Chen's behaviour was characteristic of that of a Chinese male threatened with infidelity. In other words, the accused had acted as an ordinary reasonable Chinese person. The Superior Court of New York accepted the testimony of the expert anthropologist about the 'cultural roots' of the accused's actions and sentenced him to five years probation and no imprisonment. [In Muy Ky Chayy's case - she killed her husband after years of escalating violence - she was given 12 years imprisonment with the mandatory order that she serve a minimum of 8 years.]
So, do we still then believe that abused women are free to leave the abusive environment and that they remain either because they enjoy the battering or because it is not really as bad as they sometimes allege?
Conclusion
It is obvious that in many communities the patriarchal bias is still entrenched. There is clear evidence that the presence of male domination is directly proportional to the extent of intimate violence and abuse. And for women of colour, the abusive experience is certainly qualitatively different than that of other women. For most of them battering is only one part of the problem. Their difficulty in gaining real protection is exacerbated by the economic and cultural contexts in which they live. These obstacles effectively complicate any effort to deal with the abuse that awaits them at home.
Against this backdrop, the challenge is
as an acknowledged multicultural, multiracial society espousing the tenets of equality, do we decide that we continue to validate the anger and offensive violence of the offender or do we begin to legitimate the fear and defensive violence of the abused.
We must decide whether we find understandable and less blameworthy the act of the abused woman who kills her abuser in a situation where she acted primarily by reason of fear – a fear brought about by the abuser, himself.
