خشونت خانگی علیه زنان: مطالعه زمینه در ترکیه

Factors affecting domestic violence against women in four Turkish cities (Adıyaman, Sivas, Denizli and Kırklareli) having different socioeconomic structures, are analyzed in this study. These factors consist of social, cultural, economic and psychological factors. In contrast to what we expected based on earlier literature, family income level has a positive relationship with violence. Logistic regression analysis also revealed that being a university graduate and having a personal income decreases the prevalence of violence as expected. However, working women and women with children are more prone to domestic violence. Again, there is a strong association between the neighborhood where the family lives and the incidence of violence. The extent of male dominance, as measured by the question “How are decisions taken in the family” is also associated with domestic violence: woman is less likely to be abused in households where decisions are taken collectively. Likewise, families where women have to get permission from the husband to carry out certain activities, have an increased incidence of suffering from husband's violence. Psychological factors, like being abused or having witnessed violence as a child, are also significantly correlated with domestic violence.

Violence against women has gained worldwide interest among researchers in both developed and developing economies in recent years. Domestic violence or wife abuse, including physical abuse towards adult and adolescent women, by male intimate partners, is one of the most common forms of gender-based violence. A great number of detailed studies have been conducted particularly in the West, conceptualizing violent relationships and wife abuse (Brownridge & Halli, 2002; Ellsberg, Peña, Herrera, Liljestrand, & Winkvist, 2000; Ferraro & Johnson, 1983; Kirkwood, 1992 and Landenburger, 1989). Similar research has been carried out in non-Western societies as well (Amoakohene, 2004; Avotri & Walters, 2001; Casimiro, 2002 and Haj-Yahia, 2002). It is reported that in the USA, 28% of the women are subject to domestic violence by their partners at least once in their lifetime. It is also recorded that in the developing countries more than half of the female population are beaten by their husbands or partners. In India, this rate is 45%, in Philippines 47.2% and in Kenya 52% (UNESCO, 2000).

In this paper, we investigated the relationship between certain economic, social and psychological factors and domestic violence against women, based on a sample survey of four Turkish cities with varying socioeconomic indicators. The survey provides useful information regarding economic, social and psychological conditions under which domestic violence occurs in the selected urban centers of Turkey. The general characteristics of violence described in the survey data are consistent both with international and previous Turkish research, suggesting that experiences are common to women all around the world. However, there are some interesting results as well, which might be a reflection of the country's characteristics and different culture. Both the Mediterranean culture and the Islamic tradition have impacts on the culture (Müftüler-Bac, 1999). On the other hand, Turkey is also a rapidly transforming society. The results of our study, we believe, reflect certain situations that are very specific and particular to this transformation process. More than 96% of surveyed women directly answered the questions about violence and it is obvious from the answers that 27.5% of these women have experienced such violence. Some women might have failed to disclose their experiences of violence, and actual prevalence of domestic violence maybe higher than the figures presented in this study. Since women tend to understand violence as something that requires you to go to hospital (AI, 2003); or as mentioned above, being abused by the husband is usually treated as a “private” problem in the Turkish society. We can conclude that almost all the factors that fall into the inner circle of ecological factors used in our model (the age, education, domestic violence in childhood) are associated with violent behavior by the male partner. The prevalence of domestic violence is found to decrease as the age of the respondents increases over 20. This is because over time a marital relationship can achieve a degree of stability and so reduce the husband's tendency to resort to violence. After long years of marriage, a woman might also learn to cope with domestic violence. This outcome is in line with findings from other research which conclude younger women reporting more violence (Romito, Turan, & De Marchi, 2005). Our results concerning woman's educational attainment coincide with other authors’ findings both from the world (McCall & Shields, 1986; Straus, Gelles, & Steinmetz, 1980) and from Turkey (Balci & Ayrancı, 2005; Ilkkaracan, 1998 and Mayda and Akkus, 2004; Sahin & Sahin, 2003; Balci & Ayrancı, 2005). The women who had a personal history of violence in childhood, when they grow up and get married, would perceive violence as a normal behavior in punishment and conflict situations (Jewkes et al., 2002 and Romito et al., 2003; Romito et al., 2005). This would increase those women's tolerance towards violence which may also impact on their self-esteem, reducing their ability to leave potentially violent relationships. To our knowledge, there are not many studies about Turkish women who grew up in violent homes, learning behaviors in childhood which place them at risk.