"My Husband Has to Stop Beating Me and I Shouldn't Go to the Police": Family Meetings, Patriarchal Bargains, and Marital Violence in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. (May 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Moore, Elena
• Is Part Of: Violence against women. Volume 26:Number 6/7(2020)
• Page Start: 675
• Page End: 696
• Publication Date: 2020-05
• Subjects: patriarchal bargain -- family -- domestic violence -- South Africa; Abused women -- Periodicals; Women -- Crimes against -- Periodicals; Violent crimes -- Periodicals; Femmes victimes de violence -- Périodiques; Femmes, Crimes contre les -- Périodiques; Crimes violents -- Périodiques; 362.8292
• DOI: 10.1177/1077801219840440
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1077-8012

Abstract

This article examines how women in South Africa, in challenging marital violence, navigate relations of patriarchal domination through appeals to the state, familial channels, or a combination of both. Using Kandiyoti's concept of "patriarchal bargains, " the article describes how women during family meetings draw upon the state to challenge patriarchy within intimate partnerships and reassert control within their marriages. However, by drawing on the state for support, women have to navigate the patriarchal domination at the macro level as the state continues to act as an oppressive entity, particularly as it continues to constrain women's access to justice.