'Fear is What Weighs Most...' Experiences of Women in Situations of Violence in Accessing Support Services in Brazil
This paper seeks to fill a knowledge gap relative to the low uptake of services for women living in situations of violence. The phenomenon is observed in many countries, including in Brazil, despite its robust legal framework to prevent and protect...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2020
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/399411584370993665/Fear-is-What-Weighs-Most-Experiences-of-Women-in-Situations-of-Violence-in-Accessing-Support-Services-in-Brazil http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33447 |
| Summary: | This paper seeks to fill a knowledge gap
relative to the low uptake of services for women living in
situations of violence. The phenomenon is observed in many
countries, including in Brazil, despite its robust legal
framework to prevent and protect women from domestic
violence. Through qualitative research, this paper explores
the experience of women survivors of violence against women
(VAW) in seeking help to exit abusive relationships, with
the aim of identifying avenues to strengthen service
delivery and violence prevention policies. The experiences
of research participants demonstrate that a complex set of
issues related to social norms, individual agency and
institutional weaknesses serve as strong barriers for
service uptake. These include women's personal
preparedness to seek support; the catalyzing or constraining
function that families, friends, peers and people in
authority can play; external barriers to accessing services;
and the availability and quality of services in different
settings. Data from this research also highlight the
importance of psycho-social support services that help
survivors make informed decisions about how to exit abusive
relationships, to rebuild their emotional stability and
self-esteem, establish economic autonomy, pursue justice,
and ultimately reconstruct their lives. |
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