Abstract

ABSTRACT Research is usually presented as unemotional and rational, as about bringing an unemotional stance to the object under examination. However, doing research on wife battering and being in direct contact with abused wives and abusers is a different experience. At the beginning I was wonied that the research would not be completed, due to the sensitivity of the topic of battered women, but also due more to the men involved. I was afraid of men's responses, and their refusal or willingness to cooperate and complete the interview. Nevertheless, after selection of the cases, I became more involved with them, to the extent that nearly drove me to a state of stress and near depression, after delving more deeply into each case and being introduced into the women's lives and the violence they suffered. Furthermore, no matter how much effort is made to literally translate the cases, words will never convey precisely the stress and emotions the female cases were describing in their lives. All this affected me as a researcher. Ultimately, I decided to gather my own emotions, affections, thoughts, with all of the facts, and put them all to paper, with suggestions on all the possible means and interventions to help rescue battered women in Egypt. The more we know about the problem of wife battering, the more we understand how deeply embedded it is in our culture. Unfortunately, some men in our culture carry out "power and control" over their wives, as a sign or "proof" of their "manliness". They often think that not being aggressive and violent towards their wives is viewed as being weak and unmanly. In this research, we will get exposed to the male model of "power", translated into wife abuse. A few pages later, we will witness some worse cases, one in which the husband beat then threw his wife off the balcony. Further on, we will also be introduced to a case where the husband has locked his bleeding wife in the house, and knowingly left her hemo1Thaging for hours, until she was rescued.

In this research, I will provide detailed description of the interviews with the battered women and their male abusers. The research focuses mainly on addressing physical violence, as well as psychological and mental abuse in marriages. For in depth interviews, samples of five battered women, and five abusive men, selected from different distrcits throughout Cairo.

This research primarily focuses on obtaining an in-depth understanding of the phenomenon of wife battering, while gaining insight into the situations that the battered women faced and the nature of violence endured by them for prolonged periods. In addition to focusing on the responses of women, I also highlight the husbands' perspectives regarding wife battering. The whole situation is interpreted in the light of power theories by political scientists

School

School of Global Affairs and Public Policy

Department

Political Science Department

Degree Name

MA in Political Science

Date of Award

2-1-2003

Online Submission Date

1-1-2002

First Advisor

Mustapha Al Sayyid

Committee Member 1

Mustapha Al Sayyid

Committee Member 2

Travor Parfitt

Committee Member 3

Hassan Abu Bakr

Document Type

Thesis

Extent

161 p.

Library of Congress Subject Heading 1

Abused wives

Library of Congress Subject Heading 2

Wife abuse

Rights

The author retains all rights with regard to copyright. The author certifies that written permission from the owner(s) of third-party copyrighted matter included in the thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study has been obtained. The author further certifies that IRB approval has been obtained for this thesis, or that IRB approval is not necessary for this thesis. Insofar as this thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study is an educational record as defined in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 USC 1232g), the author has granted consent to disclosure of it to anyone who requests a copy.

Call Number

Thesis 2002/33

Location

mgfth

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