Citation

Gill AK, Heathcote G, Williamson E. Fem. Rev. 2016; 112(1): 1-10.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group -- Palgrave-Macmillan)

DOI

10.1057/fr.2015.55

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Violence is a key factor in the production, maintenance and legitimisation of domination and subordination. People often experience multiple forms of violence that are interrelated, co-constitutive and mutually reinforcing, and that exist at state, institutional and individual levels. This is especially true in relation to violence against women (VAW). Everyday forms of violence and violence as a daily reality are observed in various contexts but occur via diverse methods, perpetrators and agendas. VAW is understood as a salient outcome of systemic gender inequality across the globe, and is an intentionally broad term. It encompasses any physical, sexual, psychological, emotional, financial or social harm caused to a woman by individuals (known or unknown to the woman), groups, institutions or states, based primarily or in part on the fact that she is a woman. Alongside the individual occurrence of violence, and potential state interventions to challenge or address it, the state also acts as a facilitator or perpetrator of gendered violence. Throughout this special issue, the term 'VAW' is used to acknowledge the specific, gendered nature of harm women encounter, often in private or domestic arrangements, while acknowledging that VAW, and domestic violence, is linked to other systems of inequality based on sexuality, race and class. While we conceptually favour 'VAW', the terms 'gendered violence' and 'gender-based violence' are also used by the contributors to this volume. While recognising that any attempt at a definition of these terms will be complex and contested, and that they cannot be universally applied without modification or qualification to all women--as revealed by the experience of black, minority ethnic, lesbian and refugee women--this special issue of Feminist Review focuses on the gendered nature of VAW (Thiara and Gill, 2010; Donovan and Hester, 2014).

Language: en