Citation

Mahamid R, Band-Winterstein T. J. Elder Abuse Negl. 2024; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2024, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/08946566.2024.2324324

PMID

38488533

Abstract

This study addresses the retrospective experiences of older Arab Israeli women after a lifetime of living in the shadow of intimate partner violence. Qualitative research was conducted, using in-depth, semi-structured interviews of 15 Arab Israeli older women. Underlying this study is a feminist perspective and a life course perspective. Two main themes emerged: (1) socially endorsed violence against Arab Israeli women. This took several forms: men's dominant position and women's dependence, sources of violence used against women before and after marriage, and the social education of women to accept their fate. (2) The construction of a multifaceted survival identity throughout Arab Israeli women's life and old age. This identity has a variety of dimensions, including: a submissive victim identity, a rehabilitative identity of respect in old age, and a form of split identity that combines both the rehabilitative social identity and the marginal identity still experienced within the home.

Language: en

Keywords

Arab society; intimate partner violence; lifetime abuse; older women; the feminist approach; the life course perspective