Society in general holds certain attitudes about women and their
proper roles. Some of these attitudes and stereotypes work in
favor of abusers and against the women who are their victims.
The following list describes some of the negative social
attitudes and practices, as well as the abuser’s actions that
are supported by the stereotypes about women:
Negative Social Attitudes
Rigid stereotypes and roles
for men and women
Women trained, by custom and
sometimes by law, to be dependent on men
The
Cinderella-and-Prince-Charming myth
Barriers to women in
employment, government, leadership
The view that men ought to
control money, jobs, all the family's major decisions
The family as an institution
discourages any member from leaving or divorce
Police, doctors, schools,
other institutions in society don't always respond quickly to
clues of abuse
Crime, poverty, and other
factors make women fearful of living alone
Tendency to over prescribe
drugs for women who are abused
The view that a woman's role
is to take care of the family, and therefore any family troubles
are the fault of the woman and are her responsibility to “fix”
Family, friends tell the
victim to try harder to be a better wife or partner
Faith community expectations
that a wife keep her marriage vows “for better or for worse”
The view that children always suffer from divorce and keeping
the family together is imperative
Created by
Mid-Valley Women's Crisis Service |
