Domestic violence: intimate-partner and family violence

On the one hand, economic and sexual violence are examples of intimate partner violence experienced by the women interviewed. On the other hand, the expression of family violence includes economic violence, exploitation, denial of access to medical care and a place to sleep, assisted violence, and physical violence like beating or the threat of rape.

Since 16 out of 23 had no partner when they residing in their country of origin, especially given their young age, it is clear that family violence extends beyond intimate relationship violence.

37 Three women acknowledged intimate partner violence in the instances of economic violence and threat of sexual violence. The sixth interviewee (Guinean) revealed that at the age of 15, she was alone in the capital, and she had to provide for herself:

“A guy saw me, and he loved me, and I did as well. He gave me food, and that is what I needed. If it is the day of the party, he gave me money to buy new clothes and also to do my hair”.

She continues by saying:

“At 16 years old, I got pregnant. I went to my in-laws. After giving birth, my child’s father’s family told him he had to take care of my child and me alone because they could not afford it. The guy disagreed, and I had to go back to my mom’s in the village, alone with my child.”

This illustrates a power dynamic between two people, one with financial independence and the other without it. Mistreatment can result in omitting behavior such as neglect and abandonment of a minor, in this case, two minors with no economic independence. It is unclear whether the partner was a minor or an adult. The ninth interviewee (Cameroonian) displayed a similar pattern of abandonment:

“The trouble started when my dad died, and there was no one like him to protect me. My husband decided to leave me with my daughter, which is why she now has a child because of rape”.

According to her, the sexual violence her daughter experienced resulted from her spouse leaving her. It is necessary to mention that I have difficulty following the logic of all the discourses she described when reading the transcript of her interview, which may be due to her psychological instability, which intensifies and alter events. The final example comes from a Cameroonian woman who describes her partner’s threat of sexual violence:

“I was pregnant with my son, and his dad threatened me because he wanted me to have a girl with him. My girlfriend told me he did not love me, he was hurting me, and that I had to choose between him and her. I chose my friend. For me, this choice was a path of grace.” (Cameroonian, 7^th interviewee)

38 These three examples of economic violence, the ensuing abandonment, and the danger of sexual abuse show intimate partner violence. They do, however, exist inside families.

Family violence is identified as violence between family members and in the interviews, it manifests as economic violence, exploitation, denial of access to healthcare and a place to sleep, supported abuse, and physical violence such as striking or the threat of rape.

Economic violence is a form of control used against women by the main provider. The 19th respondent suffered this type of violence from her stepfather:

“My mom’s husband, after my graduation, started getting stricter with us. He wasn’t laughing anymore. He was always angry about the little things too. He told me he didn’t want to pay for my school, my university. I asked for forgiveness.”

She continues explaining why he refused to support her education:

“His mother saw me. When my stepdad came home, she told him what I did and that I didn’t have permission to break the cane and give it to the girl. I told him that he usually said that when someone asks, we have to give it to them because sharing gives abundance at home. Then he told me you shut your mouth, that I had become insolent, and that he would not pay my school. The year started, people went to school, and I was still home.”

(Cameroonian, 19th interviewee)

She explained that a hungry girl from the street came to her door and asked for a sugar cane, so she gave it as taught. Her father-in-law was enraged by this episode and, acting in his authoritarian capacity, decided not to let her finish her schooling. She is not the only person whose education has been limited. While residing with her aunt, the 23rd respondent (Guinean) attended a public school, while all her cousins attended private institutions. She said that the public education system in Guinea was inadequate and that she suffered from this inequality within the household. Luckily enough, she fought for her education and gained a public scholarship for a private university in the capital, giving her freedom from the economic violence she suffered. The latter case of economic violence was combined with other types of psychological and physical violence from her aunt:

39

“It was very difficult to live with my aunt. She made me do everything around the house, I had to prepare everything for my cousins who were children, and I wanted to leave. At home, I was abused. When I was sick, they never brought me to the hospital. I suffered alone.”

In this case of family violence, there were frequent instances of physical and mental abuse within the household. A Guinean woman (17^th interviewee) had a similar experience with her stepmother:

“I left because my stepmother abused me. My dad wasn’t there to protect me. My brothers stayed there, but for them, it was different because they are boys.”

She did not go into detail about the violence she had experienced, but she did identify gender inequality as a factor that contributed to her exposure to GBV. Another Guinean woman shared her experience of abuse perpetrated by her father:

“He’d come home late and then take us out on the street. We slept on the street with my mom, sisters, and little brother across the street from people’s terraces. Even though we were sleeping, he was kicking us out. He was beating my mom in front of us. My mom couldn’t take it anymore, and we left together.” (Guinean, 8^th interviewee)

Kicking children out of the house and suffering assisted violence against a reference figure—in this case, the mother—were two examples of the psychological violence this woman experienced. The fourteenth respondent, a 25-year-old Cameroonian, related a parallel account of violence first committed by her aunt and subsequently by her stepfather:

“My uncle’s wife abused me. She beat me. She made me go through the rough. I went to school without eating. I couldn’t stay with those conditions anymore. I decided to run away and go to my mom in the capital.” (14^th interviewee)

Once she moved to her mother’s house, she found violence in the new household. She had endured severe psychological violence, which included being expelled from the house, being threatened with rape, and suffering assisted violence on a figure of reference

40 from her stepfather. The biography of a Senegalese woman (16th interviewee) also had references to assisted violence:

“It was not a happy marriage. My dad beat up my mum”.

Domestic violence from intimate partners and family members is common for most women interviewed. No subgroups of women from nations or ages experience one type of violence more or less than others. Therefore, both types of violence are shared without distinction. In addition, tradition and culture can lead parents to perpetrate violence against women and girls, such as female genital mutilation and child and forced marriage, as explained below.