Domestic Violence Encountered among Kurdish Women

Abstract

Background and objective; There is growing recognition that violence against women has a large public health impact, in addition to being a gross violation of women’s human rights. The study's aims were: To show the types of domestic abuse encountered by Kurdish women, and study the relationship between them.Methods; The study conducted in the period (15th of July to 23rd of October 2013),in order to address this issue, the researcher studied 120 women who were victims of domestic abuse living in Hawler rural and urban surroundings. Domestic abuse questionnaire were used which composed of four categories of domestic abuse which was economical, psychological, social, and physical abuse.Results: After analyzing the data, age of women studied vary (17-50 years), majority (59.1%) was married, the Mean of each abuse category was compared to another. The physical abuse category Mean was higher than others (Mean=24.61) and (SD=7.22). The second higher figure was social abuse category (Mean=16.89). The third figure was economic abuse (Mean=16.47). The last figure was psychological abuse (Mean=13.24) and (SD=5.09).Conclusion; The victims mainly reported that they encountered physical domestic abuse more than the other types of abuse; it is a public health problem of epidemic proportions. It pervades all corners of the globe, puts women’s health at risk, limits their participation in society, and causes great human suffering and need appropriate intervention.

Keywords; Domestic abuse, Kurdistan, women,