”It is something close to normal” En kvalitativ studie om aktörers syn på våld i nära relationer i Uganda

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate and analyze how actors involved in tackling domestic violence against women in Uganda, look at issue of domestic violence, both in terms of the policies that exist in the country, and the practice that are applied. The results were analyzed through the lenses of various theoretical frameworks: the concept of patriarchy, ecological theories and theories about organizations and implementations. The analysis resulted in three different themes; causes for domestic violence, challenges that the actors are facing in the work with domestic violence and how laws and policies work in theory and practice. The results show that informants identifies different factors that are causing domestic violence, such as power inequalities, poverty, alcohol and social upbringing. Obstacles that the informants experienced in their work with domestic violence include the lack of women empowerment, the stigmatization of being single and talking about the violent husband. The obstacles also include the problems with domestic violence on the islands of Uganda. The result show that the respondents of the study agree that the implementation of the ’domestic violence act' law is lacking. The corruption in Uganda is another obstacle preventing women from enjoying their rights to a life without violence. Our conclusion is that domestic violence is a wide problem where the main causes are power imbalances within the Ugandan society. As long as the patriarchal structure continues to penetrate the society it will imply a constant opposition to raising and recognizing women's issues by political powers