Women's Stolen Voices in Marriage in Ghana: The Role of Gender, Culture, and Religion in Intimate Partner Violence
As the social obligation of churches, diakonia entails both speech and deeds. This article focuses on investigating how churches address social problems of intimate partner violence from the perspectives of ten female survivors of intimate partner violence. I used the case-study narrative method. Fu...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht
2021
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| In: |
Diaconia
Year: 2021, Volume: 12, Issue: 2, Pages: 179-197 |
| IxTheo Classification: | CG Christianity and Politics KBN Sub-Saharan Africa NCC Social ethics NCF Sexual ethics RK Charity work |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | As the social obligation of churches, diakonia entails both speech and deeds. This article focuses on investigating how churches address social problems of intimate partner violence from the perspectives of ten female survivors of intimate partner violence. I used the case-study narrative method. Further, I applied gender and African feminist/womanist theories, concepts of autonomy and community, religious coping, and diakonia and ecclesiology in the analysis. An intersectionality approach helped me look deeper into the subject matter. This paper is primarily about finding out how, among others, gender socialization, culture, and religion, particularly Christian theology, intersect to shape women's experiences of abuse and to silence women's voices, thus perpetuating gender-based violence, caging women in abusive relationships in Ghana. The data suggest a minimal or complete lack of social responsibility in churches regarding intimate partner violence against women. This study calls on churches to identify the power structures that lead them to conform to patriarchal cultural norms, to strengthen their diaconal mandate, and to pursue a practical theology that empowers women to break through the culture of silence around violence. It calls for church programs that encourage survivors to re-read the Bible to uncover meanings for themselves, and for empirical studies in church interventions that develop context-sensitive models of action to address the menace. |
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| ISSN: | 2196-9027 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Diaconia
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.13109/diac.2021.12.2.179 |