ABSTRACT
According to statistical evidence, about one in three women in Ethiopia has experienced some form of spousal abuse in her lifetime. In the three last Demographic and Health surveys significant numbers of men and women across the country were reported to ‘justify’ wife-hitting in certain situations, although percentages have declined over time. In line with the wider gender-based violence scholarship, the majority of available studies of domestic violence from Ethiopia have assumed aetiologies that consider violence to be the outcome of an oppressive culture amplified by material constraints faced by women. However, for the most part the domestic violence scholarship lacks the empirical evidence to demonstrate the causal connection between violence and socio-cultural norms or what ‘culture’ might represent locally to people and either entirely neglects or misconstrues local religious traditions and their interface with gender normative frameworks. Chapter 3 problematises monolithic aetiologies of intimate partner violence by drawing attention to Ethiopia’s variegated gender relations and the shifts that have occurred toward an improved status for women by reference to historical, anthropological and legal studies and emphasises the importance of investigating better the intertwinements with religious beliefs and systems. Numerous lacunae are identified in the scholarship, which provide the starting point for this study. The chapter concludes with a description of the research timeline and study contexts in Ethiopia.
