Domestic violence and feminism

This chapter outlines the debates about gender to explain why men are predominantly perpetrators of domestic violence and women and children victims. It explores how feminism has been instrumental in exposing domestic violence as part of a range of tactics used to exercise power and control over women and children. It argues that feminism and social work can together lead practice and policy responses to domestic violence so gender continues to remain central. The chapter uses the term feminism to speak broadly of a movement across multiple disciplines and professional practices. It refers to gender as a social construct, that is, people learn femininity and masculinity through social interactions, but these are bound up with power relations between women and men. It then argues that domestic violence is an act of gender-based violence, mostly perpetrated by men against women in the context of an intimate relationship, to maintain control over women, a control to which men feel they are entitled.