Syrian Married Refugee Women Experience with Intimate Partner Violence and Their Strategies Dealing with it

Abstract

This thesis examines Syrian refugee women’s experiences with intimate partner violence (IPV) and their strategies dealing with intimate partner violence. Intimate partner violence is the most common form of violence against women in the world. It incurs social and economic costs and increases the risk of miscarriage and death in women. To investigate Syrian refugee women’s experience with intimate partner violence, this thesis relies on qualitative research methods, such as in-depth semi-structured interviews with 20 Syrian refugee married women in Ankara, and adopts a feminist approach in the process of data collection. The data were analyzed using the MAXQDA program. The thesis focuses on the experience of Syrian refugee women with intimate partner violence and their strategies to deal with it during 3 periods: the pre-war period, wartime and internal displacement, and the asylum period in Turkey. The findings show that the Syrian patriarchal traditions and customs are the driving force behind the intimate partner violence against Syrian refugee women. The results show that women experienced different forms of intimate partner violence during the three periods: before the war, during wartime and internal displacement, and the asylum in Turkey time. Also, the findings indicate that Syrian refugee women use a variety of strategies to deal with the violence by their husbands. These strategies can be grouped into women’s resources strategies (placating strategy, safety planning strategies, resistance strategies, Strategies to control negative feelings associated with violence) and external resource strategies (formal and informal resources). The findings indicate that the placating strategies are the most used among Syrian refugee women while the formal strategies, such as health care, women’s social and psychological help centers, courts, and police were the least used.