Muslim abused women’s experiences of seeking help from informal support systems

Abstract : Domestic violence is widespread in South Africa and considered a serious social issue. When women experience domestic violence, many reach out to informal support systems such as family, friends, neighbours and religious leaders for help. This is similar in Muslim communities where informal support systems seem to be the first point of disclosure for abused women. However, the manner in which these individuals respond to abuse is unclear. A qualitative approach was used to interview six abused Muslim women from Gauteng to understand their experiences of help-seeking from informal systems. Viewed through the prism of the eco-system, the findings at micro, meso and macro level indicated that there were both facilitating and constraining factors affecting the women‟s help-seeking. The constraining factors on a micro level were found to be emotional distress and self-blame whereas the facilitating factor was the efforts of informal systems to help abused Muslim women to learn skills and develop independence from their abusive partners. At the meso level, the constraining factors were the inlaws‟ non-responsiveness to the abuse, the silence surrounding the abuse and the lack of understanding by Muslim religious leaders. Informal networks providing tangible support for the abused women were a facilitating factor at the meso level. Sociocultural influencers, the role of marriage in Islam and the role of patriarchy and religion were the constraining factors for women when seeking help from informal supports. Domestic violence legislation was an enabling factor at the macro level. Overall, it seems that patriarchy was still deeply entrenched in Muslim communities, especially in the ways in which Quranic texts and religious scriptures were interpreted, which contributed to inadequate responses by informal systems.M.A. (Social Work