In international humanitarian discourse, gender-based violence against women have long been recognised as a human rights violation and described as the most extreme expression of unequal power relations between men and women (UN 1993). Using a qualitative content analysis to examine the GREVIO reports of Denmark, Finland, and Sweden, the aim of this thesis is to outline the differences between and within these states regarding their response to violence against women. Drawing on insights from feminist political theory, and especially Nordic feminist theorists, these differences are made visible using the three concepts: hegemonic discourse, contradictory effects, and boundaries (Kantola and Dahl 2005). The theoretical background is complemented by theoretical contributions from feminist understandings of violence against women. In analysing the main differences between the states, many of these differences can be derived from the fact that the three states frame the violence differently, with Sweden adopting a gender-based frame while Denmark and Finland adopt gender-neutral frames of the violence. In analysing differences within states, there are two distinct forms of differences: differences due to a gap between principle and practice, and differences between various parts of the country. The findings of this thesis may provide a base for future in-depth studies of the Nordic, women-friendly, welfare states.

Routine Activities Theory (RAT) is one of the most widely used theories to explain victimization. It has been applied to a wide range of criminal victimizations, such as property crimes (Miethe, Stafford, & Long, 1987) and urban murder (Messner & Tardiff, 1985). While traditional RAT has been used to explain violence against women, the feminist perspective of RAT developed by Schwartz and Pitts (1995) provides a better explanation by incorporating cultural factors that shape the conditions that give rise to offending. The current study draws on feminist RAT in order to explore three different types of victimization involving women: stalking, dating violence and sexual violence. In doing so, the current study extends the RAT and feminist RAT literature by more thoroughly exploring what it means to be a capable guardian and by incorporating literature on bystander intervention. Though bystander intervention literature and feminist RAT literature are similar in that they view people as having the ability to prevent violence and crime, the two areas have developed relatively separately and have rarely been integrated together. In addition to expanding the literature on RAT, this study also contributes to the bystander intervention literature by analyzing willingness to intervene in three types of cyber violence against women. Though bystander intervention research has greatly expanded throughout the years, research involving intervention into cyber stalking, cyber dating violence, and cyber sexual violence/harassment are greatly lacking. The current study employed a web based survey to assess bystander intervention in cyber violence and expand feminist and cyber RAT by analyzing victimization. College students were asked to judge their likelihood of intervention in situations involving potential dating violence, sexual harassment, and stalking. In addition, they were asked about their routine activities and components related to the theory, as well as dating violence, sexual violence and stalking victimization. Unsurprisingly, students preferred to intervene in a direct manner. In addition, there were inconsistent findings regarding victimization and routine activities theory. The results of the study are discussed in terms of implications for the development of bystander intervention programs and will expand the feminist RAT literature.

Intimate partner sexual violence (IPSV) is a public health problem andprimarily affects women. Almost 30% of all women who have been in arelationship with a man, have experienced physical or sexual violence by theirpartner in their life. Even though sexual violence is being investigated inIndia, the determinants of sexual violence are thus far little investigated,specifically the determinants of IPSV. The purpose of the study was toexamine the demographic and socioeconomic determinants of IPSV againstwomen in India. The study was carried out using a quantitative method basedon secondary data from the National Family Health Survey 4 (NFHS-4). Thevariables used was age, residential area, education, religion, wealth index andemployment (current/all year/seasonal). Descriptive statistics, Chi-square testand a multivariate logistic regression analysis were used to analyze the data.The results indicated that younger women experienced more IPSV than olderwomen, and women in rural areas lived through more IPSV than women inurban areas. However, were women with urban residency were more likely tobe exposed to IPSV, which indicates that urban residency can be a risk factorfor sexual violence. A remarkable finding was that the prevalence of IPSVamong working women was higher (9%) than nonworking women (6%), butthat the adjusted ORs showed no correlation between working status andIPSV. Current study has added further evidence of IPSV in India, usingnationally representative samples. Younger women with lower educationshould be emphasized and seen as a risk group for IPSV. An in-depth studyregarding the partner’s characteristics in India is warranted and an importantstep to chart additional determinants for IPSV. / <p>Betyg i Ladok 201214.</p>

This thesis identifies discourses of women leaving abusive male partners by examining the works on the matter by famous IPVAW researchers Viveka Enander, Carin Holmberg, and Margareta Hydén. Using discourse analysis, and thus a social constructivist approach, I have studied how the researchers explain women’s leaving processes and the resistance associated with those by drawing on the theories of Normalization of Violence and Neutralization of Violence respectively. Further, this thesis examines both what women are included in the research studies and how women leaving their abusive partners are portrayed in the material. By using an intersectional perspective, I explore who is missing from the research material and what impact their absence might have. I argue that discourses have an impact on people’s lived realities, thus who is depicted as a victim of abuse by being included as a subject in research is highly important. In short, the findings draw attention to how researchers within the same field provide different modes of explanation and thus comes to different conclusions based on the theories chosen for the study, ultimately leading to that they (re)produce different discourses which create a discursive struggle. The thesis also highlights the necessity of including an intersectional framework when researching women exposed to violence.

The aim of this following study is to clarify the differences between the swedish parties, the social democrats and the moderates strategies for how to prevent men’s violence against women at the national party level. This study is a textanalysis which aims to examine which strategies the parties think is a need for a better gender mainstreaming, the ideological perspective is taken to account when studying the parties strategies. To do the analysis, i have used the ideologies liberalism, conservatism and socialism, to study how different values are weighed against each other which is a general recommendation how something should be conducted. This can also be called a normative statement for how the parties apply ideological points of departure in their strategies. The analysis shows that the parties have differences in their proposals for action. The main difference between the parties is that the Moderates were mostly on improving the judical system, focing more in the individual, which can refer to liberalconservatism. The Social democrats had lower penalty and more measures in terms of knowledge, method development, follow up where the state had the main role. This can further refer to socialism.

Forskning inom ämnet kontrollerande beteende visade att män uppfattades mer kontrollerande än kvinnor, och att detta hade sin grund i flera historiska och sociala faktorer. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka könets betydelse för uppfattningen av kontrollerande beteende i nära relation. 126 personer (43 män och 83 kvinnor) i åldrarna 19–66, fick läsa en fiktiv vinjett inspirerad av Graham-Kevan och Archers CBR-S skala, med en manlig, kvinnlig eller ej könsbestämd kontrollerande person, för att sedan skatta sin uppfattning om personen och relationen. Resultatet visade att män uppfattades som mer kontrollerande och obehagliga än kvinnor när båda betedde sig på samma sätt. Det visade också att en kvinna som kontrollerar en relation uppfattades som mindre kontrollerande av män än av kvinnor. Slutsatsen var att manliga och kvinnliga normer även hade inverkan på uppfattningen av kontrollerande beteende. Bakgrunden till studien var att belysa ursprunget till ett av vår tids största samhällsproblem, våld mot kvinnor.

One of the major debates in Swedish politics today is violence in close relationships and against women and children. The debate has grown stronger since 2017 when Me Too revolutionized the world. This study is analyzed from a structural perspective, where Me Too is a social movement and whether it has influenced or somehow changed the criminal policy of Vänsterpartiet and Moderaterna. The focus will lay on sexual crimes. The study intends to analyze the parties' criminal policy with a focus on sexual crime issues between the years 2013 to 2020 to see if Me Too after 2017 has created change. For this study, selected motions have been taken from the parliament website and presented in an analysis. That material also accounts for the central parts of this study. As a theory for this thesis, the structure and actor model will apply. Here, Me Too stands as structure and the parties as actors. With the help of the model, the outcome of the policy should be studied over time. The structure and actors model is applied in the results in the analysis of the parties' motions. The study will seek answers to two questions. These two are, What are the similarities and differences between the criminal policy of Vänsterpartiet and Moderaterna when it comes to sexual crimes.  As a concluding discussion question, the study tries to develop whether the social movement Me Too has made any impact on the parties' criminal policy regarding sexual crimes. The conclusion of this study is that the parties differ as Vänsterpartiet is based on a feminist ideology and wants to see old norms and social structures in the form of patriarchy broken. Moderates including the debate as an integration problem. They both agree that Me Too has created change for women both in Sweden and worldwide and helped direct the spotlight on this societal problem. / <p>Utveckla de valda partiets ideologier och motivera den valda metoden. </p>

Thesis advisor: Alyssa Goldman / This study analyzes the narratives that emerged in the news media’s coverage of violent crimes against women during the #MeToo Movement. Additionally, it seeks to uncover if and how news media crime coverage differed based on the race of defendants. I conduct a content analysis of the news media coverage of the criminal cases State of Michigan v. Lawrence Gerard Nassar and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. William Henry Cosby, Jr. during the #MeToo Movement. I find that news media coverage of violent crimes against women typically exhibits an inverse relationship in which supportive portrayals of victims predict unsupportive portrayals of defendants, and vice versa. I also find some evidence to suggest that Black male defendants receive more lenient news media coverage than white male defendants. The results of this study demonstrate the power of social movements in influencing criminal justice outcomes and the news media’s role in shaping public opinion on criminal cases. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2021. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: Sociology.

This study's focus is aimed at determining the effectiveness of a protection order (PO) in South Africa obtained against gender-based violence (GBV). This legal instrument's function is to protect victims against further violation from the perpetrator. The Domestic Violence Act 116 of 1998 (DVA), grants victims the right to a PO. However, the enormous number of GBV cases in South Africa continues to increase. This alludes to South Africa's lack of adequate implementation and enforcement, in contradiction of its constitutional obligation to protect. The continued prevalence of GBV requires an investigation of whether preventative legal instruments, such as the PO, are fulfilling their purpose and the judicial implications of failure to provide protection. This study examined the international human rights law obligation South Africa has to promote and fulfil the right to protection against GBV. Extensive existing research confirms that victims of GBV, statistically, are likely to be female. It was vital to examine obligations that South Africa has assumed through regional legal mechanisms, as they similarly guide implementing protective measures against GBV. The national legal framework was revisited and the provisions in the DVA were reassessed to give a clear indication of the PO processes. The outcome of the study revealed that South Africa's PO process provisions in the DVA, have enabled South Africa to comply with its international, regional and domestic obligation to safeguard victims against GBV. However, there are glaring shortcomings in the implementation of the PO machinery. Law enforcement and prosecuting authority were found to be major contributors to these shortcomings. The research found that several of these essential service providers are challenged with full adherence to the provisions regarding the granting of the PO. These shortcomings have the effect that, in practice, South Africa has failed to comply with its obligations to international and regional human rights treaties and the South African Constitution. This study recommends ways in which POs can be applied more successfully in South Africa. The study suggests revised and strengthened legal processes, and more effectively informed intervention strategies.

Violence against women (VAW) is the most prevalent human rights violation of our time, rooted in women’s unequal status in society. Aim: The present study investigated women´s awareness of preventative and protective legislation on domestic violence and women´s awareness of campaigns against VAW across the EU. Further, it explored how EU state members´ political efforts to combat VAW might affect women´s awareness. It also examined the correlation between gender equality within EU state members and women´s awareness. In addition, the relationship between socio-demographic factors and women´s awareness was examined, including possible affects correlated with states members’ political efforts. Method: A secondary data analysis was conducted with data drawn from the 2012 FRA-VAW Survey, carried out in all 28 EU member states. Results: Results indicated that women across the EU were more aware of protective legislation than preventative regarding domestic violence, and that almost 1 in 2 women were unaware of recent campaigns against VAW in their country of residence. Results indicated that defined legislation and higher levels of gender equality within EU member states were associated with higher levels of awareness among women. Results further suggested that women with socio-demographic characteristics previously associated with inter-partner violence had particularly low awareness. Conclusion: As political and legal norms are required for VAW to be perceived as a crime, an increased emphasis on clear definitions of VAW is essential. Legal definitions of VAW and awareness of legislation are undervalued key factors in societies’ attempts to fulfil the goal of total eradication of VAW.