Domestic Violence in Iraq: A Critical discourse analysis of passivization and gender inequality

Abstract

Women usually experience more incidents of violence than men particularly domestic violence (DV). DV includes different forms of family violence such as forced marriage and honor crimes that are perpetrated by family members. In this regard, this study intends to investigate Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) reports on DV in Iraq through the critical discourse analysis (CDA) approach. This article aims to explore the functional descriptions of the reports' language on DV and to uncover the ideology of gender inequality causes. To achieve the aims , an eclectic modal is adopted including Halliday's (1985, 1994, 2004) systemic functional linguistics (SFL) along with Fairclough's (1992, 1995, 2001) three-dimensional framework for the analysis of the linguistic devices to examine gender inequality in NGOs reports on DV. The article is conducted through the qualitative method approach. Moreover, the data tackled two reports representing DV in Iraq and presented by the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI). The conclusions indicate that there is an increased use of passive voice to talk about violence caused by male perpetrators. Further, presuppositions and references reveal that CDA can explore the relationships among language, and the ideology of gender inequality.