Abstract
ABSTRACTBackground: Violence against women (VAW) is a central issue in gender studies and one that has united feminist activists from around the world. But this does not mean that this struggle is singular: indeed, one can say that there are many, diverse and sometimes even contradictory struggles occurring throughout the world.Objectives: To identify and analyze the different struggles faced by women from Roma organizations in Spain in relation to VAW and their work with affected women.Methods: Twelve semi-structured interviews were conducted among women actively involved in Roma associations in different Spanish cities, in 2015. An inductive thematic analysis was used to analyze the empirical materials.Results: Our analysis resulted in three themes that captured different struggles that women from Roma organizations have faced: ‘between persistence and rupture of restrictive gender norms’, ‘invisibility and normalization of violence against women’ and ‘willingness and trust in daily work with women’. The activities related to VAW carried out by the interviewed women were more related to their personal initiatives and abilities than to strategies proposed by the organizations they work for.Conclusions: The results show the need to support the initiatives of Romani women and their own struggles related to identity. This is what makes them true promoters of social change and, more specifically, change related to gender relations both within and outside of their communities.
Highlights
Violence against women (VAW) is a central issue in gender studies and one that has united feminist activists from around the world
The activities related to VAW carried out by the interviewed women were more related to their personal initiatives and abilities than to strategies proposed by the organizations they work for
Our analysis resulted in three themes that captured different struggles that women from Roma organizations in Spain faced in relation to gender norms, VAW and strategies for confronting VAW: ‘between persistence and rupture of restrictive gender norms’, ‘invisibility and normalization of VAW’ and ‘willingness and trust in daily work with women’
Summary
Violence against women (VAW) is a central issue in gender studies and one that has united feminist activists from around the world. The Roma is the largest ethnic minority group in Europe with an estimated population of 10 million in the European Union (EU) and several million more in countries outside the EU [3] It is characterized by a range of different languages, customs and means of ethnic self-identification. Compared to the general population, the health of the Roma population is disproportionately affected by social determinants including low levels of school attendance and exposure to unsuitable living conditions [6] This community presents higher rates of morbidity and mortality and worse self-perceived health, and it is more likely to experience functional disability and chronic health problems such as diabetes [7,8,9]. It has been observed that the health indicators for
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