Background to the Research

• Religion plays a major role in Northern Irish society, a role given more depth and significance by the political conflict. The influence of religion and societal values on victims of domestic violence, members of their families, and on church representatives, is an important element in facilitating or obstructing the remedies to such violence and makes it worthy of research.
  

Research Approach

• The research involved in-depth interviews with 56 women from Northern Ireland who had experienced domestic violence. The samples were drawn from one urban and one rural area.
  

Main Findings

Profile of the Sample

• At the time of interview 22 of the women were living in refuges, 28 had already ended their relationships and were resettled in the community, and 6 were still living with their partners.
• The sample consisted of 22 Protestant women and 31 Catholic women, and 3 were from the Traveller community. The women ranged in age from 18 to 52 years, were predominantly working class. Some of the women were from middle-class or professional households and from farming families. The majority of women were from large towns and a small number were from rural areas.
• As a result of domestic violence, over half the women needed medical treatment for their injuries and almost a quarter needed hospital treatment at least once. Over a third were hit when pregnant and two had suffered miscarriages. One woman reported having buried a child because of violence and a number reported marital rape.
• Women's accounts of domestic violence supported the view that men use violence to maintain their power in the family and to control their partner' behaviour. Women reported being followed, questioned about their movements, being drained of confidence and isolated from family and friends.
• Women frequently reported being abused when they stepped outside, or attempted to step outside, the traditional role that their partner had ascribed to them. Only a minority of the women in the sample were in regular employment and it was made difficult for them to maintain their jobs. Isolation from a social network and lack of access to resources made it more difficult for women to leave the relationship.

Clerical Responses

• Forty-one per cent (23) of the women had approached clergy for support at some time. Catholic women reported having more contact with clergy (44%) compared with Protestant women (36%). Of the 25 different contacts with clergy, only 7 were seen as helpful.
• Some clergy accompanied women to refuges or maintained contact with the woman afterwards. One priest advised a woman to leave her husband, but only after she had seen the priest on numerous occasions. Another priest privately advised a woman to get a better solicitor but in public only said he would pray for her.
• Most of the Catholic women had difficulty because of the Catholic Church's support for the nuclear family and opposition to divorce and remarriage. Several women were told to stay with their husbands - no matter what. Whilst some priests tried to persuade women to return to their husbands, others supported the woman leaving, but emphasised she would still be married to him in the eyes of God.
• Catholic women who wanted to seek an annulment found the process difficult, women were sometimes refused sacraments when they entered into new relationships.
• A number of ministers and priests tried to rationalise the men's behaviour by saying that they were feeling insecure or had a drink problem, or by saying the men had promised the clergyman they would change and that the violence would stop.

Attitudes

• Only a third of women reported that religious beliefs made a difference to their response to domestic violence. However, 45% of Catholic women said that religion had affected their decisions. Forty-four per cent of women over 35 years compared with 31% of women under 25 years said religion made a difference.
• Half of the women in the sample reported that other people's attitudes made them reluctant to take action about the violence, half of the women said attitudes made a difference. This was more important to Catholic women, with 61% mentioning societal attitudes. The influence of people's attitudes declined with age, however 39% of women under 25 years still felt the impact.

Religious Beliefs

• The most common religious belief that affected women's decisions was the idea that marriage was for life. The attitudes of women's families to divorce also restricted their decisions, both Catholic and Protestant women reported having problems because of the religious beliefs of their families.

Marriage is for Life

• Women placed a very high value on their marriages and they had high expectations for a happy marriage, because of this women would make repeated attempts to save their marriages.

Conclusions

• Many women have made great progress in rejecting domestic violence, however there is much individual and social resistance to this rejection. Women have internalised religious beliefs and social attitudes that put them at the centre of family life, this has restricted their opportunities to change their situations. Religious attitudes and clerical responses assist abusive men in their power and control over women.
• Churches and other institutions could adopt a different strategy in which the clergy and church-goers better understand how abuse flourishes within a pattern of values and beliefs. Women should be commended and recognised for the strength they have shown to maintain their families and care for their children in situations of domestic violence. Support networks that enable women to make decisions within a framework of choice are essential.
• Young people's projects which challenge gender inequalities within relationships should be expanded and young men need to be socialised into ways of resolving conflict without violence.
• The clergy in Ireland needs to recognise that domestic violence infringes on the human rights of women and children, and move from a position of denial, indifference and exclusion to one of empathy, support and advocacy.