The aim of this study is to shed light on what makes women decide whether or not to continue with legal proceedings for intimate partner violence once they have commenced. Legal professionals, members of the police force, and women in Spain were interviewed to help draft a questionnaire that was applied to a sample of 345 women who had undertaken legal proceedings against their (ex)partners. Socio-demographic, emotional, and psychological variables were considered as possible predictor variables and included in a logistic regression analysis. Results show that the best equation for predicting disengagement from legal procedures includes the level of support received by the victim, contact with the aggressor, thoughts about going back with the aggressor, and a feeling of guilt. The essential role of the psychological support during the legal process is emphasized in conclusions

This article studies the relationship between a set of variables related to the legal process and women’s disengagement from legal proceedings against their (ex)partners in Southern Spain. A total of 345 women answered a questionnaire. Results evidenced that request for a protection order (PO), granting such PO, imprisonment of the offender, and women’s perception of who decided during the process were significantly related to disengagement (medium effect size). In addition, a logistic regression model was developed to predict disengagement with two variables: granting a PO and women’s perception of who decided. Results are interpreted in terms of the necessity that the judicial system gives support, protects, and provides women with opportunities to participate in the recovery process.

Desde una aproximación centrada en el aspecto argumentativo de las actitudes se realizó una investigación en la que se analiza el papel que la educación formal y el género juega con respecto a la expresión de las mismas. Mujeres y hombres de distintos niveles educativos (alfabetización, graduado y universitario) participaron en grupos de discusión en los que se debatía sobre el trabajo de las mujeres fuera de casa y el reparto de las tareas domésticas. Los resultados mostraron importantes diferencias en las actitudes, estudiada ésta desde los usos discursivos, en función del género y el nivel educativo de los participantes.

The article is based on a conception of identity and self as a situated narrative construction in which memory plays a central role. To construct self-narratives, individuals internalise cultural master narratives in specific socio-cultural settings. For that reason, the analysis of self-identity needs to go beyond the individual to integrate interpersonal and socio-cultural levels, as well. Starting from this theoretical perspective, two studies of identity reconstruction of women facing situations of inequality and violence (lesbian women and women after gender-based violence) in Spain were examined. These two groups were confronted with gendered master narratives that place women in a subordinate situation. The two studies applied a similar methodology, based on the use of Bruner’s self-indicators. The analysis of the cases was focused on three issues: the dynamics of master versus alternative narratives in identity (re)construction and their relation to social reproduction and change, the need to consider the three levels of analysis (socio-cultural, interpersonal and individual) and the role of voice and silence in these processes. Finally, the involvement or memory in identity reconstruction was considered.