Reframing agency in abusive contexts: beyond ‘free choice’ and ‘open resistance’

Abstract

South Asian women’s experiences of family abuse are not fully understood by state policy, particularly in relation to women’s ‘choices’ in response to abuse. Leaving an abusive relationship tends to be deemed the most, if not only, appropriate response. By drawing on the experiences of 11 Pakistani Muslim women, this paper argues that these simplistic assumptions overlook the diverse strategies women employ in response to abuse. These strategies range from compliance to overt forms of resistance, and they are complex and, at times, can be counterproductive and self-destructive. However, they challenge notions of passivity, and bring to light agentive behaviour best understood in the context of subordination and oppression that created the conditions of its enactment. What is important is that this paper should not create complacency in policy makers by reframing women as agents perfectly capable of altering the structures and constraints within which they are embedded. This paper proposes that government policy and service provider practice be shaped by an alternative perspective on women’s agency, one that recognises ‘exit’ as laden with difficulties and consequences for abused women, and one that does not insist upon physical acts of resistance to oppression as markers of agentive behaviour.

Digital media and domestic violence in Australia: essential contexts

“…Our findings on women's safety work reflect Mirza's (2018) theorisation of 'compliant agency'. Compliant agency recognises the constrained choices that women make in the context of abuse, including rational decisions to comply with perpetrator demands in order to prevent or de-escalate violence.…”

‘They Are Here Without Chains, but With Invisible Chains’: Understandings of Modern Slavery Within the New South Wales Settlement Sector

“…Indeed, cultural sensitivity was a prominent theme across interviews, as participants emphasised the need to be mindful of cultural nuances when formulating support for at-risk communities. This is a salient point, considering the complex and varied responses that victims of modern slavery -particularly women from culturally diverse backgrounds -employ in navigating abusive and oppressive situations (Mirza, 2018). Workers did, however, utilise the established knowledge on DV to construct their understandings of forced marriage and observed the strong interrelations between the two issues.…”

Having the Lower Hand—Investigating Interaction in the Life Course Narratives of Immigrant Women Exposed to Partner Abuse

“…The importance of the visa also became visible in the stronger position held by the interviewees whose visa status was not tied to their marriages. Such women generally had better options to voice dissatisfaction, including early in marriage, because they did not have to fear being expelled from Denmark in the case of divorce (see also Mirza, 2018).…”

“…The children of immigrants (and those who immigrated as children and were raised in Denmark) generally had better resources to leave abusive relationships, such as fluency in the local language, local networks and educational qualifications, and secure residency status (Mirza, 2018). This analysis thus was limited to women who immigrated as adults (at age 16 years or older) and whose primary cultural and educational socialization and mother tongue learning occurred outside Denmark.…”

“…Given that women act within such constraints, their responses to abuse should not be perceived as a simple binary between (actively) leaving and (passively) staying. To the contrary, abused women spend a great amount of energy trying to limit or stop abuse (Cavanagh, 2003), and “[a]lthough exit may not be the first ‘choice’ women make, or ever be their choice, it must not be assumed that leaving is not women’s ‘preferred preference’” (Mirza, 2018, p. 45).…”