Percepções das mulheres vítimas de agressão física doméstica sobre as instituições formais de combate à violência física doméstica 2009-2013

Abstract

This monograph on Perceptions of Women Victims of Domestic Physical Assault on the Formal Institutions to Combat Domestic Physical Violence (2009-2013) seeks to understand the factors of low adherence in Mozambique. The general objective was to understand the relationship between the perception that women victims of domestic physical aggression have about the formal institutions to combat violence and the process of adherence to legal centres or formal institutions for conflict resolution. The hypothesis of this study is that weak adherence is influenced by the perception resulting from the symbolic construction of the victims in relation to the formal institutions to combat violence, which creates images that negatively interfere in the adherence process. The target group of the study was women living in Maputo City who suffer violence committed by their spouses but who have never filed a complaint or joined any formal institution for conflict resolution. The analytic framework was based on Cornelius Castoriadis' theory of Imaginary Institutions, which consists of three concepts: radical, effective and social imaginary. The methodology used was qualitative. The dimension of analysis of the influence of victims' perceptions on the adherence process was the images created by victims about the institutions for combating violence, which have as indicators; resolution time, characteristic of the decision (pro conciliation and pro deliberation) and protection. The research revealed that the images created by victims of physical aggression about the formal institutions to combat violence are not the main structuring factors for the weak adherence of Women victims of domestic physical violence in Maputo City. Therefore, our hypothesis that low adherence is influenced by the perception resulting from the victims' symbolic construction of the formal institutions to combat violence, which creates images that negatively interfere in the adherence process, has been disproved. (TRADUÇAO NOSSA)