Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) in El Salvador: A Relationship Between Femicide Attempts and Barriers for Help-Seeking

• In Event: Research on Gender-Based Violent Victimization

Abstract

Femicide is the most extreme form of violence committed against women. Research has extensively related femicides, the killing of any woman, and intimate partner violence (IPV). Concurrently, women are more likely to seek formal help when they experience severe victimization. Doing so has been positively associated with interrupting the cycle of violence. However, many reasons may prevent women from seeking formal help when needed. Using the 2017 Violence Against Women National Survey, this study examines the relationship between femicide attempts, understood as near-lethal events, and IPV. Then we focused on its relationship with formal help-seeking. Finally, we looked at its relationship with specific reasons for not seeking formal help. A nationally representative sample of 1,425 Salvadoran women aged 15 or older who self-reported as IPV victims during their lifetime was analyzed in this study. We found that IPV experiences, primarily physical and psychological abuse, in the lifetime are closely related to being a victim of a femicide attempt. We also found that fear of the potential consequences of disclosure, systemic failures, and personal barriers that prevented women from seeking formal help had a relationship with being a femicide attempt victim.

Authors

• Lidia Vásquez Rodríguez, Graduate Center, CUNY / John Jay College

• Chunrye Kim, Saint Joseph's University

• Valli Rajah, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY