Perspectives of Orthodow, Jewish women regarding the perceived effects of Jewish religious and cultural values on women's choices in abusive relationships.

摘要

This research attempted to gain insight into the perspectives of Orthodox, Jewish womenudregarding the abuse of women in heterosexual relationships, in their community. Feministudtheory and social constructionism were utilised in order to facilitate in greater insight into theudroles of women in Judaism and the manner in which Jewish doctrine and ideology influencesudwomen who are abused by their husbands. The research focused on specific principles thatudare intrinsic to Jewish faith and identity. It also explored Jewish persecution and its influenceudon the formation and perpetuation of many of the Jewish customs and traditions as a means ofudpreserving or upholding Jewish faith. The sample comprised of nine women who fell withinudan age range of 25-35 years. Jewish women from Orthodox backgrounds were utilised. Audqualitative paradigm was applied in order to gain access to information thereby ensuring thatudthe content obtained was of a more personal nature involving the private perceptions of thisudstudy’s participants. The following themes were identified from the data and formed the basisudupon which the analysis and discussion took place. The themes include: Jewish men treatudwomen according to what men are taught, marriage precipitates acknowledgement of womenudand the Jewish community is not immune to social ills. The results of the research support theudargument that Jewish religious and cultural values appear to influence women’s choices inudabusive relationships. Furthermore, the roles that women typically assume in Jewish societyudseemingly perpetuate existing gender stereotypes in relation to women.