DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ON PREGNANT WOMEN DUE TO GENDER EXPECTATIONS

¹Qudsia Tariq and ²Rubina Feroz

¹Prof. Dr. Department of PsychologyUniversity of Karachi qudsiatariq@yahoo.com
^2Associate ProfessorDepartment of PsychologyUniversity of Karachi
          

Abstract

The concept of patriarchy is prominent when we wish to capture the pervasiveness of gender inequality in South Asia. In the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, women encounter patriarchy both in public and private domains of life and continue to have a lower social, economic and political status in comparison to men.
This study was conducted to understand the relationship between the levels of stress and abusive behavior towards pregnant women expecting a female child and women already having more than one female child. It was assumed that there would be a strong relationship between the perceived levels of stress and the abusive behavior towards pregnant women who already had more than one female child and were expecting another female child. This study was conducted in a hospital setting with a total of 70 female outpatients who were either expecting their first female child or had already given birth to a female child. The measurements used were Abusive Behavior Inventory and Perceived Stress Scale. The findings suggested that there is a strong positive correlation between abusive behavior of husbands and high levels of stress among pregnant wives due to the high expectations of giving birth to a male child.

Keywords: Patriarchy, Perceived Stress, Abusive behavior, Pregnant women