Norms and Violence Against Women in Ethiopia

This book examines the complex subject of violence against women (VAW), moving beyond ways of thinking that privilege Western positions and subordinate local perspectives. Chapters analyse the profound clashes between different perspectives on VAW, demonstrating how actors engage with such norms in diverse places from Ethiopian villages, to government offices in Addis Ababa, to meeting rooms in the UN headquarters in New York.

Norms and Violence Against Women in Ethiopia proposes a novel theoretical framework that sees norms and normative engagement through interconnected situations rather than hierarchical chains. This decolonizing approach recognizes the equal legitimacy of different normative realities without privileging Western perspectives – questioning any notion of the global as universal and the local as periphery. The result is a nuanced understanding of norm interaction and contestation that better explains both resistance to and potential for social change. Chapters cover key issues including intimate partner violence, marital rape, and child marriage, as well as the impacts of positive masculinity on gender violence.

This timely book is an essential resource for scholars and students of sociology, international relations, global governance, and postcolonial studies. Providing insights on resistance to the implementation of social norms, the book is also beneficial to practitioners of international development and political sociology.