CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2012
| Author | Sabedashvili, Tamar |
|---|---|
| Title | The Identification and Regulation of Domestic Violence in Georgia (1991-2006) |
| Summary | This thesis analyses the processes that led to the adoption of the Law of Georgia on the Elimination of Domestic Violence, Protection of Victims of Domestic Violence and their Assistance in May 2006. The primary question that the dissertation tries to answers is: which key historical, socio-economic, and political factors have hindered or facilitated the identification of domestic violence as a social problem requiring legal intervention in Georgia? My research methodology has comprised mainly of a desk review, subject-based interviews, and a small-scale survey of women’s NGOs in Georgia. The desk review included scholarly literature, studies and reports mainly related to domestic violence data and policymaking, women’s rights during the Soviet period and independent Georgia, Soviet-era periodicals, appeals, and manuscripts targeting women. I have studied NGO project documents on domestic violence as well as governmental and shadow reports submitted under the UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Concluding Comments of the CEDAW Committee to Georgia. I have also reviewed Parliamentary debates around the draft Domestic Violence Law. This dissertation makes three sets of related empirical and theoretical contributions. First, against the broader international human rights context, in which “violence against women” became recognized only in the 1990s, the thesis uncovers and discusses key factors that hindered or facilitated the identification of domestic violence at the time of the Soviet Union and in independent Georgia after 1991. For instance, the women’s liberation success story hindered recognition of the problem during the Soviet era. At the same time, the myth that the “Woman Question” had been resolved has outlived the Soviet Union and contributes to the low sensitivity of post-Soviet societies and governments to gender equality issues. The dissertation argues that many developments and experiences of the young independent Georgian state, such as armed conflicts and the emergence of an NGO sector, have been important factors contributing to the identification of domestic violence as a violation of women’s human rights in Georgia. Second, I examine the process of the drafting of as well as the Georgian Domestic Violence Law itself and compare the findings of the Georgian case with related experiences of other countries. Despite the fact that the law was nurtured by the tragic experiences of women victims/survivors of domestic violence, the text of the law and the debates during its adoption process do not highlight the fact that domestic violence affects women disproportionately and that gendered power relations lie at the heart of domestic violence. Instead, the low sensitivity of the legislators and society at large to women’s rights and gender equality concerns is reflected in the de-gendered character of the Georgian Domestic Violence Law. Third, I argue that each significant step (such as the adoption of legislation) towards social change is intrinsic and specific to the context from which or within which it emerges and can be understood only in relation to these context-specific factors. |
| Supervisor | de Haan, Francisca; Fodor, Eva |
| Department | Gender Studies PhD |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2012/gphsat01.pdf |
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