Violence against women

patriarchal structures, gender relations and the (re) meaning of the concept of private life

Abstract

This article discusses the need to (re) signify the notion of private space and to posit it as a place of differentiation and resistance, with a view to strengthening the female condition. It situates the structural dimension of the phenomenon of violence against women and highlights the complementary heuristic capacity of the category of patriarchy to the referential based on gender relations. Gender as a comprehensive concept to be understood in its implications for power. It argues that it is the meaning of the private character of domestic violence against women that makes its political visibility impossible and makes impact actions impossible to combat its existence.