No Way Out

Abstract

This article theorizes the intersections between domestic violence and divorce. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted in Israel, including 49 interviews with battered women who found getting and/or being divorced difficult and dangerous, the author examined battered women's accounts of their experiences of the pluralistic and segregated family law system. She concludes that for battered women in Israel (Palestinians and Jews alike) the divorce process may be understood as part of or an extension of men's battering. With this analysis, the author illustrates the need to conduct locally specific, integrated domestic violence and divorce research.