Challenging Violence through Women’s Empowerment: Insights from Former Sovietized Countries

Abstract

ntimate partner violence (IPV) – in other words, violence against women within intimate relationships – is one of the most pervasive human rights violations, and is an extreme expression of the unequal gender relations in society. Despite consistent efforts, it remains a concern for the entire EU, including the European formerly Sovietized countries, with a range of specific issues that affect it. The economic empowerment of women is positioned as a strategy against IPV at both the global and EU level, with a range of legal instruments having been adopted. While it affects IPV, it is also necessary to consider the detrimental effect of cultural norms, which include the broadly patriarchal nature of society and its manifestations, such as unpaid work or the double-shift phenomenon. If these persist (as in the case of the formerly Sovietized countries), the economic empowerment of women will fail to affect long-lasting change.