The effect of women's socio-economic status on the perception of violence

Violence is one of the most widespread, complex, multidimensional and systematic problems that societies have faced since the beginning of humanity, and it is a form of behavior in which the individual is subjected to all kinds of pressure, such as verbal, physical, psychological, economic and sexual. This form of behavior is a problem that an individual can encounter at every stage of their life, and it is a problem that deeply affects not only the individual's life but also the life of society. Violence has many causes such as social inequality, sexist roles, economic difficulties and cultural structure. It is seen that individuals who are victims of violence in society are mostly in disadvantaged groups such as children, the elderly and women. Violence against women, which is a common type of violence, is a serious problem today and continues to increase. Patriarchal mentality and gender inequality are at the forefront among the causes of violence against women. The secondary position of women, being solely responsible for household chores, and working with their husbands' permission can be given as examples of reasons that increase violence against women. The socio-economic status of women is very important in combating this type of violence. Only criminal sanctions should not come to mind in combating violence against women. In order to reduce and eliminate violence, studies such as social policies, public service announcements, increasing women's employment, changing patriarchal thought patterns and organizing educational programs should be carried out regarding the causes of violence. While conducting studies, individuals' perceptions of violence should be determined according to their socio-economic levels. Conducting studies on these perceptions is also an important issue. Based on this, the study addresses women's perspectives on violence according to their socio-economic levels. The study aims to reveal the similarities and differences in women's perspectives on violence according to their socio-economic levels. 64 women were interviewed in the study. While 32 of the 64 interviewed women had a lower socio-economic level, 32 had an upper socio-economic structure. The principle of confidentiality was observed in the study and volunteering was taken as a basis. The interviews were conducted face-to-face by the researcher. Transcriptions of the audio recordings were analyzed using the MAXQDA ANALYTICS PRO 2020 program. In the study, the socio-demographic characteristics of the participants, perception of violence, effective elements in combating violence, gender roles, combating violence and solution suggestions were discussed from a sociological perspective.