Abstract:
Domestic violence against women is a pervasive and expanding issue. It manifests itself in a variety
of ways, takes many forms, and occurs in all societies. Many studies were conducted on the issue,
focusing only on the magnitudes and prevalence; it usually fails to contribute much to the
understanding of the subject matter because the issue of domestic abuse is deeply rooted within the
social structure that needs deep investigation. This study was conducted to describe the lived
experiences of women victims of domestic violence through a qualitative approach with a
phenomenological research design by using in-depth interviews, key informant interviews, and case
stories as data collection methods. An in-depth interview was carried out with ten women who were
victims of domestic violence; three key informants’ and one case story were appropriate for the
study. The collected data were analyzed by phenomenological thematic analysis. The findings of the
study show that in the study area women suffered a great deal from a variety of acts of domestic
violence because of patriarchal attitudes, societal norms of society, the practice of polygyny
marriage, economic factors, and jealousy of their husbands. The results of the study also state that
hitting women with an object, slapping or kicking with the leg, intimidation, insulting, marital rape,
and denial of access to and use of resources are among the various types of domestic violence that
affect women physically, psychologically, and economically. As the results of the study revealed,
women use different mechanisms to overcome the act of domestic violence they experience and the
associated problems, like keeping silent, reporting, asking for support, leaving the home, and
praying to God. Therefore, it is recommended that government, non-governmental organizations,
and religious institutions coordinately need to give due attention and remedial actions and
programs to overcome the problem of domestic abuse committed against women
