Women's Rights, Domestic Violence, and Recourse Seeking in Rural Bangladesh

This article seeks to deepen understanding of the reasons that abused women in a resource-poor rural setting seek recourse so seldom and with so little success. Data from in-depth interviews and group discussions are used to explore the range of responses to domestic violence and to examine barriers to recourse seeking. Findings illustrate how the combination of poverty and gender inequality, inequities in the legal framework, and patriarchal attitudes and corruption in both formal and informal institutions at the local level discourage abused women from seeking recourse and decrease the likelihood of a favorable outcome when they do.