Wife Abuse: An Overview of Salient Issues

Abstract

Although gains are very recently being made in the area of wife battering due to an increase in publicity regarding the prevalence of this issue, much remains to be done in terms of basic consciousness raising within the human service sector. This article provides an overview of the literature dealing with the problems faced by battered women with particular attention being paid to rural and native battered women. Explanations for the causes and effects of this social problem are discussed. The primary objective of the paper is to highlight the current inadequate response of human service agencies to this long standing problem. Recommendations offered focus on program and policy issues for the human service network that comes in contact with cases of wife abuse.