Feminism Within Domestic Violence Coalitions

Abstract

This article investigated the frequency with which feminist identity and constructs are evident in the missions of state domestic violence coalitions in the United States. Findings from the analysis yielded low frequencies of feminist constructs present in the documents analyzed. Less than 10% of coalitions explicitly self-identified as feminist organizations in their materials, while fewer than 10% of coalitions acknowledged the relationship between patriarchy (9.8%) and gender inequality (7.8%) with violence against women. Coalitions more frequently employed the de-gendered language of empowerment and anti-oppressive frameworks rather than explicitly feminist perspectives. Implications of these findings for feminist informed advocacy are provided.