Standing up to violence: a case study of KALAKASAN (Kababaihan Laban sa Karahasan), Manila

Date

10-2002

Degree

Bachelor of Arts in Sociology

College

College of Arts and Sciences (CAS)

Abstract

Violence against women, especially among the married ones is an emerging issue. As a result, many agencies that aim to assist victims of domestic violence have also dramatically increased. This is an evaluation study of one such agency called KALAKASAN (Kababaihan Laban sa Karahasan). It is an intervening organization which advocates women's rights, in improving their quality of life after the abuse.

Case study method was employed to achieve the objectives of the study. Through this method, the effectiveness and impact of the organization's programs to the target clientele has been assessed. Data collection techniques which were used include personal interviews, secondary data analysis, historical documentation, process documentation, content analysis, and focused-group discussion. Moreover, the stories of some of the victims were documented as vividly as they were narrated. The employment of multiple methods strengthened the validity of the data gathered in the study.

The results show that battered women experience great deal of physical, emotional, mental, and economic distress. It was also found that victims of an abusive relationship suffer from fear and want to escape from the situation, as documented from the stories of seven women. KALAKASAN as an intervening organization has nine programs, namely, (1) Counseling Hotline, (2) Legislative Advocacy, (3) Media Advocacy, (4) Campus Outreach, (5) Survivors' Support Group, (6) Community Outreach, (7) Electronic Counseling, (8) Volunteer and Research, and (9) Networking, each directed to a different target clientele. This study shows that all these programs facilitate the effectiveness of providing intervention. Among these programs, the counseling hotline program is the heart of the service of KALAKASAN where an average of 10 counseling per day was observed. It is through effective media advocacy that the organization is able to encourage its target clientele to avail of the counseling service. The community and campus outreach programs give further information dissemination to prevent domestic violence. On the other hand, the Survivors' Support Group program enables women to exchange experiences thereby helping them to cope with their stress and anxieties. However, all these intervention programs of KALAKASAN are geared towards gender bias as the root cause of domestic violence. Other important determinants are ignored.

Language

English

Location

UPLB Main Library Special Collections Section (USCS)

Call Number

Thesis

Document Type

Thesis

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS