entrapment, lowered self-esteem, loss of autonomy and diminished functional capacity (Smith et al. 1995, Counts et al. 1992, Landenburger 1989, Kirkwood 1992, Walker 1994, Ellsberg et al. 2000).

Dependence on abusers created powerful disincentives for women to act or reach out to any form of support. This dependence was often both economic and emotional, and reinforced by the fact that abusers had cut women off from their networks and support, isolating them from options external to the relationship – way before the escalation of violence. This behavior is in line with the findings of GarciaMoreno et al. (2005) that show that violent partners often keep women isolated from potential sources of help. Many women had never had financial autonomy and had difficulty envisioning their ability to provide for themselves and children. In these cases, women chose to remain in violent relationships for lack of choice.

Women’s hope that the violent partner would change also created personal barriers to help-seeking. Women described cyclical patterns of abuse – violence followed with contrition – making it difficult for them to leave relationships of emotional dependence.<sup>15</sup> In Manguinhos, one woman, age 38, described this cycle: “I was without him for a period, right? But then he asked me back, he said he wouldn’t do anything bad to me, he came here, cried, and I believed it. In the first week, it was great, then he started to get worse and worse.” Risks associated with the exit of a relationship led women to “try again” with the hope that the partner’s violent behavior will cease.

# 3.3.2 Barriers created by bystanders

People to whom women have a close relation play a critical role in facilitating or discouraging access to formal support services. Data from Brazil shows that women who seek help are much more likely to do so from family and friends than from formal institutions. Research from Foundation Perseu Abramo (2010) shows that help-seeking reaches one-half to two-thirds of domestic violence cases following threats or physical violence, with the majority of women reporting to mothers, sisters and other relatives. Of the 20 dimensions of violence investigated, mothers are the primary source of help-seeking in all but 4 dimensions.<sup>16</sup> Social norms suggesting toleration of abusive relationships and, more generally, relegating the phenomenon of domestic violence and its response to the private sphere are still quite prevalent in Brazil as in several other contexts. These norms play a significant role in constraining survivors in their search for support and in their effective access to services (Perova et al. 2013). Research by IPEA (2014) investigating perceptions related to VAW in Brazil finds that 42.7 percent of respondents agreed completely with the phrase “A woman that is battered by her partner continues in the relationships because she likes to be beaten,” and 22.4 percent of respondents partially agreed with the phrase. Furthermore, a common saying in Brazil - _“Em briga de marido e mulher – ninguém mete a colher”_<sup>17</sup> – reflects attitudes and behaviors defined by social norms that may influence family and peers within a survivor’s informal support network: namely, that conflict between men and women, especially between spouses, is private, and outsiders should not interfere. These findings are also consistent with population-based survey data from other Latin American countries, which find that substantial proportions of women did not agree that

> 15 Landenburger (1989) argues that women who have become entrapped in abusive relationships go through a four-stage recovery process, which includes periods of denial, self-blame, and endurance before they are able to recognize the abuse and identify with women in similar situations.

> 16 The research examines 20 dimensions of violence within the following categories: controlling behaviors, physical violence and threats, psychological and verbal abuse, sexual violence and harassment.

> 17 Literal translation: “In a husband and woman fight, no one sticks in a spoon.”

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