Violence Against Women: Historical Trends, Contemporary Challenges, and Future Solutions

This book includes six chapters that detail the trends, challenges, and future solutions in violence against women. Chapter one investigates the complex and multilayered nature of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) experienced by migrant and refugee women and critically examines the structural, cultural, and institutional barriers that hinder access to protection and psychosocial services. Chapter two provides a comprehensive overview of the distinctive characteristics of domestic violence against immigrant women, the barriers hindering access to support services, and their specific support needs. Chapter three aims to explore how social workers understand the causes of intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW) and to examine whether their understandings align with the structural and gendered perspectives articulated in Swedish national policy. Chapter four examines the complexities of artificial intelligence in relation to intimate partner violence (IPV), which includes benefits and challenges for victim/survivors. Perpetrators utilize means such as smart home appliances (e.g., lighting, heating, door control systems) for surveillance and to interfere in the victim/survivors’ lives. Chapter five highlights the pressing need to advance criminological research on non-consensual sexual deepfakes (NCSD) beyond a victim-centered framework and the need for a deeper understanding of the social, digital, and discursive to further inform practices for developing effective prevention strategies, promoting digital literacy, and formulating appropriate legislative and institutional responses to the phenomenon. Chapter six conceptualizes violence against women as a multilevel process in which structural and symbolic forms of domination become internalized and reproduced through bodily practices.