A QUALITATIVE EXPLORATION OF WHAT SURVIVORS IN BARBADOS PERCEIVE 

TO BE CONTRIBUTORS TO GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE 

 

 

By 

 

Katherine Cloutier 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A DISSERTATION 

Submitted to  

Michigan State University 

in partial fulfillment of the requirements  

for the degree of 

 

Psychology – Doctor of Philosophy 

2019 

 

 

A QUALITATIVE EXPLORATION OF WHAT SURVIVORS IN BARBADOS PERCEIVE 

TO BE CONTRIBUTORS TO GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE 

ABSTRACT 

 

 

By 

 

Katherine Cloutier 

 

Gender-based violence (GBV) is a global issue with deleterious outcomes for young girls 

and women (Heise, Ellsberg, & Gottemoeller, 2002), as well as communities and societies as a 

whole (Buvinic & Morrison, 1999). The Caribbean is no exception to these trends; however, 

little research exists in the region on the etiology of GBV (DeShong, 2011, 2015). Even fewer 

studies have considered the contributors to GBV from survivors’ perspectives. This study 

utilized interview methods with survivors of violence against women in Barbados, to better 

understand perceived contributors to GBV; specifically, contributors across ecological levels as 

defined by Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecology of human development and the Center for Disease 

Control’s (2018) model for violence prevention. A total of 33 participants identified contributors 

to GBV across all levels of the ecological model, including individual, interpersonal, community, 

and societal factors, such as witnessing or experiencing abuse as a child, economic dissonance or 

manipulation, traditional gender roles in intimate relationships, the raising of young boys versus 

young girls, the family system protection of men, the acceptance or trivialization of GBV by 

systems, the normalization of violence across communities and community settings, and 

traditional gender roles in a heteronormative society. Survivors’ perceptions around, and 

experiences with, GBV should be incorporated into prevention and intervention efforts to ensure 

programs are aligned with their lived realities. Integrating survivor perceptions around predictors 

of GBV may contribute to the success of implemented programs in the future.   

 

Keywords: gender-based violence, ecological model, Barbados

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

 

First and foremost, I’d like to dedicate this to my mom and dad. It is entirely because of you both 

that I was able to get this far in my education and career. Thank you for constantly picking me 

back up and supporting me in every single move. I love you far beyond what I can say in this 

dissertation. Every step was made possible because of you.  

To my family, Anne, Jill, Charlie, Laura, Jack, and Bryn. You guys make everything a million 

times more amazing in this world. Thank you and I love you. To my Aunt Mary and Uncle Tom, 

the world’s best godparents; to Meeks, the older sister I always wanted, Jason, John, Dan, and 

Kat, I love you guys so much and look forward to celebrating with “just one quick drink.” 

To my husband, Sam, who never stops celebrating me. I am grateful beyond words for you and 

still wake up every morning thinking about how lucky I am to have stumbled upon this little 

island. Running into you on the beach that day immediately changed my life forever. I live you.  

To Dude, I think you know how much I love you, so I won’t take up too much space here. You 

are the absolute cutest thing this world has ever seen.  

To my friends: Kaitlyn, thank you for being my counterpart from the moment we met on the 

playground. I don’t know where I’d be without you. Charlie, for the never-ending laughter that 

ensues when we’re together. Peggy, for the unconditional support and care you extend to 

everyone around you. I love you guys so much.  

To Hilary, meeting you in the Psychology building at DePaul has had such an impact on my 

character, my career, and my future. Thank you for the countless sleepovers, bagel bites, 

adventures, and laughs. I love you.  

iii 

To all of my friends in Barbados. Welcoming me into your communities has had such an impact 

on my life, and for that I am forever thankful. To Liz, one of my first friends in Barbados. To 

Chris and Leslie for always housing Sam and I in Chicago and indulging in bottomless oysters. 

To Devin and Lynette, our Carnival partners. To Dominique and what started as a friendship 

based solely on waving to each other, you in your car, and me on the sidewalk. I love you. And 

to Candice for your boss advice, all the time.  

To the Neilands. you welcomed me into your home soon after I arrived and have greeted me with 

love since day one. Thank you. I love you all.  

To Sara and Katie, your support has made all the difference over the years. Thank you for the 

endless hours of co-working, and more importantly, laughing. You both know how much it 

means to me.  

To my friends and colleagues at Y-USA. The professional support has been tremendous. Jen and 

Sarah, thank you for your help and love along the way.  

I want to thank Dr. Halimah DeShong for her support, expertise, and guidance throughout this 

project. I’d also like to thank Marisa Hutchinson, the Ministry of Health, the Bureau of Gender 

Affairs, and BPW. Pat, you are an incredible woman and your generosity and determination is 

making such a difference in the lives of women here in Barbados. To the participants of this 

project, thank you for your courage and your willingness to share your story. I will be forever 

grateful.  

I’d also like to thank Shakira and Leila. I have been privileged to witness your work over the 

years and it is incredible. Barbados is so lucky to have two determined, dedicated, and passionate 

iv 

women such as yourselves. Thank you for picking me up from the airport back in September 

2012, and for facilitating my work up until this point. I love you both.  

And lastly, I would like to thank Dr. Cris Sullivan, my advisor, for investing in me. Your 

expertise, support, and guidance has been incredible, but it is your investment in me that has 

been invaluable.  I’d also like to thank my committee members, Drs. NiCole Buchanan, Diane 

Doberneck, and Hiram Fitzgerald. Diane, your mentorship over the last several years means a 

great deal to me. Thank you.  

Finally, Kes should have won Road March 2019.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

v 

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................................... vi 
 
LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................................ x 
 
INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 1 
 
LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................................... 4 
Definitional Features of GBV ..................................................................................................... 4 
Research Setting .......................................................................................................................... 5 
Intersectionality and History in the Caribbean ............................................................................ 7 
Ecological Theory ..................................................................................................................... 11 
Gender-Based Violence Risk and Protective Factors by Ecological Level .............................. 15 
Individual level ................................................................................................................. 18 
Interpersonal level ............................................................................................................. 22 
Community level ............................................................................................................... 26 
Societal level ..................................................................................................................... 27 
Interventions for GBV Survivors in Barbados .......................................................................... 31 
The Importance of Contextual Fit ............................................................................................. 32 

 
CURRENT STUDY...................................................................................................................... 34 
Research Questions ................................................................................................................... 35 

 
METHODS ................................................................................................................................... 36 
Community Collaborative ......................................................................................................... 36 
Reflexivity ................................................................................................................................. 37 
Methodology ............................................................................................................................. 43 
Development of the Interview Protocol .................................................................................... 46 
Ethical Considerations and Participant Incentives .................................................................... 48 
Determining Sample Size .......................................................................................................... 51 
Recruitment ............................................................................................................................... 56 
Data Monitoring and Storage .................................................................................................... 59 
Data Analysis ............................................................................................................................ 60 
Organizing and immersion in the data .............................................................................. 60 
Coding the data and writing analytic memos .................................................................... 61 
Generating themes and interpretations.............................................................................. 63 

 

RESULTS ..................................................................................................................................... 65 
Sample Characteristics .............................................................................................................. 65 
Major Findings .......................................................................................................................... 67 
An Ecological Exploration of GBV in Barbados: Cross-Case Analysis ................................... 69 
Individual level ................................................................................................................. 69 
     Self-worth .................................................................................................................... 70 

vi 

     Witnessing or experience abuse as a child ................................................................... 71 
     Economic vulnerability ................................................................................................ 76 
Interpersonal level ............................................................................................................. 79 
     Intimate relationships ................................................................................................... 79 
         Alcohol use by a male partner ................................................................................. 80 
         Shared financial vulnerability within a relationship ................................................ 81 
         Economic dissonance or manipulation .................................................................... 82 
         Traditional gender roles in intimate relationships ................................................... 87 
     Family system .............................................................................................................. 91 
         Dissonant expectations or experiences of young boys versus young girls .............. 95 
         Famiy system protection of men .............................................................................. 96 
         Use of history and violence within the family ......................................................... 98 
Community level ............................................................................................................... 99 
     Normalization of violence across communities and community settings .................. 100 
     Acceptance or trivialization of GBV by systems ....................................................... 101 
         Inconsistent enforcement of laws across police officers ........................................ 102 
         Policies, protocols, and the court system ............................................................... 105 
     Small community dynamic ........................................................................................ 108 
         Culture of silence ................................................................................................... 108 
         Private matter ......................................................................................................... 108 
Societal level ................................................................................................................... 110 
     Impact of the historical enslavement of individuals and families.............................. 111 
     Traditional gender roles in heteronormative society ................................................. 112 
Within-Case Analysis .............................................................................................................. 122 
Within-case analysis: Participant 4 ................................................................................. 123 
Within-case analysis: Participant 6 ................................................................................. 126 
Additional Context .................................................................................................................. 128 

 
DISCUSSION ............................................................................................................................. 132 
Study Limitations .................................................................................................................... 137 
Future Research Directions ..................................................................................................... 139 
Practice Implications ............................................................................................................... 140 
GBV response team ........................................................................................................ 140 
The Family Conflict Unit ................................................................................................ 142 
Local and regional dissemination for intervention development .................................... 142 
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 144 

 

APPENDICES ............................................................................................................................ 145 
    Appendix A: Interview Protocol ............................................................................................. 146 
    Appendix B: Recruitment Flyer .............................................................................................. 157 
    Appendix C: Screening Tool .................................................................................................. 158 
    Appendix D: Consent Form .................................................................................................... 159 
    Appendix E: Initial Coding Framework ................................................................................. 162 
    Appendix F: Initial Ecological Model .................................................................................... 163 
    Appendix G: Example Participant Causal Flow Case Summary ............................................ 164 
    Appendix H: Refined Analytical Framework ......................................................................... 166 

vii 

    Appendix I: Post-Project Reflexive Statement ....................................................................... 172 
 
REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................... 175 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

viii 

 

LIST OF TABLES 

Table 1. Sampling clusters ............................................................................................................ 51 
 
Table 2. Sampling Clusters and Population Breakdown from Barbados Statistical Service (2017) 
for the Estimated Resident Population by Parish and Sex ............................................................ 52 
 
Table 3. Parish by Participants in Sample and Top Code Endorsed ........................................... 172 
 
Table 4. Refined Analytic Framework ........................................................................................ 166 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ix 

LIST OF FIGURES 

 

Figure 1. Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecological model ................................................................... 13 
 
Figure 2. CDC social-ecological model ........................................................................................ 14 
 
Figure 3. Community collaborative for current study .................................................................. 36 
 
Figure 4. Sample by recruitment pathway. Final sample = 33 ..................................................... 57 
 
Figure 5. Number of participants recruited across parishes .......................................................... 58 
 
Figure 6. Sample by sampling cluster ........................................................................................... 58 
 
Figure 7. Sample breakdown by age group .................................................................................. 66 
  
Figure 8. Sample by highest level of education completed .......................................................... 66 
   
Figure 9. Hierarchical coding chart exported from NVivo (2015) ............................................... 68 
 
Figure 10. Ecologically reinforcing model of GBV against women in Barbados ...................... 120 
 
Figure 11. Participant 4 hierarchical coding chart ...................................................................... 123 
 
Figure 12. Participant 6 hierarchical coding chart ...................................................................... 126 
 
Figure 13. Visualization of unique findings by age group .......................................................... 129 
 
Figure 14. Map of Barbados and sample contribution ................................................................ 130 
 
Figure 15. Initial analytical framework ...................................................................................... 162 
 
Figure 16. Initial ecological model ............................................................................................. 163 
 
Figure 18. Hierarchical Coding Case Flow Example ................................................................. 164 
 
Figure 19. Isolated Causal Flow Quotes ..................................................................................... 165 
 

 

 

x 

 

 

INTRODUCTION 

Gender-based violence (GBV) is defined by the United Nations General Assembly 

(1993) as violence experienced by an individual because of power inequalities related to gender 

or gender roles (Article 1 & 2). It includes but is not limited to intimate partner violence, incest, 

sexual violence including rape and sexual assault, human trafficking, and harassment, and is a 

violation of human-rights (Black et al., 2011; Devries et al., 2013; García-Moreno et al., 2013; 

Heise, Ellsberg, & Gottemoeller, 1999; Heise et al., 2002; NIJ, 2017). GBV encompasses 

violence within, and in reaction to, a heteronormative society, and knows no boundaries in 

regards to race, ethnicity, sex, gender identification, or sexual orientation (Sokoloff & Dupont, 

2005). Furthermore, GBV should be considered within an intersectionality framework such that 

gender alone cannot fully explain GBV; individuals exist within multiple, intersecting systems 

which shape the experience of GBV (Sokoloff & Dupont, 2005).  

 

GBV has destructive impacts on health and well-being, and wreaks havoc on families, 

communities, and entire countries throughout the world (Heise, 1998; Heise et al., 1999; Heise et 

al., 2002; Heise, Raikes, Watts, & Zwi, 1994). The cost of GBV includes massive deficits in 

terms of educational attainment and economic advancement, and significantly hinders national 

development (Buvinic & Morrison, 1999; Krug, Mercy, Dahlberg, & Zwi, 2002). It is estimated 

that “35% of women worldwide have experienced either physical and/or sexual intimate partner 

violence or non-partner sexual violence” alone (García-Moreno et al., 2013, p. 2).  

The Caribbean region is no stranger to the existence and impact of GBV (DeShong, 2011, 

2015; DeShong & Haynes, 2015; Gage, 2005; Gage & Hutchinson, 2006; Heise et al., 1999; Le 

Franc, Samms-Vaughan, Hambleton, Fox, & Brown, 2008). Three of the top 10 highest rates of 

rape globally were found in countries in the Caribbean region. In fact, participating Caribbean 

 

1 

 

countries in one global study were found to possess a higher rape rate than the global average [15 

rapes per 100,000] (UNODC, 2007). Although these figures are not inclusive of every country 

across the world, the results are concerning. The World Health Organization estimated a 27.09% 

and 10.32% prevalence rate for intimate partner violence and non-partner sexual violence, 

respectively, in the Caribbean (García-Moreno et al., 2013).  

Consistent with what has been found globally (García-Moreno, Guedes, & Knerr, 2012a, 

2012b; García-Moreno et al., 2013; Jewkes, 2002), research suggests education, employment, 

and economic independence function as protective factors for GBV against women in the 

Caribbean region (CADRES, 2009; Gage, 2005; Gage & Hutchinson, 2006; Nagassar et al., 

2010). However, efforts to understand the causes of GBV against women from the survivor’s 

perspective would provide significant insight for intervention development in Barbados and 

address a gap the Bureau of Gender Affairs has been wanting to fill (P. Boyce, personal 

communication, January 18, 2018). In short, developing programs that resonate with survivors is 

a crucial component of successful intervention development (Trickett, 2011).  

This study utilized in-depth interviewing to better understand the perceived predictors of 

GBV from the survivor perspective. It is critical to understand survivors’ thinking about this 

issue to ensure that intervention efforts align with their belief systems as well as their practical 

realities. The interview protocol explored the spectrum of perceived predictors across multiple 

layers of an ecological framework, extending beyond individual factors to include interpersonal, 

community, and societal factors as well (CDC, 2018). This inquiry may help lay the groundwork 

for the development of regional intervention and prevention efforts, specifically for programs 

that are contextually informed by the lived realities of Caribbean women. Expanding the regional 

literature may also provide an opportunity for leveraging additional items on national census 

 

2 

 

protocols (e.g., items related to GBV against women) or the implementation of the Demographic 

and Health Surveys program (DHS, 2017a) in Barbados and other Caribbean island nations. 

Overall, exploring survivors’ beliefs about what contributes to GBV aims to create programs and 

interventions that resonate with them.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3 

 

 

LITERATURE REVIEW 

 
 
 

An outline of the definitional features of GBV and an introduction to the research setting, 

a contextual overview of the gender dynamic history in the Caribbean, and a summary of 

ecological theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1979; Kelly, 1966, 1968, 1971) follows. A breakdown of the 

ecological levels (Bronfenbrenner, 1979, 1986, 1995; CDC, 2018; Heise, 1998) including 

individual, interpersonal, community, and societal (Bronfenbrenner, 1979; CDC, 2018), will 

guide the subsequent review of the literature, focusing on risk and protective factors of GBV. Of 

potentially greater importance for the current study, however, will be a summary on the 

importance of contextual fit which will then transition to the justification of the study.  

Definitional Features of GBV 

 

Different terms and definitions exist within the GBV field, all of which land on a 

spectrum from broad definitions (e.g., GBV) to narrow definitions of particular forms of GBV 

(e.g., intimate partner sexual violence) (Heise et al., 2002; Kilpatrick, 2004; Saltzman, 2004). 

GBV includes trafficking, forced prostitution, intimate partner violence, non-intimate partner 

violence, sexual assault, sexual violence, rape, domestic violence, spousal abuse, and many other 

forms of abuse based on gender (Black et al., 2011; Devries et al., 2013; García-Moreno et al., 

2013; Heise et al., 1999; Heise et al., 2002; NIJ, 2017). While these terms are all considered to 

be captured by the term “GBV,” they each carry slightly different boundaries regarding their 

legality or their definitional features (Kilpatrick, 2004; Saltzman, 2004). Regardless, “GBV” was 

selected for this study for several reasons.  

 

Some scholars argue that a broad definition is an ethical choice as it reiterates that there is 

no one, unified experience of GBV, nor are the different experiences of GBV on a spectrum in 

 

4 

 

terms of their validity. There is a global trend of barriers to disclosure, and narrow definitions of 

GBV may perpetuate these trends as they may reflect to survivors that only certain experiences 

“count” (Ellsberg & Heise, 2005; Ellsberg, Heise, Pena, Agurto, & Winkvist, 2001; Flury, 

Nyberg, & Riecher-Rössler, 2010; Sokoloff & Dupont, 2005). This study selected the broad term 

of GBV for the literature review, as well as for sampling, as it signifies the importance of 

honoring all survivors and creates a space for as many women to participate in the study as 

possible. However, it is equally important to acknowledge the plethora of experiences this term 

includes, and that each of those experiences is uniquely traumatic in terms of both the occurrence 

as well as the impact. A broad definition does not intend to group these experiences together in 

an invalidating way.  

Although a broad definition was used, this qualitative study had a relatively narrow focus on 

violence against women in one geographic area. Differences in perceived predictors across rural 

versus urban communities were considered early on as themes were emerging; however, the 

overall intention was to provide a first-ever exploration of GBV survivors’ perceptions around 

the contributors to this issue. To do so, this study was guided by ecological theory as described 

later in this literature review.  

Research Setting 

 

Barbados, the eastern most island in the Caribbean, is situated among the Windward 

Islands of the Lesser Antilles in the West Indies. The island is just over 166 square miles, and the 

landscape is relatively flat except for the more rugged eastern coast of the island. The island was 

previously colonized by the British and has a scarring history of slavery and indentured 

servitude. Slavery ended in 1834, and Barbados gained independence in 1966. Barbados is 

known to be the most densely populated country in the Eastern Caribbean, with a 2017 

 

5 

 

population estimate of 292,336. Racially and ethnically speaking, the island is 92.4% black, 

2.7% white, 3.1% mixed, and 1.3% East Indian (based on the 2010 census estimate). Bajans 

(colloquial term for Barbadians) are a religious people, with the majority identifying as 

Protestant (based on the 2010 census estimate). While sugarcane fields spread far and wide 

across the island, the economy is no longer reliant on sugarcane production as it was historically. 

Today, tourism is one of the leading industries.  

Mason and Satchell (2016) have examined the etiology of violence in the Caribbean, 

suggesting a connection to the region’s history, highlighting its colonial past, enslavement of 

Africans, indentured servitude of East Indians, and poor economic settings. Violence was 

perpetrated by colonizers, against men and women, and has had a profound impact on 

individuals and communities (Barrow, 1996; Hutton, 1996; Mason & Satchell, 2016; Ward & 

Hickling, 2004). Mason and Satchell (2016) further explain that: 

Violence was used to perpetuate complete control over the enslaved Africans 

and…enslaved females were sexually assaulted by colonizers…These experiences of 

physical and sexual domination by enslavers are believed to have created significant 

trauma affecting individuals, the nature of the Africans’ intimate relationships and their 

family structures… (p. 207) 

Some scholars have commented on the reaction to violence in the region such that men 

are often given a “cultural pass” (Gibbons, 2015, p. 4) when it comes to violence against any 

woman with whom he has an intimate or familial relationship. Gender dynamics have been 

described as illustrating a continuous imbalance of power between men and women (DeShong, 

2011, 2015; Kempadoo, 2009), and are indicative of the prioritization of men’s sexual agency 

(Kempadoo, 2009). 

 

6 

 

Continuing with gender dynamics, power differentials between men and women is at 

times reflected in “playing mas” (participating in Carnival festivals), as well as calypso, soca, 

reggae, and dancehall music (Dikobe, 2008; Frank, 2007; P. Mohammed, 1991). Lyrics therein 

suggest mechanisms of power and control enforced by a male-dominated society. As witnessed 

by some scholars, women’s sexual agency is controlled by the patriarchy, yet at times the falsely 

professed autonomy of women in Carnival music can be found. This may cloud the dialogue and 

deter individuals from easily identifying the oppression of women (Dikobe, 2008; Frank, 2007; 

P. Mohammed, 1991).  

Intersectionality and History in the Caribbean 

Further delving into the history introduced earlier, the diversity of the region and the 

history of its colonial past emerge as significant factors by which to contextualize current 

research. Without frontloading such historical context, the study runs the risk of further 

perpetuating a pathologizing illustration of the Caribbean that does not acknowledge the colonial 

narrative, the violence suffered by those in the region, or the forced hegemonic masculinities that 

defined imperialistic patriarchy throughout history (Beckles, 2004; Downes, 2004; Lewis, 2004; 

P. Mohammed, 2004; Nurse, 2004; Reddock, 2004).  

Colonial rule embedded patriarchal imperatives within cultures and contexts as the 

guiding policy by which to give power and govern (P. Mohammed, 2004). Arguing that men rule 

society, patriarchy establishes power structures, inequalities, norms, and roles based on gender. 

However, gender itself is socially constructed, having been shaped by culture, context, and 

history (Nurse, 2004). The literature surrounding Caribbean masculinities provides great insight 

into the historical development of patriarchal power systems in the Caribbean as a result of 

 

7 

 

enslavement, racial injustice, and mass inequality. Highlighting work by regional scholars, 

Reddock (2004) explains that:  

…Beckles locates the early construction of black or Afro-Caribbean masculinity in the 

competitive and exploitative relationship between European and African males during the 

slave period. Noting that, for most of the slave period, males formed the majority of the 

Caribbean slave population, Beckles argues that the masculinity of enslaved blacks was 

constructed through its interaction with hegemonic structures of white masculinity, the 

principal site of interaction being the property relation. Here white male power was based 

on the monopolistic control, ownership and possession of all power and property, 

including black women and men. (p. xxv) 

The concept of hegemonic masculinity needs dissecting at this juncture. To begin this 

dissection, it is important to acknowledge the use of the phrase Caribbean masculinities, and the 

importance of honoring the intersectionality embedded within the concept. Nurse (2004) 

highlights:  

Masculinity is thus multidimensional, since gender relations are intertwined with class, 

race, ethnicity, age, sexuality and nationality. Hence, it is more appropriate to speak of 

multiple masculinities rather than “one” masculinity. In addition, it is also recognized that 

there is a power differential within masculinities. Some masculinities are hegemonic and 

dominant while others are subordinated and marginalized. Historically, subordinate 

masculinities have been constructed and represented as effeminate and infantile to 

distinguish them from the hegemonic forms. They have also been racialized and 

sexualized as a means to justify their oppression. (p. 7) 

 

8 

 

Hegemonic masculinity is posited as a natural, ideal male who is “white, heterosexual, 

married, middle-aged, university educated and upper middle-class” (Nurse, 2004, p. 6). Adhering 

to the concept of hegemonic masculinity supports the argument of gender differences being 

naturally determined. This is problematic as it minimizes, if not entirely erases, the structural and 

systemic injustices against women. Concepts begin to solidify around sex and gender being one 

in the same, therefore setting norms that, for men, may reject the embodiment of anything other 

than hegemonic masculinity (Nurse, 2004). This rejection is what defines many of the arguments 

made about Caribbean masculinities, in terms of relationships with women, as well as reactions 

to and beliefs about individuals engaging in same sex relationships. Hegemonic masculinity 

regulates and monitors societal norms and gender roles. As stated by Nurse (2004): 

In this way, homophobia is one of the building blocks in the construction of masculinity. 

It is argued that this tendency suggests that masculinity has been historically defined as 

the “flight from women,” the repudiation of the feminine and the rejection of male-male 

intimacy. (p. 8) 

 

Continuing, Nurse (2004) highlights the “fear of being viewed as wimps” (p. 8), as a 

feature of hegemonic masculinity, defined significantly by receiving the approval of and 

recognition from other men. Given the deeply engrained element of power within hegemonic 

masculinity, and how this power often translates to aggression or violence, the enactment of 

hegemonic masculinity within Caribbean masculinities, may in fact be considered a tool of self-

preservation or protection.  

Mohammed (2004) asks, “What is it about slavery and colonialism which brought on a 

legacy of antagonistic relations between men and women of African descent in Caribbean 

society?” (p. 61). Mohammed (2004) points to the forced disruption of intact relationships and 

 

9 

 

families. Continuing, Beckles (2004) explains “In social relations, the enslaved back male and 

his offspring were fed, clothed and sheltered by white men whose hegemonic masculinities 

determined that being “kept” and “kept down” were symbolic of submissive inferiority, and 

gendered as feminine” (p. 229). Furthermore, the sexual assault and rape of enslaved women by 

white men was rampant and destructive to the victims, their partners, and their families (Beckles, 

2004). 

This forced disruption of families is important to consider in the history and study of the 

Afro-Caribbean family structure. It is crucial to acknowledge that “The Afro-Caribbean family, 

the product of its West African origins and its transformations during slavery, was never 

understood in its own right but always as a deviant form of Western or European norm” 

(Reddock, 2004, p. xvii). Such family structures had a matriarchal focus where women were 

often the head of the household and held great power and presence within the domestic setting. 

However, early documentation and research of the Afro-Caribbean family structure has been 

unjustly described with pathologizing language that illustrated a chaotic or disjointed system 

(Reddock, 2004). As noted by Reddock (2004), “These concerns were not transferred to the 

more overtly patriarchal Indo-Caribbean family, whose structure fitted more closely that of the 

hegemonic norm” (p. xvii).  

The racial and ethnic diversity in the Caribbean, layered by factors such as gender, 

religion, and class, all need to be considered within multiple historical contexts. These multiple 

contexts refer to those which occurred simultaneously (e.g., black enslavement versus white 

supremacy and imperialism), as well as how history and contexts shift and transition over time. 

Regarding how this translates to GBV against women, the following statements are still relevant 

today. Reddock (2004) explains:  

 

10 

 

So far the discourse has highlighted the conflict with other men, which often takes place 

through the bodies of women. The female, often depersonalized, may be the ground, the 

territory over or upon which fierce battles are fought, but increasingly as women 

challenge accepted notions of masculinity and enter spaces perceived as male preserves, 

the battle also becomes one directly against them. (p. xxx) 

Much has shifted over the course of Caribbean history in terms of education, 

employment, and the economy. These shifts are by no means isolated from gender dynamics. 

Many scholars urge the need to understand Caribbean masculinities from multiple historical 

perspectives, including slavery and colonial rule, the decline of the sugarcane industry, and the 

more current educational and employment mobility of women. With women surpassing men in 

the education system in some areas of the Caribbean, the continuously shifting gender landscape 

around household headship, gender norms, and familial structure, needs to be considered 

(Downes, 2004; Figueroa, 2004; Lewis, 2004; Nurse, 2004; Parry, 2004). Caribbean 

masculinities are not static; they are an ever-evolving component of the conversation around 

GBV against women. Furthermore, they are a crucial component of the ecological systems 

within which Caribbean women exist.  

Ecological Theory  

 

To explore perceived risk factors of GBV in Barbados, ecological theory was selected as 

the primary framework. Ecological theory has long been applied to the field of GBV regarding 

impact (R. Campbell, Dworkin, & Cabral, 2009; R. Campbell, Sefl, & Ahrens, 2004), risk 

factors (R. Campbell et al., 2004; Heise, 1998), and intervention development (R. Campbell, 

Greeson, Bybee, & Fehler-Cabral, 2012; R. Campbell, Patterson, & Fehler-Cabral, 2010). More 

specifically, Kelly’s ecological theory (Kelly, 1966, 1968, 1971) and Bronfenbrenner’s theory of 

 

11 

 

human development (1979, 1986, 1995) have argued that individual experiences are heavily 

influenced by their ecological settings and the interaction of ecological settings (Bronfenbrenner, 

1979, 1986, 1995; Heise, 1998; Sokoloff & Dupont, 2005). Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) framework 

consists of social ecologies within which the individual is nested, including the microsystem, 

mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). The 

ecological model is an ideal framework for understanding the complexity of GBV as it relates to 

the personal, familial, community, and societal manifestations of violence against women (Heise, 

1998; Sokoloff & Dupont, 2005). 

 

The individual level refers to the “bio-psycho-social characteristics” (R. Campbell et al., 

2009, p. 227), or the ontogenic factors (Heise, 1998) of the person in context. Continuing 

through the ecological levels, the microsystem consists of the family, friend, school, and 

workplace environments; these are the interpersonal connections between an individual and their 

immediate settings. The mesosystem refers to the intersection of microsystems, for instance, the 

interaction of family and work settings. The exosystem consists of settings that do not 

necessarily involve the individual, but would impact their outcomes, such as legal or medical 

resource availability. The macrosystem includes social and gender norms, and finally the 

chronosystem involves transitional phases throughout one’s life, and how those may be impacted 

by the historical climate (Bronfenbrenner, 1979, 1986, 1995; R. Campbell et al., 2009; Heise, 

1998). A representation of Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecological model is provided in Figure 1.  

 

12 

 

Macrosystem 

factors

Exosystem 

factors

Microsystem 

factors

Mesosystem factors 

Ontogenic 

factors

Figure 1. Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecological model.  

 

Bronfenbrenner’s framework provides a lens through which to understand GBV against 

women, globally (R. Campbell et al., 2009; Ellsberg & Heise, 2005; Heise, 1998; Kelmendi, 

2013), but has not been fully integrated into the GBV literature (Heise, 1998), or the Caribbean 

literature (Gage, 2005; Gage & Hutchinson, 2006; Mason & Satchell, 2016). 

 

Heise (1998) proposed an ecological framework specifically for GBV research that 

conceptualized “violence as a multifaceted phenomenon grounded in an interplay among 

personal, situational, and sociocultural factors” (p. 263). Such a framework is well-suited for the 

Caribbean and would decipher the incongruous findings across nations by honoring nationally-

informed risk factors and racial and ethnic diversity (CADRES, 2009; Danns & Parsad, 1989; 

Gopaul, Morgan, & Reddock, 1994; Mason & Satchell, 2016; Parsad, 1988). An integration of 

Heise’s (1998) ecological model for GBV and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 

(2018) social-ecological model better capture the context of the current study. The CDC’s (2018) 

 

13 

 

model focuses on relationship, community, and societal levels beyond the individual. A 

representation of the CDC (2018) model can be found in Figure 2. 

At the individual level, witnessing abuse as a child, experiencing childhood abuse, and 

other factors such as age, education, unemployment, substance abuse, and mental health have 

been documented as risk factors. In terms of the relationship level (which will be referred to as 

the interpersonal level throughout this dissertation), risk factors include dominance and control, 

Figure 2. CDC social-ecological model.  

partnership discord, alcohol and/or substance abuse by a partner, intergenerational violence, 

parental conflict, low familial socioeconomic status, and conflict over gender equality/women’s 

empowerment within intimate relationships, peer, and familial structures. The community level 

is focused on settings in which relationships occur, such as neighborhoods. Risk factors include 

high neighborhood unemployment rates, adequate and safe housing, social isolation of women, 

and lacking services to address GBV. Finally, the societal level refers to factors such as rigid 

gender roles, male entitlement, and perpetuation of social inequity and inequality (Buvinic, 

Morrison, & Shifter, 1999; CDC, 2018; Dahlberg & Krug, 2002; Heise, 1998; Jewkes, 2002). 

 

14 

 

The CDC social-ecological model for violence prevention hinges on a key factor of 

multilevel action as such an approach is more likely to sustain prevention and intervention 

efforts more so than targeting one single level in isolation (CDC, 2018). The interview protocol 

for the current study was built with this framework in mind. The next section introduces research 

to date that has investigated risk factors by ecological level in the Caribbean.  

Gender-Based Violence Risk and Protective Factors by Ecological Level  

 

The individual, interpersonal, community, and societal levels are expanded on, pulling 

from the existing studies in the Caribbean that have addressed GBV. This set of literature is 

relatively limited; some studies focus on GBV alone, whereas other studies look at GBV as 

tangentially related to a broader, or disparate focus (e.g., adolescent pregnancy) (Baumgartner, 

Geary, Tucker, & Wedderburn, 2009; Geary, Wedderburn, McCarraher, Cuthbertson, & 

Pottinger, 2006; Gómez, Speizer, & Beauvais, 2009; Rose, Rajasingam, Derkenne, Mitchell, & 

Ramlall, 2016). Furthermore, existing research is not equally distributed across Caribbean 

nations. For instance, there is a great deal of research from Haiti (D. W. Campbell et al., 2016; 

Cayemittes et al., 2013; Couture, Soto, Akom, Joseph, & Zunzunegui, 2010; Fawzi et al., 2005; 

Gage, 2005; Gage & Hutchinson, 2006; Gómez et al., 2009; Small et al., 2008) and Trinidad 

(Gopaul et al., 1994; Hadeed & El-Bassel, 2006, 2007; Maharaj et al., 2010; Nagassar et al., 

2010; Rawlins, 2000; Sukhu, 2012), but not nearly as many studies from Barbados (CADRES, 

2009). This is likely to do with funding streams, research consortiums, as well as the presence of 

large scale data collection initiatives, such as the Demographic and Health Survey in Haiti (DHS, 

2017a, 2017b). This is where the literature review begins.   

One of the most comprehensive studies on GBV in the Caribbean emerged from this very 

program. Like several other studies, Gage (2005) analyzed data from the 2000 Haiti 

 

15 

 

Demographic and Health Survey (DHS, 2017a, 2017b), exploring individual, relationship, and 

neighborhood risk factors for intimate partner violence among ever-married women. Prior to 

summarizing their findings, it should be noted that while Demographic and Health Survey data 

will be discussed multiple times throughout the literature review, it comes with some scrutiny. 

The Demographic and Health Survey module that explores violence against women utilizes a 

modified version of the Conflict Tactics Scale, which is a measurement tool used to identify and 

quantify the experience of domestic violence (DHS, 2017b; Straus, 1979; Straus, Hamby, Boney-

McCoy, & Sugarman, 1996). While this scale is widely used throughout the GBV literature, it 

has also been widely criticized. In addition to a narrow definition of domestic violence (as 

opposed to GBV), the Conflict Tactics Scale includes conceptual and measurement flaws. The 

Conflict Tactics Scale (Straus, 1979), as well as the revised version (Straus et al., 1996) have 

undergone great scrutiny for their narrow, atheoretical and acontextual approach to 

conceptualizing and measuring GBV against women. These scales have been known to under-

report violence against women and have been critiqued for earlier versions that failed to capture 

the difference between self-defense and perpetration of violence (Archer, 1999; DeKeseredy, 

2000; DeKeseredy & Schwartz, 1998; Dobash & Dobash, 2004; Dobash, Dobash, Wilson, & 

Daly, 1992; B. J. Morse, 1995; Schwartz & DeKeseredy, 1993; Stith, Smith, Penn, Ward, & 

Tritt, 2004; Straus, 1979; Straus et al., 1996). For an in-depth critique of the Conflict Tactics 

Scale as well as other standardized measures of violence against women, see the work of 

DeKeseredy (2000), DeKeseredy and Schwartz (1998), Dobash et al. (1992), Dobash and 

Dobash (2004), and Melton and Belknap (2003), among many others who have critically 

analyzed the validity and reliability of such scales. As the literature review continues, attention 

should be paid to such study parameters, including the definitions and sampling boundaries 

 

16 

 

employed across studies. Narrow definitions or sampling methods restricted to criminal or legal 

terms will yield different results when compared to broad definitions or sampling and data 

collection methods that are more inclusive, feminist-informed, or are not bound to specifications 

of partner versus non-partner violence (DeKeseredy, 2000; Saltzman, 2004).  

 

With that in mind, Gage’s (2005) work on intimate partner violence remains a leader in 

this literature, albeit with some caveats. According to the 2000 Haiti Demographic and Health 

survey data, Gage (2005) found that:   

Of every 100 women in a current/recent marital or cohabiting relationship, 29 reported at 

least one act of violence during the year preceding the survey. Forced sex was the most 

common aggressive behavior perpetrated by male partners (reported by 15 percent of 

women in the sample), followed by humiliation (10 percent) and acts of physical 

aggression such as pushing/shaking/throwing something at the woman (9 percent) and 

slapping her or twisting her arm (8 percent). Two percent of women reported serious 

assaults such as being threatened with a knife, gun, or other weapon and 1 percent 

reported being actually attacked with such weapons. Physical and sexual violence were 

the most prevalent forms of violence (reported by 17 percent of women), followed by 

emotional violence (13 percent). (p. 352) 

Across these forms of intimate partner violence, Gage (2005) explored individual, 

relationship, community, and societal level variables as predictors of emotional, physical, and 

sexual violence experienced in the 12 months preceding DHS data collection. The risk factors 

presented next were found to be significant across ecological levels. At the individual level, “The 

experience of witnessing violence between parents in childhood was a strong predictor that a 

woman was in an intimate relationship in which she had been a victim of intimate partner 

 

17 

 

violence in the past 12 months” (Gage, 2005, p. 355). Continuing at the individual level, lacking 

completion of primary school education and female-dominated financial decision making, 

demonstrated positive relationships with all forms of intimate partner violence. At the 

relationship level, male partners’ need for control, as well as jealousy, and history of alcohol 

abuse, were found to be positively associated with all forms of intimate partner violence. 

Continuing at the relationship level, the number of children living at home as well as male-

dominated financial decision making was found to be predictive of sexual violence specifically. 

Men’s physical abuse of children was measured at the community level, with scholars classifying 

different neighborhoods by high and low levels of abuse. Men’s physical abuse of children 

measured at the community level was predictive of emotional and physical violence against 

women in the prior 12 months. Continuing at this level, male unemployment was found to be 

predictive of sexual violence. Finally, and arguably both an individual and societal factor, 

women’s acceptance of spousal abuse was predictive of sexual violence (Gage, 2005).  

These risk factors align with Heise’s (1998) ecological model for GBV, demonstrating 

similarities globally in terms of what may protect women from GBV. The continued review of 

empirical and theoretical literature from the Caribbean follows, exploring risk factors to inform 

the findings from the current study.  

Individual level. Individual level risk factors have been well researched across the global 

literature (Jewkes, 2002), and are some of the most explored ecological factors within the 

regional literature as well. Building on similar variables as introduced by Gage (2005), regional 

scholars have explored education (Gage & Hutchinson, 2006; van Wijk & de Bruijn, 2012), 

economic vulnerability (Fawzi et al., 2005; Kishor & Johnson, 2006), employment (van Wijk & 

de Bruijn, 2012), and experience of domestic violence during childhood (Jeremiah, Quinn, & 

 

18 

 

Alexis, 2017; Peake, 2009; Rawlins, 2000; Serbanescu, Ruiz, & Suchdev, 2010; van Wijk & de 

Bruijn, 2012) as risk and protective factors for GBV in the region.  

Research in Jamaica has demonstrated similar relationships as found in Haiti (Gage, 

2005), such that the witnessing of abuse within the family system as a child was associated with 

also experiencing abuse from a parent by the time they reached adolescence (before age 15) 

(Serbanescu et al., 2010). More specifically, Serbanescu and colleagues (2010) found that:  

…respondents who reported having witnessed physical violence between parents were 

significantly more likely than those who did not witness parental abuse to report having 

experienced physical abuse by a parent when they were growing up. (p. 374) 

While the study referenced here did not determine the extent to which witnessing abuse 

in the family or experiencing abuse by a parent was associated with the experience of GBV, the 

findings should be considered in conjunction with the work presented by Gage (2005) that 

demonstrated that very connection. While these variables are related to the family system, they 

are presented here as individual level variables as they are methodologically located at the 

individual level.  

Beyond the individual level risk factors introduced by Gage (2005), regional literature 

has also explored factors such as age (Cayemittes et al., 2013; van Wijk & de Bruijn, 2012), 

reproductive health and pregnancy (Baumgartner et al., 2009; Fawzi et al., 2005; Geary et al., 

2006; Gómez et al., 2009; Rose et al., 2016; Small et al., 2008), and mental health (Maharaj et 

al., 2010). 

In their Jamaican study exploring early sexual debut, sexual violence, and adolescent 

pregnancy, currently pregnant and never-pregnant women were interviewed to determine any 

associations across the variables. Baumgartner and colleagues (2009) found that:  

 

19 

 

One-third of all participants stated that they had been persuaded or forced to participate in 

their first sexual experience; fewer (10%) had been unwilling at last sex. Among the 

sexual coercion or violence variables, only two differed significantly between groups. A 

greater proportion of never-pregnant youth than of pregnant youth reported ever having 

been touched in an uncomfortable way (63% vs. 51%) and having ever experienced 

sexual violence (29% vs. 22%). About half of all participants had ever experienced 

sexual coercion or violence (49%), and more than a quarter (27%) had ever experienced 

some form of sexual violence, including forced or degrading sex. (p. 24) 

While this study found that pregnancy did not have a significant impact on the experience 

of GBV, specifically sexual violence, pregnant youth compared to never-pregnant youth were 

more likely to have an earlier sexual debut, a first sexual partner with whom there was a 

significant age gap, as well as multiple partners (Baumgartner et al., 2009). Some Jamaican 

studies have dug into these reproductive health variables further, specifically looking at sexual 

agency during first sexual experiences among young women (Geary, Baumgartner, Wedderburn, 

Montoya, & Catone, 2013), as well as sexual violence and reproductive health behaviors (e.g., 

condom use, sexual debut, and number of partners) and reproductive health outcomes (e.g., 

genital discharge and pregnancy) (Geary et al., 2006). When young girls were asked to describe 

their first sexual encounter, many described it as something that they did not necessarily have 

control or agency over. While young women did not describe these experiences as coercive, they 

did describe feelings of ambivalence and confusion (Geary et al., 2013). Further exploring 

connections between sexual violence and reproductive health outcomes in Haiti, Gómez and 

colleagues (2009) found that:  

 

20 

 

For all individuals, those who experienced sexual violence were significantly more likely 

to have ever been pregnant or gotten a partner pregnant, and to have experienced recent 

STI symptoms compared with youth who had not experienced sexual violence. Although 

those who experienced sexual violence compared with those who have not experienced 

violence had lower levels of condom use at last sex and higher levels of transactional sex, 

these differences did not attain statistical significance. (p. 509) 

Given the, at times converging and at times contradicting, results of similar studies (see 

also Small, Gupta, Frederic, Joseph, Theodore, and Kershaw’s 2008 research on GBV against 

women in rural Haiti and pregnancy distress), additional research needs to occur around 

individual level risk factors, namely sexual and reproductive health outcomes. Further, this 

research needs to be contextualized by understanding the diversity of the region, and how this 

diversity interacts with the data collected across different countries (Gopaul & Cain, 1996; 

Sokoloff & Dupont, 2005).   

In another study examining forced sex among women in Haiti, Fawzi and colleagues 

(2005) found multiple individual level factors that need to be considered for prevention efforts 

moving forward. Notably, younger age, length of time in relationship, symptoms of sexually 

transmitted infections, economic vulnerability, and partner occupation placed women at a greater 

risk of experiencing forced sex. While a few of these variables are at the relationship level (e.g., 

partner’s occupation and length of time in relationship) they are mentioned here for their 

significant interaction with individual variables mentioned. For instance, “younger age (30 years 

of age or less) and length of time in a relationship were the strongest risk factors for forced sex” 

(Fawzi et al., 2005, p. 684). Furthermore, findings such as “economic vulnerability, as reflected 

by having problems with transportation, also increased the risk of forced sex by 50%” (Fawzi et 

 

21 

 

al., 2005, p. 686), led Fawzi and colleagues (2005) to focus some of their recommendations on 

targeted economic interventions for women in Haiti.  

The current study somewhat mirrors the work of Rawlins (2000) in Trinidad, who 

explored community members’ (both male and female) thoughts on the causes of domestic 

violence specifically. While Rawlins’ (2000) research also examines the societal level (e.g., 

examining attitudes towards domestic violence) of the ecological model, a few individual level 

predictors should be discussed. Some individuals who reported having experienced domestic 

violence highlighted “alcohol use before the attack…and…marijuana use by the perpetrator” 

(Rawlins, 2000, p. 172). Participants discussed witnessing violence in their homes during 

childhood, as well as differences across race and ethnicity; however, within the race and 

ethnicity discussion there was no statistically significant differences found. This mirrors some of 

the arguments made by Gopaul and Cain (1996), who assert the need to dispel data myths in the 

region about race, ethnicity, and context. When asking participants what they felt were the main 

causes of domestic violence in Trinidad, participants indicated drug and alcohol abuse, financial 

issues, and lack of communication (a relationship level variable) (Rawlins, 2000). Although 

“differences given in the reasons for this violence by ethnicity were not statistically significant 

except for the reason drug/alcohol abuse…” (Rawlins, 2000, p. 174), a more in-depth approach 

to understanding perceived risk factors embedded within the varied Caribbean context is 

necessary.  

Interpersonal level. Building on what was initially presented by Gage (2005), studies in 

the Caribbean have focused research at the interpersonal, or relationship, level on decision 

making power (Danns & Parsad, 1989; Gage, 2005; Gage & Hutchinson, 2006), control/power 

within intimate relationships (DeShong, 2011, 2015; Gabrie et al., 2016; Gage, 2005; Gage & 

 

22 

 

Hutchinson, 2006; Hadeed & El-Bassel, 2007; Sukhu, 2012), partner’s number of partners 

(Baumgartner et al., 2009; Fawzi et al., 2005; Gibbison, 2007), partner’s sexual health (Fawzi et 

al., 2005), length of relationship (Fawzi et al., 2005), perpetrator’s alcohol use (Danns & Parsad, 

1989; DeShong, 2011, 2015; Gage, 2005; Gage & Hutchinson, 2006; Gibbison, 2007; Jeremiah 

et al., 2017; Nagassar et al., 2010; Rawlins, 2000), relationship quality (Gage & Hutchinson, 

2006), age of partner (Gibbison, 2007; Wood, 2010), partner’s education or occupation (Fawzi et 

al., 2005; Gabrie et al., 2016; Gage & Hutchinson, 2006; Gibbison, 2007; Jeremiah, Gamache, & 

Hegamin-Younger, 2013), social support (Hadeed & El-Bassel, 2006), and financial 

autonomy/economic independence (Fawzi et al., 2005; Gage & Hutchinson, 2006), which at 

times related to transactional sex as a means to provide for children (Fawzi et al., 2005). 

Although observing and/or witnessing abuse within the family as a child is discussed as an 

individual level factor (as it is experienced by the individual), it is worth mentioning at the 

interpersonal level as it is a familial dynamic that has been found to have a significant impact on 

GBV outcomes in the Caribbean (Jeremiah et al., 2017). This has been documented as observing 

violence within the family, experiencing violence by a parent, or witnessing partner abuse 

between parents (Danns & Parsad, 1989; Gage, 2005; Gage & Hutchinson, 2006; Jeremiah et al., 

2013; Peake, 2009; Rawlins, 2000; Serbanescu et al., 2010; van Wijk & de Bruijn, 2012). A few 

of these risk and protective factors will be underscored next.  

In a study with Haitian men exploring their perceptions of the causes of violence against 

women, participants discussed learned elements of violence within one’s family or community, 

as well as “substance/alcohol abuse, changing roles of women, culture, education, family 

characteristics, poverty, and interpersonal/intrapersonal perspectives” (Gabrie et al., 2016, p. 6). 

Participants spoke about the changing dynamics within the home setting, specifically earning 

 

23 

 

potential across man and woman, and how such roles could lead to tumultuous dynamics and 

potentially GBV against women. Similar themes were found by Sukhu (2012) and DeShong 

(2011, 2015) that illustrate GBV against women as a man’s reaction to threatened masculinity, a 

mechanism of control, and a means to reclaim false power within the family system.  

Comparable concepts are explored at the relationship level by Gage and Hutchinson 

(2006), returning again to the 2000 Haiti Demographic and Health Survey data, this time looking 

at intimate partner sexual violence specifically. Focusing on currently married or cohabiting 

women within the sample, associations were found with intimate partner sexual violence and 

“Internalized beliefs justifying a husband’s use of physical violence under specific 

circumstances…” (Gage & Hutchinson, 2006, p. 21). Additional significance was found with 

partner jealousy, partner controlling behavior, partner’s history of alcohol abuse, as well as the 

number of children living at home (Gage & Hutchinson, 2006).  

Several other Caribbean studies need to be mentioned at the interpersonal level. Divorce 

and single parenthood in Curaçao increased the risk for domestic violence among women (van 

Wijk & de Bruijn, 2012), length of time in relationship/relationship quality and status were found 

to be strongly related to GBV against women (Cayemittes et al., 2013; Danns & Parsad, 1989; 

DeShong, 2011, 2015; Fawzi et al., 2005; Hadeed & El-Bassel, 2007; Parsad, 1988; Serbanescu 

et al., 2010), as were men’s perceptions about intimate partner violence (Gabrie et al., 2016; 

Jeremiah et al., 2013; Jeremiah et al., 2017; Sukhu, 2012), and sexual health practices of partners 

(Couture et al., 2010; Eldemire-Shearer & Bailey, 2008).  

 

Danns and Parsad (1989) have contributed greatly to examining this ecological level in 

the Caribbean, exploring data related to domestic violence, spousal abuse, and race/ethnicity in 

Guyana.  Looking at both East Indian and black communities in rural Guyana, conjugal violence 

 

24 

 

was high, regardless of the type of relationship (married, cohabiting, visiting). Although some 

differences were found across communities and across type of relationship, the fact remained 

that all situations exhibited high rates of violence.  

 

Finally, it is important to showcase the work of Fawzi and colleagues (2005) and their 

contribution to the family level. Fawzi and colleagues (2005) found that among their sample 

“…if the woman ever had to have sex in order to provide for her children economically she was 

at a 3.5-fold increase in risk of having a history of forced sex” (p. 683). Continuing, this study 

found several associations with forced sex and socioeconomic status. Study investigators utilized 

several proxies for economic status, such as housing quality, access to health services, and 

income; while these would be measured at the individual level, they are mentioned here as they 

would contribute to family settings and were associated with a higher risk of forced sex (Fawzi et 

al., 2005).  

However, the extent to which these risk factors translate to Barbados is unclear, and their 

relevancy to survivors is unexplored. It is important again to highlight the diversity of the 

Caribbean, and how this translates into the family system. There is no, one Caribbean family 

experience or narrative. “Family life exists within a milieu of cultural, religious, racial, and 

ethnic differences which cut across the geographical proximities and shape the household and 

family structures…Issues in both Guyana and Trinidad, for example, are dealt with differently 

than in other member states because of identifiable differences between the two dominant races, 

Indo-Caribbean vs. Afro-Caribbean” (Gibbons, 2014, p. 407). Gopaul and colleagues (1994) 

reiterate this varied family system as being informed by the vicious colonialization and the: 

…decimation of indigenous tribes, successive waves of human migration, geographical 

displacement of both colonizer and slave populations, the institutionalized violence of 

 

25 

 

slavery and the only minimally less disruptive and brutal indentureship of the nineteenth 

century have, in the main, produced the contemporary population of the Caribbean. The 

early plantation economy was driven first and foremost by economic determinants with 

the primary concern being the most effective means of exploiting the labour of the 

enslaved Africans and later the indentured East Indians and other ethnic groups. (p. 1) 

Community level. Building on the community level variables initially presented by Gage 

(2005), research in the Caribbean has focused on community intervention (D. W. Campbell et 

al., 2016), communities with higher female household headship rates (Gage & Hutchinson, 

2006), socioeconomic status (Fawzi et al., 2005; Kishor & Johnson, 2006; Nagassar et al., 2010), 

urban and rural settings (Fawzi et al., 2005; Gabrie et al., 2016; Gibbison, 2007; Small et al., 

2008), and availability, accessibility, and effectiveness of community resources (Fawzi et al., 

2005; Hadeed & El-Bassel, 2006; Rawlins, 2000; Small et al., 2008). Gage (2005), as introduced 

earlier in the literature review, has offered some of the greatest insight at this level around the 

associations with male endorsement of physical punishment of children at the community level, 

and male unemployment rates. Community level risk and protective factors of GBV against 

women in the Caribbean are considerably less explored, but a few are important to highlight.  

Given the shifting gender norms in relation to Caribbean masculinities as explored 

throughout this literature review (Beckles, 2004; Lewis, 2004; P. Mohammed, 2004; Nurse, 

2004; Reddock, 2004), it is crucial to explore Gage and Hutchinson’s (2006) findings around 

female household headship rates. Gage and Hutchinson (2006) explain “Neighborhoods where a 

high proportion of households were headed by women may contribute to increased financial, 

physical, and emotional stress for individuals as well as communities in general, particularly if 

these households have dependent children” (p. 16). However, it is possible that this can be 

 

26 

 

thought of in the same way Gage and Hutchinson (2006) consider the implications of female 

education. Gage and Hutchinson (2006) explain: 

The effects of female education will be two-fold. Higher levels of female education will 

increase economic opportunities and earnings potential, reduce dependency on husbands, 

and make women more economically viable in the household, thereby reducing the 

likelihood of sexual violence. On the other hand, women’s completion of more years of 

schooling than their husbands will have the opposite effect, threatening traditional power 

relationships within the household, and increasing the likelihood of sexual violence. (p. 

14) 

A female headed household may demonstrate a financially autonomous woman with an 

education level and employment status that protect her from GBV. On the other hand, it could 

also validate the data already collected around this variable such as economic vulnerability 

(Gage & Hutchinson, 2006). Nonetheless, their study demonstrated higher levels of sexual 

violence specifically in communities with greater proportions of female headed households 

(Gage & Hutchinson, 2006). Gopaul and Cain (1996) dissect this further, suggesting that existing 

data around household headship shows similar trends to decision making such that when there is 

shared power, there may be less violence. Continuing, “…the negotiation of a practical equality, 

transcending the question “who’s in charge” seems to be what makes the difference” (Gopaul & 

Cain, 1996, p. 37).  

Societal level. Leaning significantly on the work of Sokoloff and Dupont (2005), the 

societal level refers to higher forces that are socially or culturally embedded in relation to GBV. 

Gender inequality alone does not explain GBV (Sokoloff & Dupont, 2005). Intersectionality 

theory extends beyond traditional feminist thought, acknowledging that there is no one, universal 

 

27 

 

experience of GBV against women (Sokoloff & Dupont, 2005), just as there is not one 

Caribbean masculinty (Nurse, 2004). 

 Multiple and interacting systems of oppression have a significant impact on the 

experience of GBV (Sokoloff & Dupont, 2005), such that “We exist in social contexts created by 

the intersections of systems of power (e.g., race, class, gender, and sexual orientation) and 

oppression (e.g., prejudice, class stratification, gender inequality, and heterosexist bias)” 

(Sokoloff & Dupont, 2005, p. 43). While discussed at the individual level as it is usually 

measured as such, the societal level requires revisiting research around attitudes towards 

violence against women held by both men and women, or the justification of violence as a man’s 

right to use against his partner (DeShong, 2011, 2015; Gage, 2005; Gage & Hutchinson, 2006; 

Gibbison, 2007; Serbanescu et al., 2010; Sukhu, 2012). These have been examined in relation to 

sexual practices among men (Gibbison, 2007), gender identity among men (Sukhu, 2012), and 

shifting gender dynamics (Gabrie et al., 2016; Gage & Hutchinson, 2006).  

Women in the Caribbean have historically surpassed men in educational attainment; 

however, they are only recently becoming more gainfully employed than men. This access to job 

opportunities impacts women differently across subgroups (CCS, 2003; Gibbons, 2014; P. 

Mohammed, 1991). The shift in gendered earning potential, capacity to provide for a family, and 

implications of economic independence, may be interpreted as a threat to patriarchal authority, 

highlighting a reaction to the reversal of gender norms (Gibbons, 2014; Lewis, 2004; P. 

Mohammed, 2004; Nurse, 2004; Reddock, 2004). Or, as scholar Patricia Mohammed (1991) 

explains: 

The growing economic independence and affirmative actions of women in Trinidad bred 

internal contradictions. If the pre-independence years allowed men at least the medium of 

 

28 

 

verbal and some physical assault to keep woman subordinated (especially where she was 

not in an economic position to question this, and without public support for her 

challenge), then the 1970s, with the oil boom and subsequent opportunities, undermined 

the male ego further. (p. 40) 

 

While there are no empirical studies testing societal level variables such as policies or 

laws, it is important to speak briefly here about legislation. According to UN Women (n.d.) all of 

the English speaking Caribbean nations have enacted domestic violence legislation. However, in 

most places this does not extend to same sex couples. More recently, legislation was amended 

("Sexual Offences Act," 2016) regarding marital rape, as up until 1991, it was generally not 

considered rape if the violence occurred between a husband and wife. Between the years of 1991 

and 2016, this was complicated by the requirements that a woman had to have made previous 

reports about her husband and also needed evidence that she and her husband were, in some way, 

separated, even if just by sleeping in separate rooms  (Station Sergeant C. Husbands, personal 

communication, September 17, 2019). These requirements were removed in 2016. However, 

while legislation around GBV exists, many scholars and activists have pointed out that these 

protections and regulations are not carried out effectively (Lazarus‐Black, 2001, 2003; Lazarus‐

Black & McCall, 2006). 

 

Before wrapping up this brief review of risk and protective factors, it is important to 

reference the work of Gopaul and Cain (1996) and their list of myths surrounding GBV against 

women in the Caribbean. As they validate and debunk some of the trends that are generally 

accepted in the regional data, the first myth they tackle seems most significant: “Domestic 

violence is primarily a problem for East Indian families OR domestic violence is primarily a 

problem in families of African descent” (Gopaul & Cain, 1996, p. 32). They highlight the fact 

 

29 

 

that no empirical evidence exists that demonstrates one subgroup as having higher rates than the 

other. However, what is notable is context, and the varying ways in which violence happens in 

and impacts these subgroups, and all subgroups, in the region (Gopaul & Cain, 1996). 

Highlighting again the foundational elements of intersectionality and ecological theory 

(Bronfenbrenner, 1979; CDC, 2018; Heise, 1998; Sokoloff & Dupont, 2005), Gopaul and Cain 

(1996) dissect a snapshot of the existing regional data to underscore the subgroup nuances 

embedded within well-established findings, such as education and marital status as protective 

and risk factors. For instance, education levels of both the woman and man have an impact on 

rates of domestic violence within both East Indian and Afro-Caribbean couples in Guyana; 

however, the woman’s education was slightly more significant in preventing domestic violence 

within East Indian partnerships (Gopaul & Cain, 1996).  

 

Subjectively speaking, the following risk factors stand out across ecological levels, 

including reproductive health (Baumgartner et al., 2009; Fawzi et al., 2005; Geary et al., 2006; 

Gómez et al., 2009; Rose et al., 2016; Small et al., 2008), education and employment or 

economic opportunities had by both partners (Fawzi et al., 2005; Gage, 2005; Gage & 

Hutchinson, 2006), alcohol use (Danns & Parsad, 1989; DeShong, 2011, 2015; Gage, 2005; 

Gage & Hutchinson, 2006; Gibbison, 2007; Jeremiah et al., 2017; Nagassar et al., 2010; Rawlins, 

2000), the witnessing or experience of abuse within the family system as a young person (Danns 

& Parsad, 1989; Gage, 2005; Gage & Hutchinson, 2006; Jeremiah et al., 2017; Peake, 2009; 

Rawlins, 2000; Serbanescu et al., 2010; van Wijk & de Bruijn, 2012), relationship factors 

including power within relationships (Gage & Hutchinson, 2006), household headship (Gage & 

Hutchinson, 2006), and contextualized gender identities regarding Caribbean masculinities and 

how they relate to attitudes regarding GBV against women (Beckles, 2004; Gage, 2005; Gage & 

 

30 

 

Hutchinson, 2006; Gibbison, 2007; Lewis, 2004; P. Mohammed, 2004; Nurse, 2004; Reddock, 

2004; Serbanescu et al., 2010).  

Interventions for GBV Survivors in Barbados  

As this dissertation focuses on perceived contributors to both initial onset as well as 

continuation of GBV, it is important to note the extent of community resources available in 

Barbados regarding GBV. Currently, the Business and Professional Women’s Club of Barbados 

(BPW) offers a crisis hotline as well as a women’s shelter for survivors of sexual violence, 

domestic violence, and trafficking. In the shelter there are various programs including legal 

advocacy, educational classes, childcare support, and various counseling options for residents 

(BPW, n.d.). Additionally, the Family Conflict Unit (FCU) within the Barbados Police Force 

works specifically with survivors of relationship and domestic violence to provide legal and 

protection services in the form of restraining orders, prosecution, court processes, and connection 

to additional support services (Rawlins-Bentham, 2014). The FCU also trains police officers with 

survivor focused initiatives and programs to better inform the court process and to shift the 

approach of the responding officers. However, the FCU has to work within certain parameters; 

for instance, sexually violent crimes are handled by a different division, and because of the 

country’s laws on same-sex marriage they are not always able to offer as much support due to 

legal boundaries (Station Sergeant C. Husbands, personal communication, September 28, 2018).  

To date, these are the major players providing active support to survivors of GBV. While 

other movements, advocacy, and research exist in Barbados and in the region to document and 

promote activism around the issue (for example, the Walking into Walls social media movement 

by RoAnn Mohammed, 2018), few other direct service interventions currently exist.  

 

31 

 

The Importance of Contextual Fit 

 

This study is a crucial step in understanding women’s perceptions of GBV to create 

contextually relevant prevention and intervention efforts. Contextual fit has long been a central 

tenet of community psychology (Kingry-Westergaard & Kelly, 1990; Trickett, 2009, 2011; 

Trickett, Kelly, & Vincent, 1985) and is arguably one of the field’s most distinct contributions. 

In one of his most notable publications in community psychology, Trickett (2011) outlined the 

importance of intervention-contextual fit and lessons learned across community-based work in 

Peru. Trickett (2011) explained “Understanding local community culture thus involves a working 

knowledge of broad historical contexts and a local appreciation of individual and subgroup 

differences in the expression of culture, whether they are framed in terms of oppressive histories 

or community traditions” (p. 59); both of which are pertinent in the current study. However, the 

culture of scientific and community intervention also must become “a topic for interrogation as 

well” (Trickett, 2011, p. 60).  

 

In this influential paper, Trickett (2011) explained the complicated and failed efforts of 

two community interventions that did not take into consideration the intricate contextual 

influence on intervention efforts. One of these efforts focused on a public health program that 

intended to increase the frequency with which households were boiling their water prior to 

consumption. While the primary researcher considered the local ecologies and the motives and 

barriers to boiling water, they failed to understand the deep-seated cultural meanings ascribed to 

water. Trickett (2011) explained:  

Cultural beliefs about water combined with social stratification to frame how the 

intervention was perceived and received. For example, one woman who decided to boil 

water (a success from the intervention perspective) was ostracized for doing so because 

 

32 

 

 

her decision violated the local meaning of hot and cold water and thus made her a cultural 

outlaw. (p. 61) 

Trickett (2011) continued to explain that, despite public health information about the 

benefits of boiling water, the cultural meaning and engrained understanding of water carried 

more weight in decision making among women. Further complicating these efforts were the 

“gendered ecology of the town’s leadership and its lack of interest in the intervention” (Trickett, 

2011, p. 61). Like this Peruvian intervention, should interventions be developed and 

implemented in Barbados without considering the local beliefs, perceptions, and lived realities of 

GBV, there is great chance of failure in the form of little consequence or potential harm to 

individuals and communities.  

 

Miller and Shinn (2005) further elaborated on these issues, highlighting the mismatch of 

community prevention and intervention efforts and prevention science as promoted by the 

Institute of Medicine. Together, Miller and Shinn (2005) and Wandersman (2003) advocate for 

local control over prevention and intervention development and implementation, as opposed to 

“large-scale trials of interventions that demonstrate their efficacy under controlled conditions” 

(Miller & Shinn, 2005, p. 169). Furthermore, Miller and Shinn (2005) explained: 

Rather it is to suggest that ecological validity, especially the acceptability and apparent 

success of the program in the contexts in which it is to be applied, might be as important 

as internal validity, or careful evidence that the manipulation indeed has the desired 

effect, and should sometimes be established first. (p. 176) 

 

 

 

33 

 

 

 

CURRENT STUDY 

The current study fills a gap in the Caribbean literature regarding women’s perceptions 

around the contributors to GBV. More importantly, the study lends itself to the possible 

contextually relevant development of prevention and intervention efforts to confront GBV in 

Barbados. The study involved in-depth, qualitative interviews with survivors of GBV to better 

understand their understanding of what predicts GBV. As stated by McMahon and Baker (2011): 

Attitudes, beliefs and behaviors related to sexual violence are heavily influenced by 

community norms and therefore, interventions must be tailored to meet these specific 

contexts, including those shaped by particular ethnicities, religions, socioeconomic status, 

disability and many other salient factors… (p. 10) 

This study mirrors the work of Edwards, Banyard, Moschella, and Seavey (2016), as well 

as the work of O’Neil and Morgan (2010), both of which sought to understand perceived 

predictors of violence against women. However, what this study contributes beyond the two 

aforementioned scholarly works, is the focus on survivors’ perspectives. Such a position is 

relatively absent in the current literature. As explained by Edwards and colleagues (2016), 

“…qualitative methodologies to study lay theories allow for a more nuanced and detailed 

understanding of the various factors believed to be the causes of IPV” (p. 436).  Furthermore, 

Edwards and colleagues (2016) clarified :  

…if a group of individuals believes that the cause of IPV is women’s low self-esteem and 

that IPV can be prevented by boosting girls and women’s self-esteem, these same 

individuals may be less willing to participate in a bystander training.” (p. 436)  

Both statements further justify the current study. Perceived predictors need to be 

elucidated in order to better understand not only those “lay theories” and “detailed understanding 

 

34 

 

of the various factors” (Edwards et al., 2016, p. 436), but also to ensure that prevention and 

intervention strategies reflect such lived realities and perceived risk factors to ensure meaningful 

engagement and program success.  

Finally, it is important to locate this study within both the current regional and global 

context. This year, Barbados elected its first female Prime Minister, Mia Mottley, and the 

country hosted its first ever Pride Parade over the summer of 2018. For Carnival 2018, the 

Trinidad police force came out with statements around consent and what that means for the 

Carnival festivals and parties (Augustine, 2018), and while the reactions to these statements took 

on a mocking tone at times, it is undeniable that big shifts are happening. In reality, the 

Caribbean is no stranger to the larger #metoo movement happening globally, and the news 

stories demonstrate as much (Hinds, 2019; Smith, 2017, 2018). 

Research Questions 

This study intended to understand the intricacies of GBV against women in Barbados 

through an exploration of survivors’ perceptions of what is happening in their families, 

communities, and society, that is contributing to violence against women. The current study 

explored the following research questions: 

1.  According to a sample of women survivors in Barbados, what are the contributors to 

GBV? 

a.  What are the perceived contributors at the individual level?  

b.  What are the perceived contributors at the interpersonal level?  

c.  What are the perceived contributors at the community level?  

d.  What are the perceived contributors at the societal level?  

 

35 

 

Community Collaborative 

METHODS 

To explore these research questions, the study primary investigator partnered with BPW, 

the organization that runs the women’s shelter and the crises hotline on the island, as well as the 

Bureau of Gender Affairs, and the Institute for Gender and Development Studies (IGDS) at the 

University of the West Indies (UWI), Cave Hill. Dr. Halimah DeShong, the head of the IGDS, 

served as a major source of support throughout the project. This informal local steering 

committee is illustrated in Figure 3.  

• Spearheaded project

• Provided in-depth 
project guidance

Primary 
researcher

Bureau of 

Gender 
Affairs

Institute for 
Gender and 
Development 

Studies

Business & 
Professional 

Women's 
Club of 
Barbados

• Local feedback and 

implementation of 
results

• Protocol 
development, 
recruitment, and 
dissemination of 
results

 

 

 

Dissemination among regional organizations in several Caribbean countries 

Figure 3. Community collaborative for current study.  

The parties in the central box represent the core team for the project, and include the 

primary graduate student researcher, IGDS, BPW, and the Bureau of Gender Affairs. Primary 

roles are listed next to the names for each of these four core contributors. The regional 

 

36 

 

organizations mentioned at the bottom of the figure represent an opportunity to gain feedback 

from local organizations in neighboring island nations. This feedback loop will allow for the 

opportunity to see whether the data collected are relevant in other Caribbean nations. Tentative 

nations include Jamaica, Bahamas, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Antigua, Trinidad, and Haiti. 

Collaborative meetings, conferences, planning initiatives, community events, and many other 

opportunities to facilitate critical feedback, course correction, and planning for future use of the 

data will continue to be carried out. These activities will take place after the dissertation is 

complete. 

Reflexivity 

In advance of the data collection and official project start date, the graduate student was 

encouraged to engage in a reflexivity process to understand and reflect on the significance and 

meaning around being a white, American woman conducting research in the Caribbean. Her 

local mentor, Dr. DeShong, urged her to explore elements such as insider/outsider positionality, 

the different elements that led the student to her current dissertation study and research 

questions, as well as how her positionality would alter the data collection and data analysis. 

Given Dr. DeShong’s leadership in the literature around Caribbean feminist methods and 

reflexivity (DeShong, 2013), her work was of great focus. Next, in italics, is a reflexive memo 

written by the graduate student and primary researcher, Katherine Cloutier, prior to the start of 

data collection. To understand this chronologically as a stage of the project development, this 

memo has been left as was written, in the future tense. A post-project reflexive statement was 

also written, and is included in Appendix I. After unpacking this positionality, the study 

methodology will be introduced.  

 

37 

 

I initially arrived in Barbados in September 2012. I had never lived in a different country 

before, but I had just received a Fulbright scholarship to conduct an action research project with 

dance4life Barbados (a sexual health and youth empowerment organization). During my initial 

10 months in Barbados I partnered with dance4life and assisted with the implementation of their 

programming while completing a Photovoice project in which their students explored youth 

issues, peer pressure, and their meaningful participation in the dance4life program. I was on the 

heels of completing my master’s thesis project at Michigan State University, which used 

Photovoice as well, but focused specifically on sexual violence within the campus-community 

setting. The Barbados Photovoice project was very energizing for me as a young scholar. We 

gained the attention of other local partners who showcased the project at the US Embassy on 

World AIDS Day that year, and the participating youth were able to present their work to a large 

audience. This was televised and really seemed to mobilize those involved. I eventually 

implemented the Photovoice project at an additional secondary school, and I began to learn a 

great deal about context and settings.  

I learned that youth in different schools only a couple of miles apart were experiencing 

very different pressures. I learned that even in a country that is “small,” there is such rich 

diversity and a multitude of life experiences across individuals and communities. I learned that 

there is no one, single Bajan narrative, even among school children whose lives are often 

assumed to be defined by the similar factors of homework, friends, and family. And most 

importantly, I learned that the history and the diversity of the region is so plentiful that even a 

fraction of it wouldn’t be captured in a tiny little Photovoice project implemented by a white, 

American woman like myself. I learned that my project didn’t really matter all that much. What 

mattered most were my intentions and my integrity. These things I would not have been so 

 

38 

 

privileged to learn if it weren’t for the two women who run dance4life Barbados. To this day I 

am incredibly moved by their work and have been lucky to watch it grow over the past six years. 

Their work extends beyond the core of the dance4life program and includes meaningful 

celebrations of the youth in the children’s homes, critical education and outreach in the 

government industrial schools, and crucial youth advocacy across many settings. I am so 

grateful to still have this community partner today, six years later.  

When my initial project with dance4life came to an end, I began conversing with BPW as 

they are one of the leading community agencies looking at GBV in Barbados. While I have a 

background and interest in sexual health, youth issues, and international public health in 

general, the specificity of GBV was calling me yet again. For a couple of summers, I assisted 

with a few of BPW’s initiatives, attended their trainings, and slowly began exploring what it was 

I wanted to do for my dissertation. Every so often I would assist dance4life with their sexual 

health classes in the secondary schools, and was reminded that many young women, even as 

young as secondary school age, have experienced sexual violence here in Barbados. Those 

reminders would come when students would ask questions when filling out the dance4life 

baseline surveys such as “Excuse me, how do I answer the question about sexual experience if it 

was something I was forced to do?”  

I committed to focusing explicitly on GBV for my dissertation. My background in 

community psychology led me to the use of an ecological framework as all my work is guided by 

the central tenet that our settings, circumstances, experiences, and intersectionality shape who 

we are, our outcomes, our capacities, and our experiences.  

Over the past six years I have come to love Crop Over, Carnival, and soca. It taught me a 

great deal about myself when I first moved to the Caribbean and helped me further learn what it 

 

39 

 

means to be a woman. However, I would be remiss if I didn’t share some of my discomforts 

around Crop Over. I have struggled with some of the lyrics of popular songs that at times feel as 

though they are encouraging the oppression of women or violence against the LGBTQ 

community. I myself have been in a party singing along to lyrics until it hit me that I didn’t 

support what was being said. This has always left me wondering how other women, specifically 

women from Barbados, experienced these same things.  

A colleague here once said to me “Barbados can be a contradiction.” She did not make 

this comment as a pathologizing assessment; by this she was referencing multiple things, such as 

the strong religious presence, coupled with the sexualized dancing and costumes for Crop Over. 

Or, embedded within some of the more popular soca songs, the focus on the beauty and power of 

women, which throughout the song is dictated, controlled, or commanded by men. While soca is 

not a genre of music that condones violence against women, there are elements that do cloud the 

dialogue around patriarchy that may be informed by a post-colonial history. Again, however, I 

would be remiss if I didn’t once more acknowledge the plethora of soca songs that pay homage 

to the autonomy, strength, and liberation of women. Feminist informed, conscious soca, I would 

argue, is some of the most moving music I have experienced.  

Throughout the last six years in Barbados I have now landed on the research questions 

explored in this dissertation, teasing apart the perceived predictors of GBV against women. I am 

eager to learn from survivors what they believe is contributing to violence against women to 

better inform strategies for the future. I believe in simple interventions that resonate with 

individuals. Had such an intervention been presented to me during various phases of my younger 

life, I believe my outcomes would have looked a lot different. Through open conversations about 

 

40 

 

our own intersectionality, we can begin to unpack these experiences and better understand how 

to prevent GBV at a larger level.  

 Dr. DeShong’s critical, scholarly dissection of reflexivity within Caribbean feminist 

discourse (DeShong, 2013) has greatly shaped my approach to the interviews I will conduct. 

DeShong (2013) explains: 

Caribbean feminism exists at the intersections of struggles against colonialist, neo-

colonial, racist, sexist, hetero-patriarchal, classist, and other discriminatory institutions 

and practices. Caribbean feminists are particularly concerned about how these systems 

overdetermine the experiences of women, and more broadly speaking, how they can be 

contested in order to create more just societies. It is a feminism birthed out of the socio-

historical, political and cultural realities of the Caribbean, and while it has always been 

influenced by several global feminist movements and perspectives, it cannot be reduced 

to that which is an offshoot of Northern feminisms. (p. 2) 

Among feminist discourse, and Caribbean feminist discourse more specifically, there is 

not one, single unified experience had by women (DeShong, 2013; Kempadoo & DeShong, 2013; 

Oakley, 1988; Sokoloff & Dupont, 2005). This perspective had me return to the interview 

protocol several times to ensure I wasn’t reducing the experience of GBV down to one, nicely 

packaged and easily explained phenomenon, and that I was also not engaging in any activity that 

would contribute to the pathologizing of the region or Caribbean people. 

DeShong (2013) explains:  

Feminist researchers have long been concerned with generating reflexive knowledge; 

making visible the power dynamics and reducing the power differentials between 

researchers and research participants; the insider/outsider relationship; and the 

 

41 

 

 

significance of gendered relations of power as a feature of social life. In other words, it is 

essential to consider our own biographies and biases even as we seek to make claims 

about the lives of those we study. (p. 10) 

Throughout her paper on Caribbean feminist reflexive interviewing, DeShong (2013) 

shares about her insider/outsider status as a Vincentian woman who has never experienced 

intimate partner violence but is interviewing Vincentian men and women about abusive 

relationships. She shares the moments in which participants crafted narratives and identities for 

her to further justify their own positionality, or to further convey details about their own 

experiences. Often this was occurring differently across her interviews with men and women. 

Reflecting on my own insider/outsider status, I will share the element of gender as discussed by 

Dr. DeShong. All interviewees will be women, and we will share that commonality. However, 

what will also be seen and heard is my Chicago accent and white complexion. Will my status as 

a survivor of GBV be erased? Will it come up in the conversation? What assumptions might be 

made about my socioeconomic status? What elements of my identity will shift the interview 

context, the data to be collected, and how? In what ways might my own positionality or 

perceived positionality cause discomfort among the participants to the point where they may 

omit elements of their story? My biggest concern is how my presence at the interview may 

perpetuate the oppression of Caribbean women or prevent meaningful disclosure of GBV, and 

what impact that will have on those who participate. While the study intends to be empowering 

and participatory, my appearance and positionality may reflect similarities of those who have 

perpetrated violence against women, particularly women of color, in the past. Acknowledging 

and continuously reflecting on that will be one of my top priorities throughout the study to 

ensure that no further harm is presented to research participants.  

 

42 

 

DeShong’s (2013) work has encouraged me to be acutely aware of, address, and attempt 

to minimize the power differentials inherent in the researcher/participant relationship while 

communicating my view of the participant as the true expert. More importantly, how is this 

researcher/participant power dynamic further complicated by my outsider, white, American 

status that will be present and visible within the interview process? But as DeShong (2013) 

reflects on her positionality, she explains:  

…it is not enough to focus on those aspects of my biography and experiences which 

connect me to or separate me from participants. Positionality, the power dynamics 

informing the research process, and the ways in which the emerging data are collected, 

analysed and represented are relevant points of reflexion. (p. 11) 

 

It is my goal to continuously revisit my own social location and intersecting positionality 

throughout the various methodological touchpoints for the proposed study to reflect on the 

knowledge and information that is being co-produced.  

Methodology  

 

The current study is qualitative in design (Bernard, 2006; Creswell, 2003; Creswell & 

Plano-Clark, 2007; Marshall & Rossman, 2011), blending phenomenological, ethnographic, and 

participatory approaches (Case, Todd, & Kral, 2014; Creswell, 2013; Creswell, Hanson, Plano 

Clark, & Morales, 2007; Creswell & Plano-Clark, 2007; Kral & Allen, 2015). A 

phenomenological approach acknowledges the lived experiences around a specific phenomenon, 

in this case, GBV against women, while an ethnographic approach acknowledges the shared 

culture and context among a group of people (Creswell, 2013). The integration of the 

participatory tradition primarily focused on the design of the data collection tool and the 

interpretation of the data.  

 

43 

 

 

Phenomenological studies provide an opportunity to learn about the shared experience of 

a group of individuals. This in-depth, rich, contextual approach is inherently participatory in a 

sense considering that “phenomenologists work much more from the participants’ specific 

statements and experiences rather than abstracting from their statements to construct a model 

from the researcher’s interpretations” (Creswell et al., 2007, p. 252). Phenomenologists seek to 

disseminate lived experiences through the rigorous collection of words, stories, narratives, and 

text, and the method is grounded in the philosophical underpinning that the traditional scientific 

method is not suited to understand contextual experiences (Bernard, 2006). 

 

Ethnographic studies have a much stronger focus on the intact nature of a shared culture 

or community. In an ethnographic study, a single phenomenon is not necessarily the focus of the 

research questions or methods. Rather, the group nature and the empirically observed 

characteristics and context of the group is of focus (Creswell, 2003, 2013). Given that the focus 

of this study is around Bajan women’s experiences of GBV, there is an inherent cultural or 

contextual element that will be present in the data. While the focus is the phenomenon of GBV 

against women in Barbados, the group of women are bound not only by their shared experience, 

but also by their contextual and cultural similarity.   

 

Finally, elements of participatory design were introduced, primarily in the drafting of the 

protocol, as well as the data interpretation and dissemination stages. Community-based 

participatory action research (CBPAR) is a more recent combination of two participatory 

approaches: community-based participatory research (CBPR) and participatory action research 

(PAR) (Kral & Allen, 2015). In borrowing facets from both movements, CBPAR is a unique and 

powerful approach to research in that “participatory approaches adopt a methodological 

pluralism, driven by pragmatism to advance both coresearcher involvement…and structural 

 

44 

 

policy change” (Kral & Allen, 2015, p. 254). CBPAR aligns with social justice research such 

that the inherent elements of power tend to be deconstructed, the research objectives are led by 

the community members, and the intention of the research process is to create critical, positive 

change as a result (Israel et al., 2003; Kral & Allen, 2015; Themba & Minkler, 2003; N.  

Wallerstein & Duran, 2010; N. Wallerstein & Duran, 2018; N. Wallerstein, Duran, Oetzel, & 

Minkler, 2018). Phenomenological, ethnographic, and participatory approaches all align around a 

participant- and community-centered focus, acknowledging and honoring community members’ 

expertise (Bernard, 2006; Creswell, 2013; Creswell et al., 2007; Kral & Allen, 2015; Themba & 

Minkler, 2003; N. Wallerstein & Duran, 2018; N. Wallerstein et al., 2018). However, it should 

be noted that this is a community-engaged project, not a CBPAR project. Community-engaged 

research is defined by the collaborative dynamic between the researcher, the community 

partners, and the research participants/community members. Community-engaged scholarship 

“focuses on the generation of knowledge conducted in collaboration with community” 

(Doberneck, Glass, & Schweitzer, 2010, p. 18). Engagement with stakeholders, community 

partners, and research participants guided a great deal of the study design, but this dissertation is 

by no means a gold standard for CBPAR work that dismantles power differentials and leads to 

measurable community change.  

 

This ethnographically informed phenomenological study utilizing engagement processes 

(Bernard, 2006; Creswell, 2013; Israel et al., 2003; Kral & Allen, 2015; Themba & Minkler, 

2003; N.  Wallerstein & Duran, 2010; N. Wallerstein & Duran, 2018; N. Wallerstein et al., 2018) 

used semi-structured qualitative interview methods. This approach was selected for several 

reasons. To begin, semi-structured interviewing provides the same open-ended flexibility as an 

unstructured interview, but it is directed by an interview guide to ensure a set of topics are 

 

45 

 

covered (Bernard, 2006). Given the unexplored nature of ecological contributors to GBV against 

women in Barbados, a semi-structured interview was also an ethical choice. It gives control to 

the researcher to ensure that specific elements are explored, but also has the built-in flexibility 

for the participant to significantly shape the interview and data to truly reflect the lived reality of 

survivors in Barbados. Because the research questions intended to explore contributors across 

ecological levels, participants spent varying time focusing on certain ecological levels over 

others. The semi-structured interview approach allowed for this to happen (Bernard, 2006).  

Development of the Interview Protocol 

 

The interview protocol can be found in Appendix A. The development of the protocol 

took place over several months with multiple drafts to ensure the questions allowed for 

participant control of the conversation. Early drafts of the protocol were developed based on 

extensive research around the risk factors for GBV globally and in the Caribbean; after several 

iterations, much of the academic language was removed and the protocol was transformed into a 

more conversational guide. Because not all participants were going to discuss the same 

ecological levels, the final draft of the protocol reflected flexibility and participant control by 

relying on probes and interviewer expertise to follow the participant’s lead. 

 

More specifically, the protocol aimed to use empowering language while inquiring 

around existing research both globally and regionally. Efforts were focused on making sure the 

interview guide was not reductionist or pathologizing, and a great deal of language and content 

was informed by existing family studies in the Caribbean. Familial structures, neighborhood 

characteristics, and societal norms were among some of the factors explored in the protocol and 

were presented if the affiliated ecological level was approached by the participant. One example 

includes: Again, all countries, cultures, and communities have both protective and risk factors. 

 

46 

 

In other words, in all cultures there are things that happen that protect girls and women from 

GBV, and things that happen that may lead to GBV. What does this look like here in Barbados? 

 

More specifically, the interview guide ensured that the researcher did not lead the 

participant into talking about specific ecological levels; rather, the researcher approached 

ecological levels and affiliated topics once the participant indicated their focus on a specific level 

(e.g., the community level was not discussed unless approached by the participant). To that end, 

the interview guide contained several reminders to follow the participant’s lead, and to follow 

the guide based on topic, not order. The questions on individual level perceived risk factors were 

listed first, followed by the interpersonal, community, and societal levels. However, the first 

main question of the interview intended to serve as a roadmap based on participants’ initial 

responses. If the participant began by speaking about the community level, their lead was 

followed, and the researcher started with that ecological level. 

Furthermore, most of the questions were crafted so as not to lead the participant into 

agreeing with risk factors established in the literature; rather, the participant organically 

discussed what they perceived to be GBV risk factors. Nonetheless, risk factors that have been 

established in the literature at times guided the interview questions, including items such as 

family life, dynamics within intimate partnerships, and neighborhood characteristics. Finally, this 

study relied heavily on the historical context of the Caribbean, honoring and acknowledging the 

damaging record of colonialization which has shaped the cultural and societal systems as they 

are today. In crafting the interview guide, it was extremely important that empowering, rather 

than pathologizing, language was used. The intention of the study was not to place blame on any 

culture; therefore, questions like the following were drafted: Before we go any further, I want to 

take a minute to say that the remainder of the interview questions do not intend to place blame 

 

47 

 

on Barbadian culture in any way. Countries, cultures, and communities across the globe have 

varying rates of GBV against women. All cultures have both protective factors, as well as factors 

that put women and girls at greater risk of violence. Throughout this interview you will hear me 

use the terms “protective factors” and “risk factors.” Protective factors are things that reduce 

the risk of GBV occurring against women and girls. Risk factors are things that may lead to, 

predict, or make it more likely for women or girls to experience GBV. Referring back to the stat 

of 30%, what do you think about that figure? As mentioned, this rate has been documented as 

much higher in some countries, and lower in others. Why do you think it is as high as 30% here 

in Barbados?  

Overall, though the study is narrow in the sense that it is tightly focused on survivors’ 

perspectives about risk and protective factors, the approach to the interview guide was broad and 

conversational to allow participants to freely explore overarching ideas about what they believe 

may be contributing to GBV against women in Barbados. The items in the protocol were simply 

a guide and were not exhaustive. Extensive interviewing and qualitative data collection skills 

allowed the researcher to appropriately follow the participant’s lead and facilitate additional 

questions as they naturally emerged from the conversation.  

Ethical Considerations and Participant Incentives 

 

Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval was secured by the primary researcher 

through both Michigan State University (MSU) and UWI. The development of the study 

procedures was informed by various materials specific to ethical considerations for studies on 

GBV against women (Ellsberg & Heise, 2002, 2005; Ellsberg et al., 2001). These included 

minimizing harm, ensuring participant safety, protecting confidentiality, minimizing distress, 

providing referrals for services, and minimizing harm to researchers (Ellsberg & Heise, 2002). 

 

48 

 

While these do not necessarily read differently from studies in other fields, each element holds 

different weight within the context of research on GBV against women. For instance, 

confidentiality is crucial not only for the protection of personal information, but also to ensure 

personal physical safety as perpetrator reactions needed to be considered (Ellsberg & Heise, 

2005; Ellsberg et al., 2001). As Ellsberg and Heise (2005) explain:  

…there are aspects of gender-based violence research that transcend those in other areas 

because of the potentially threatening and traumatic nature of the subject matter. In the 

case of violence, the safety and even the lives of women respondents and interviewers 

may be at risk. (p. 35) 

 

A full informed consent process took place for this study, and participants were notified 

that questions about violence would come up during the interview. Furthermore, participants 

were told that they may be asked to make inferences based on their own experiences, and that 

this may be triggering of the trauma they have endured. A safe phrase was determined at the 

beginning of the interview if the participant wanted, and they could use this phrase at any point 

during the interview if they needed to cease their participation as a result of someone coming 

home or entering the interview space (Ellsberg & Heise, 2005). Most participants opted out of 

establishing a safe phrase as they didn’t feel it was necessary for their participation. One example 

of a safe phrase selected by one participant included “Excuse me while I grab a drink of water” 

and another participant indicated that she would take out and play with the pen she had in her 

pocket. For all of the women who opted in for establishing a safe phrase at the beginning of the 

interview, none of them employed their safe phrase/gesture during the interview. 

 

An overall emphasis on honoring participants’ lived experiences and shared narrative, 

what Ellsberg and Heise (2005) refer to as acknowledging “the interview as an intervention”  

 

49 

 

(p.43), also held great significance throughout the study. The interview guide was informed by a 

non-judgmental, feminist approach to discussing experiences of GBV against women (DeShong, 

2013; Ellsberg & Heise, 2002, 2005; Ellsberg et al., 2001; Oakley, 1988; Reinharz, 1992) with 

the hope that a supportive, unprejudiced conversation would be transformative for the 

participant. Each interview ended on a positive note by discussing participants’ ideas around 

facilitating change around GBV in Barbados. Recognizing and addressing participant distress  

was prepared for ahead of time, and all participants were welcome to take breaks throughout the 

interview (Ellsberg & Heise, 2005). 

 

A strong social justice component was incorporated throughout the project, an ethical 

cornerstone for research on GBV against women (Ellsberg & Heise, 2005). This involved 

developing plans for intervention and policy development to ensure that, when the time comes, 

the data will be used for social change. This will be done in collaboration with several 

community partners and government ministries.  

 

Finally, participants were provided information about referrals or services, and a 

discussion around any safety implications of leaving these materials behind took place (Ellsberg 

& Heise, 2005). Counselors at the women’s shelter were contacted ahead of interviews to ensure 

they were able to connect with participants after each interview, should the participant be 

interested. Along with a packet of information on local services for survivors, participants 

received $50BD ($25US) for their participation in the research study, and to offset any time 

and/or travel cost. This amount is aligned with best practices in the field, published by the 

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (2018) and was set at such a rate to honor 

participants’ time and willingness to enroll without presenting undue influence (Ellsberg & 

Heise, 2005). This amount was also arrived at with community partners and was justified as 

 

50 

 

being locally appropriate and not coercive (M. Burnham, personal communication, April 30, 

2018).  

Determining Sample Size 

 

Though Barbados is the most densely populated island in the Eastern Caribbean (CIA, 

2018), many of the 11 parishes that make up the island are quite rural (Trotman & Scantlebury-

Mounsey, 2017). One question this dissertation was interested in exploring was whether 

women’s views about the predictors of GBV against women in Barbados were substantially 

different in the urban parishes compared to the rural parishes. Empirically speaking, GBV 

against women has looked different across rural and urban communities (WHO, 2005). 

However, local conversations with community partners suggested that it may not be so in 

Barbados (M. Burnham, personal communication, January 18, 2018). To assess this possibility, 

relatively equal representation across urban and rural parishes was sought after. This study 

included enough data from both community contexts to begin exploring this consideration. 

However, given the small sample size and other contextual details, this study cannot, and will 

not, generalize about urban versus rural communities.  

The 11 parishes were divided into a rural cluster and an urban cluster (see Table 1).  

Table 1. Sampling clusters.  

 

Sampling Cluster 1 [urban] 

Sampling Cluster 2 [rural] 

Christ Church 
Saint Michael  
 

 

Saint Philip 
Saint George 
Saint James  
Saint Lucy 
Saint Joseph 
Saint Peter 
Saint Andrew 
Saint John 
Saint Thomas 

51 

 

 

In looking at the most recent census data (collected in 2010), two parishes emerged given 

their high population (see Table 2) (Trotman & Scantlebury-Mounsey, 2017).  

Table 2. Sampling Clusters and Population Breakdown from Barbados Statistical Service 
(2017) for the Estimated Resident Population by Parish and Sex 

Sampling 

Cluster 

Parish 

Population  
(Both Sexes) 

Population 

(Male) 

Population 
(Female) 

Saint Michael 

88,529 

1 

Christ Church 

54,336 

TOTAL 

142,865 

Saint George 

19,767 

Saint Philip 

30,662 

Saint James 

28,498 

Saint John 

8,963 

Saint Thomas 

14,249 

Saint Joseph 

6,620 

Saint Andrew 

5,139 

Saint Peter 

11,300 

Saint Lucy 

9,758 

2 

42,694 

25,624 

68,318 

9,603 

14,951 

13,272 

4,099 

6,728 

3,279 

2,646 

5,404 

4,718 

45,835 

28,712 

74,547 

10,164 

15,711 

15,226 

4,864 

7,521 

3,341 

2,493 

5,896 

5,040 

TOTAL 

134,956 

64,700 

70,256 

 

 

Determining sample size for qualitative, interview-based studies is not as straight forward 

as quantitative studies. According to Creswell (2013), five to 25 participants is the recommended 

sample size range for phenomenological studies. This range was adjusted to suit the context of 

this study. In short, a sample size closer to Creswell’s (2013) 25 estimate was pursued, albeit 

with several check points and assessments throughout the study. These check points are 

described next. 

 

52 

 

 

Many qualitative studies refer to the concept of saturation; however, this concept was 

initially developed for grounded theory studies (Glaser & Strauss, 1999). Nonetheless, saturation 

was considered throughout to ensure data was collected until no new information was emerging 

from the data collection process (Glaser & Strauss, 1999; J. M. Morse, 1995). More recently, the 

concept of information power was introduced, which refers, quite literally to the power of a 

dataset and its potential to contribute something new to the literature, meaningfully validate what 

is already known in the literature, or challenge existing thought, data, or theories established in 

the literature (Malterud, Siersma, & Guassora, 2016). The concepts of information power 

(Malterud et al., 2016), along with data saturation (Glaser & Strauss, 1999; J. M. Morse, 1995) 

were the guiding forces determining the sample size for the current study.  

 

Information power and sample size depend on study aim, specificity, theory, dialogue, 

and analysis (Malterud et al., 2016). When these five factors are strong, informed, and tightly 

bound, the sample size can be smaller; when these factors are poorly defined within the study, or 

are uninformed by strong theories, a larger sample size is needed (Malterud et al., 2016). The 

current study’s aim was tightly focused given the specificity around perceived predictors of GBV 

against women from a small island nation, and was guided by a well-established theoretical 

framework (ecological theory) (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). These two factors pushed the sample 

size to the lower end of Creswell’s (2013) recommendation of five to 25 participants. The 

anticipated quality of the dialogue was strong given the investigator’s experience conducting 

research with survivors, as well as her expertise on the topic. However, there were more 

nebulous items in the interview guide that intended to give control to the participant to shape the 

structure of the interview. This anticipation pushed the sample size towards the higher end of 

Creswell’s (2013) recommendation of five to 25 participants. The analytical process was guided 

 

53 

 

by both cross- and within-case analyses, which also moved the intended sample size towards a 

larger estimate (Creswell, 2013; Malterud et al., 2016). The fifth factor, study specificity, is 

elaborated next.  

 

The element of sample specificity (Malterud et al., 2016) presented moderate complexity 

for the study and encouraged a sample size towards the higher end of Creswell’s (2013) 

recommendation. According to Malterud and colleagues (2016), sample specificity in 

determining sample size argues that:  

Information power is also related to the specificity of experiences, knowledge, or 

properties among the participants included in the sample. To offer sufficient information 

power, a less extensive sample is needed with participants holding characteristics that are 

highly specific for the study aim compared with a sample containing participants of 

sparse specificity. (p. 1755) 

 

With the added empirical layer of urban versus rural perspectives and data, sample size 

needed to remain flexible throughout the study to ensure information power (Malterud et al., 

2016) or data saturation (Glaser & Strauss, 1999) for the end results. Preliminary data analysis 

(after 20 participants completed the interview process) took place to assess whether differences 

were arising from the two clusters. At times there seemed to be differences across the two 

clusters; however, these assumptions were followed by interviews that later debunked those 

perceived differences. This preliminary analysis utilized an inductive content analysis approach 

(Patton, 1990, 2002), and searched for “sensitizing concepts” (Patton, 1990, p. 391) and 

associated preliminary themes. This inductive content analysis remained at surface level by 

taking only one pass through the entire data set (up to 20 participants) through audio review and 

early utilization of NVivo 11.0 Plus qualitative data analysis software (2015). Data obtained 

 

54 

 

through the urban cluster was reviewed first, then the rural cluster. Results were compared for 

substantive differences, and the final sample size was determined throughout the iterative 

process previously described (for a total of 33 participants). At this same time, a meeting with 

Dr. DeShong took place to further contextualize data across urban and rural parishes. Being such 

a small island with little separation between parishes and urban and rural communities, coupled 

with the fluid movement of people from parish to parish (H. DeShong, personal communication, 

August 12, 2019), further examination of urban versus rural ceased at this point, as no significant 

differences were found. 

Additionally, the data were examined for information power (Malterud et al., 2016) by 

one more element of sample specificity. Because the Caribbean region is incredibly diverse 

(Allahar, 1993; Briceño-Ruiz, 2013), it was important to remember that there may be individuals 

from neighboring nations who participated in the study. For instance, there were some 

participants whose nationality resided with a neighboring island. Given the diversity of 

positionalities of women in Barbados, and the intention of responding appropriately to the 

diversity of experiences of GBV against women here, it made sense to consider this diversity in 

the study sample. A similar assessment of the data was going to take place as described for the 

rural versus urban empirical question, albeit less systematic; however, this was not needed in the 

end as only one participant mentioned a sole nationality that was not Barbadian. 

Overall, this fluid, yet informed sample size design was developed in accordance with  

Malterud and colleagues’ (2016) statement that “We shared the preconception that an 

approximation of sample size is necessary for planning, while the adequacy of the final sample 

size must be continuously evaluated during the research process” (p. 1754).  

 

55 

 

Recruitment  

The inclusion criteria for this purposive sample included women who are survivors of 

GBV in Barbados who are 18 years of age or older. The parameters of GBV were kept 

intentionally broad, and were defined as domestic violence, intimate partner violence, partner 

abuse, sexual assault, rape, spousal abuse, sexual violence, trafficking, forced sex, incest, 

molestation, sexual harassment, childhood sexual assault, or any other form of gender-based 

violence that involves physical, emotional, psychological, economic, or sexual violence as a 

result of a person’s sex or gender.  

Participants from both sampling clusters were recruited using the same strategies, which 

included a flyer (see Appendix B), word of mouth, and a recruitment questionnaire screening 

tool (see Appendix C). This happened through community partnerships, primarily the women’s 

shelter, and their organizational partners who frequently connect with survivors (e.g., agencies 

that offer support groups). Additionally, a partnership with the Ministry of Health aided in the 

recruitment process. After meeting with the Chief Medical Officer of Barbados, two urban and 

two rural polyclinics were approved for recruitment. In the end, over half of the sample was 

recruited within the polyclinics. Interviews took place in a variety of settings including at the 

polyclinics, at participants’ homes, in parks, in cafeterias, and in the researcher’s office. The time 

and place of each interview was mostly dictated by the participant’s assessment of safety and 

comfort.  

 The recruitment flyer directed prospective participants to the recruitment questionnaire 

screening tool and to the researcher’s phone number (in case that was more convenient for them) 

to determine if the woman was eligible to participate. This screening took place online through 

Qualtrics services (2018). 

 

56 

 

 

Once the recruitment process was complete, eligible participants and the primary 

researcher scheduled a time to meet to complete the consent and interview process. At times, 

especially when recruiting in the polyclinics, the participant was recruited, completed the 

questionnaire, and completed the interview all at the same time and place. The consent process 

was completed and signed digitally with Qualtrics (2018) on a tablet. See Appendix D for a copy 

of the consent form. The exact language in this form was transferred to the online platform.  

The two most successful recruitment pathways were through the shelter and at the four 

selected polyclinics. This can be seen in Figure 4.  

Through another 

community 
agency, 1

From a friend, 6

Polyclinic, 18

Through shelter 

staff, 8

Figure 4. Sample by recruitment pathway. Final sample = 33. 

To ensure not all participants were recruited from one single area on the island, their 

parish of residence was asked about in the recruitment screening (see Figure 5). This also 

allowed for the exploration regarding urban versus rural perspectives described earlier.  

 

 

57 

 

10

5

4

3

3

3

2

2

1

0

0

 

Figure 5. Number of participants recruited across parishes.  

And finally, to further demonstrate a relatively equal representation of urban (1) versus 

rural (2) parish recruitment (as defined in earlier section based on the most recently available 

census data), see Figure 6.  

1

39%

 

2

61%

Figure 6. Sample by sampling cluster. 

 

58 

 

As can be seen, a little more than half of the sample was recruited across the polyclinics, 

followed by through the shelter, from a friend, and finally through another community agency. 

Recruitment was successful across all but two of the 11 parishes, with 10 participants residing in 

the parish of Saint Michael (the most populated parish). In keeping with the urban and rural 

distinction per the Barbados census data, there was a relatively even representation across Saint 

Michael and Christ Church (the two most populated parishes), and the more rural parishes. 

Data Monitoring and Storage 

 

Each interview was audio recorded per participants’ consent. After each interview, the 

audio file was uploaded to a personal, password protected computer, and transferred to a 

protected server through MSU. A transcript was created for each interview recording through 

Professional Development Consultancy (PDC), a Guyana-based company that has assisted in 

many regional GBV research projects. Their services came highly recommended by Dr. 

DeShong. Transcripts were saved on the same password protected computer and were also 

transferred to the same protected server. Notes taken during each interview were saved and 

drafted into memos. Once each transcript was complete and quality checked, the audio files were 

deleted. All data points mentioned for each participant were compiled into a case using 

Microsoft Word and NVivo Qualitative Software 11.0 Plus (2010).  

 

Participants were assigned a participant identification number upon completing the 

consent process. These participant identification numbers are used throughout the results and 

assisted in the analytical procedures described. Additional identifying information was removed 

from all written accounts of the study, and the identification numbers were digitally saved in a 

separate folder that had an additional password protected feature. This same folder contained a 

master list of participant names and participant identification numbers. Participants were given 

 

59 

 

the opportunity to provide feedback and participate in the data interpretation stage of the research 

process but were not required to do so. Contact information (inclusive of participant names) was 

destroyed immediately after each interview for participants who were not interested in this stage.  

Data Analysis 

The data analysis was guided by the framework proposed by Marshall and Rossman 

(2011), starting with (1) organizing and immersion in the data, (2) coding the data and writing 

analytical memos, and (3) generating themes and interpretations. These three stages are detailed 

next.  

Organizing and immersion in the data. All interview data were already organized by 

participant. This stage started with an in-depth review of the data, and the drafting of an 

analytical framework. After all interview audio files were saved according to the data storage 

procedures outlined in both IRB agreements, they were sent to PDC for transcription. This 

company was approved for use by Dr. Campbell on the IRB committee at UWI. While the 

transcriptions were being generated, all audio files were reviewed to achieve immersion in the 

data. During the audio review stage, participant memos were created and refined. Each memo 

was approximately one paragraph long and captured the spirit and tone of the interview. Memos 

included any notes taken during the interview, and most importantly, allowed for the 

identification of sensitizing concepts (Patton, 1990, 2002) and early ideas for the analytical 

framework while listening to the audio recordings.   

Sensitizing concepts serve as data flags for pieces of information that may be central to 

the main research questions (Patton, 1990, 2002). The sensitizing concepts and early framework 

ideas were grouped into first- and second-order themes. Given the structure of the interviews, the 

data were already relatively organized with respect to addressing contributors across ecological 

 

60 

 

levels. Additionally, analytical concepts were drafted ahead of time during the literature review 

and interview guide creation stages. Examples of sensitizing concepts for perceived risk factors 

at the individual level included references to childhood experiences, substance use, or factors 

related to mental health; sensitizing concepts for perceived risk factors at the interpersonal level 

included familial structure, relationship history, length of intimate relationship, and nature of 

intimate relationship; sensitizing concepts for perceived risk factors at the community level 

included community violence, community resources, community structures, and unemployment 

levels; and finally, sensitizing concepts for perceived risk factors at the societal level included 

gender norms, dynamics between men and women, economic issues or disparities, and cultural 

influences.  

Once the transcripts were received from PDC, they were quality checked for accuracy 

and removal of identifying information. All transcripts were uploaded to NVivo (2015). Using 

NVivo (2015) software, two visualization maps were created. An Initial Coding Framework map 

(see Appendix E) was created based on participant memos and a refresher on the literature, as 

well as an Initial Ecological Model map (see Appendix F) to add context to the drafted coding 

framework. After both maps were further refined, the coding framework was built as parent and 

child nodes (codes) in NVivo (2015). Next, a case node was created for each participant to store 

all data for each participant as one case in NVivo (2015). Each case included the participant 

transcript, as well as their data during the recruitment screening (e.g., age, race/ethnicity, highest 

level of education completed, parish of residency).  

Coding the data and writing analytical memos. All interviews were coded with the 

coding framework created in NVivo (2015). This process was guided by an inductive content 

analysis approach, which involves thematic discovery across data, rather than applying an 

 

61 

 

existing analytical framework to the data (deductive analysis) (Marshall & Rossman, 2011; 

Patton, 1990, 2002). Once all interviews were coded, a causal flow case summary was created 

for each participant. Although the causal flow analysis methodology was not adopted in its 

entirety, this stage of the data analysis was guided by this approach as outlined by Ellsberg and 

Heise (2005). Causal flow analysis is described by Ellsberg and Heise (2005) as beneficial in 

showing: 

…the relationship between causes and effects of a selected issue, problem, or desired 

state. This tool can be extremely useful in gaining an understanding of the underlying 

causes of sensitive issues. It is especially good for involving community members in 

setting priorities and in planning interventions. (p. 142) 

For the current study, each causal flow case summary was prepared to better understand 

the within-case assessment of themes across participants and included a hierarchical coding chart 

(illustrating the use of codes across the interview) for each participant transcript and a high-level 

summary of the top parent and child codes referenced. Additionally, isolated quotes from 

transcripts that demonstrated causal flow as described by Ellsberg and Heise (2005) were also 

included, but only when applicable. Two examples of such isolated quotes from participant 

causal flow case summaries are:  

Okay like [boys are considered] superior. I don’t know how to explain like starting from 

primary school, nursery school, the boys would probably get to do more activities than 

the girls so they would feel more entitled to stuff. So, when that elevates and goes into 

manhood, it gets bigger with age. - Participant 33 

Well that’s…most of the times…the young ladies turn into the same housewife because 

that’s how they…were raised to be. So, you find them, they staying home and probably 

 

62 

 

being loyal to one partner and then you have the guys believing that they could, you 

know, do whatever they want. They are the man of the house, so they go in and come out 

as they please and go wherever they feel like. So then, it’s…not equal, in terms of being 

in a relationship and believing you have equal say or equal rights. – Participant 24 

See Appendix G for an example of a participant causal flow case summary. All causal 

flow case summaries were uploaded to NVivo as additional sources for each participant case 

node. While case summaries were created for all 33 participants, two of the 33 causal flow case 

summaries played a more pivotal role in the analysis and results of the dissertation. These two 

causal flow case summaries were instrumental in generating the within-case assessment which is 

described next. 

Generating themes and interpretations. The final stage of the data analysis involved 

the building of thick descriptions for all themes and sub-themes that emerged throughout the 

coding process (Marshall & Rossman, 2011; Patton, 1990, 2002) To begin this process, the 

coding framework was revisited one final time, across a two-step system. The first step required 

a revisit of the literature, as well as an exploration of the preliminary results. Changes were made 

to the coding framework, and the analysis shifted slightly to capture these changes (e.g., codes 

were combined or collapsed in cases of redundancy, codes were further teased apart into 

additional sub-themes to capture additional nuances in the data, and some codes were shifted 

around to better illustrate first- and second-order themes). See Appendix H for the final 

analytical framework.  

The second step of creating the final analytical framework involved the member checking 

process. This created opportunity to further contextualize the data by gathering feedback from 

both the research participants, as well as the instrumental community partners from the earlier 

 

63 

 

stages of the project. In staying true to the principles of community-engaged research 

(Doberneck, Bargerstock, McNall, Van Egeren, & Zientek, 2017; Doberneck et al., 2010), it was 

important to gain feedback and further insight from participants and leaders in this work. These 

processes allowed for in-depth, critical, repetitive analysis, in conjunction with the participant 

experts to ensure their own words and lived realities were not usurped by the research process. 

Both the stakeholder engagement meeting with two community partners (three 

representatives from BPW and one representative from the Bureau of Gender Affairs), as well as 

the participant feedback meetings (5 participants completed the member checking process) 

involved the sharing of the results and created space for all attendees to provide their feedback. 

Additional analytical notes and memos were written and were incorporated into the final 

refinement of the explanations and interpretations in the results. Overall, there was agreement 

among the stakeholders and five participants who engaged in the member checking process with 

the interpretations and themes. Two of the five participants made minimal requests that are 

reflected in the descriptions of the themes to follow: one was related to alcohol use by male 

partners, and one was related to police intervention.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

64 

 

Sample Characteristics 

RESULTS 

 

Thirty-three women participated in the study. All women met the eligibility criteria of 

age and experience of GBV. Two women ended their interviews early due to the scheduling at 

the polyclinic on the day of their interviews. Because their data was still rich and reflective of the 

themes that had emerged up to that point in the research, they were included in the analyses. 

However, because they ended their interviews early, they did not provide responses to the 

demographic questions at the end of the interview. Beyond the demographic questions, it is 

possible that additional data would have emerged from these two interviews if time had not been 

an issue. Because the interview guide was built for participant choice for which ecological level 

to focus on, it is difficult to indicate how much of the interview protocol was completed with 

both of these participants. However, the themes they did focus on reflected the data that had been 

collected in all other interviews up to that point. 

The sample more heavily represents the under 40 age group. Although age was initially 

asked about to ensure eligibility, this data point may help to further contextualize some of the 

data described later in the results section. While there is no way of knowing the point in time 

during which participants experienced GBV, it is important to consider how police intervention 

(highlighted in the ecological data to follow) can be further contextualized by age. The Family 

Conflict Unit (FCU) began their work in 2013 (Station Sergeant C. Husbands, personal 

communication, September 17, 2019), and their efforts have greatly focused on increased police 

training around GBV. When participants speak about their interactions with the police, the year 

of that interaction should be considered. While that data was not collected, age could be 

 

65 

 

considered as a proxy, or more accurately, a way to contextualize any feedback on police 

interactions.  

10

7

6

3

2

1

1

1

0

18-24
years

25-29
years

30-34
years

35-39
years

40-44
years

45-49
years

50-54
years

55-59
years

60-64
years

 

Figure 7. Sample breakdown by age group.  

 

Highest level of education completed was also collected at the end of each interview. 

Participant responses for the 31 women who provided this data point are presented in Figure 8.  

Post-secondary school

3

Primary school

4

Secondary school

9

Tertiary education

Figure 8. Sample by highest level of education completed.   

 

66 

15

 

 

Of the 31 participants who provided demographic information, the majority identified as 

black or Afro-Caribbean. One woman preferred not to identify with a specific race or ethnicity, 

another woman identified as mixed-race, and a third woman identified as “bronze.” In terms of 

nationality, the majority identified as Barbadian. Four participants noted either a second 

nationality or identified as being born in another country (but still having Barbadian nationality), 

one participant chose not to respond, and another participant identified as Saint Lucian. Most of 

the sample identified as heterosexual, with one participant identifying as bisexual, and another 

identifying as fluid. Two participants felt that none of the response options fit their identity 

around sexual orientation. Regarding marital status, 26 women identified as single, never 

married, two were legally separated, two were married, and one woman identified as divorced. 

Major Findings 

This study used an ecological framework to better understand the community of survivors’ 

perspectives around the contributors to GBV against women in Barbados. The following 

research questions were explored:   

1.  According to a sample of women survivors in Barbados, what are the contributors to 

GBV? 

a.  What are the perceived contributors at the individual level? 

b.  What are the perceived contributors at the interpersonal level? 

c.  What are the perceived contributors at the community level? 

d.  What are the perceived contributors at the societal level? 

The results are organized by ecological level, and therefore also by research question. At 

the outset of the study, the goal was to select one established ecological model through which to 

mirror the findings. Models referenced included Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) traditional ecological 

 

67 

 

model of human development, as well as the CDC (2018) social-ecological model for violence 

prevention and Heise’s (1998) integrated ecological framework on violence against women. 

However, as the findings began to emerge it became clear that the data were more fluid and did 

not perfectly fit any of the three models referenced. As such, elements from all three models 

were incorporated into the final presentation of the results. The individual, interpersonal, 

community, and societal levels will be of focus and provide structure for the remainder of the 

results section.  

  

 

The chart in Figure 9 illustrates the hierarchical coding of the emergent themes. While 

the research questions focused on the identification of contributors at each of the four ecological 

levels, it is also important to consider the weight carried by these themes, across participants.  

Figure 9. Hierarchical coding chart exported from NVivo (2015). 

 

 

The hierarchical coding chart in Figure 9 was exported from NVivo (2015) and visualizes 

the number of coding references across codes, across all interviews. Larger shaded areas indicate 

greater number of references. As can be seen in the figure, participants focused most on the 

interpersonal level of the ecological model (in grey), followed by the community level (in blue), 

 

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and the societal (in yellow). The individual level (in orange) received the least attention across 

participants. Presented next is the cross- and within-case analysis and thick descriptions of the 

identified contributors to GBV against women in Barbados nested within these four ecological 

levels.  

An Ecological Exploration of GBV in Barbados: Cross-Case Analysis 

Each level of the ecological model is presented with a standard practice in qualitative 

research known as thick description (Creswell, 1998; Marshall & Rossman, 2011; Patton, 1990, 

2002). This practice required a close look at the sub-themes identified as contributors by 

participants, while paying attention to any emergent commonalities or differences across 

participants. Additionally, the scholarly work presented in the literature review was revisited 

after the data were coded to assess the extent to which the current study reflected what has been 

found in other Caribbean countries. The work conducted in Haiti, albeit quantitative and 

collected within a different cultural context, provides a good lens through which to understand 

the data presented. Given the Haiti researchers’ use of an ecological framework, their work 

helped to define and reflect on what is shared next (Gage, 2005; Gage & Hutchinson, 2006). 

Individual level. Across the literature this level refers to factors that an individual brings 

to relationships and settings, such as age, history of witnessing or experiencing abuse, education, 

and many other individual level variables (CDC, 2018; Heise, 1998). While all 33 women 

mentioned factors at the individual level, this level was the least commonly referenced across 

interviews; less time was spent speaking about this level of the ecological model, compared to 

others. Individual level factors mentioned by participants included self-worth, witnessing or 

experiencing abuse as a child, and economic vulnerability. Economic vulnerability was discussed 

as including educational, employment, and financial vulnerability.  

 

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Self-worth. Participants spoke about concepts of self-worth as a perceived individual 

level risk factor for both experiencing GBV for women, as well as perpetrating GBV against 

women, for men. In terms of a risk factor for perpetrating GBV against women, most participants 

described feelings of jealous or insecurity among men. One participant explained:  

…they [abusive men] use that against you. Men tend to tell women, ‘Who you think you 

are, you think you better than me?’…because the woman might have a higher self-esteem 

than the man…[who] doesn’t know where he is going. So, that’s why the violence come 

in place too. – Participant 11 

…he would think ‘She’s going to run off with him because he would be able to give her 

more than what I can give her.’ So, he had low self-esteem. – Participant 4 

This participant discussed the abuse within her relationship as directly connected to her 

partner’s feelings of jealousy and constant concern that she would leave him for another man. In 

relating these feelings to his self-esteem, she articulated this as a contributor to the violence he 

committed against her. This was a shared sentiment across many participants. This concept of 

competition among men is discussed further at the societal level.  

As a risk factor for women initially experiencing, and continuing to experience GBV, 

participants explained:  

Once you got that…self-confidence and stuff like that, you know…certain things you 

won’t stand for and certain things you won’t stay for…So like domestic abuse won’t even 

be a topic because you not entertaining that. So, I guess…you should learn self-worth 

and stuff like that. – Participant 12 

 

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Because when you know who you are, it’s hard for a man to mentally abuse you because 

they have to mentally bring you down and try to bring down your self-esteem before they 

put their hands on you and hit you. – Participant 11  

Like when he realize that the woman like soft, or she got a low self-esteem…he would just 

keep on doing it [abuse]…because if he hit a woman today and she come back to you, 

like you’ll want to do it the next, next, next, next, next day. – Participant 5 

Participants spoke about feelings of self-worth as related to a lack of feeling loved during 

earlier stages in life. One woman explained that when a woman does not feel loved during her 

childhood years, the first partner who expresses these feelings for her may have a strong hold 

over her, regardless of any abusive treatment to come. Overall, participants felt as though a 

lowered sense of self-worth was a clear entry point for GBV to occur in women’s lives. 

Furthermore, a lowered sense of self-worth created a cycle in that its continued presence allowed 

for repeated occurrences of GBV within an intimate relationship, as well as a survivor’s life.  

Witnessing or experiencing abuse as a child. Participants also discussed witnessing or 

experiencing abuse as a child as an individual level contributor to GBV against women. Like 

self-worth, this was a contributor that was discussed as both a risk factor for experiencing abuse 

as an adult for women, as well as perpetrating abuse as an adult for men. However, participants 

pointed out at various times that this was not necessarily linear. If a young girl witnessed or 

experienced abuse as a child, she is not necessarily going to become a victim as an adult; if a 

young boy witnessed or experienced abuse as a child, he will not necessarily become a 

perpetrator (or victim) as an adult. However, participants noted that this was a significant 

contributor to the potential of that outcome.  

 

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Many of these instances were also coded and will be discussed at the interpersonal, 

familial level because they illustrate dynamics and outcomes as a result of the family system. 

This individual level theme, however, emerged when participants singled out the element of 

witnessing or experiencing abuse separate from family dynamics that support abuse. While this 

sub-theme presents overlap between the individual and interpersonal (specifically within the 

family system) levels, it is important to acknowledge it as a unique, individual level contributor 

as participants put a great deal of stock in the significance of having witnessed or experienced 

abuse at a young age: 

Their…children are obviously going to be a part…of encountering, experiencing, and 

seeing all that’s going on and…will probably end up becoming or experiencing domestic 

abuse whether it’s becoming a victim or becoming a perpetrator. – Participant 1 

 

Participants perceived witnessing or experiencing abuse as a child as particularly harmful 

for young boys in that they are at risk for repeating the behavior: 

…my brother, I think that he, he thinks that he could just walk over women…probably 

because a’ how he saw my stepfather treat my mother. – Participant 14 

…so, it creates a cycle because they [young boys] may continue the same behavior. So, 

they learn it as a child, that’s how you…deal with situations that are 

challenging…they’re angry and they’re frustrated already because they…did not learn 

how to deal with their emotions, how to deal with their conflict. So, it’s…a continuation. 

– Participant 2 

 

Participants also spoke about the impact on women after witnessing abuse at a young age, 

in particular, against their mother:  

 

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In my story, my mom was abused by my dad and I never thought that I would ever find 

myself in that kind of situation. But, I did, and it kind of shocked me when it happened to 

me because I thought I was smart enough never to go down that road. But you know the 

psychology say…there is a term that they call ‘going home’ and I totally understand that 

now when I found myself in a situation. – Participant 10 

I would say that once you’ve been around some sort of violence in the home…it tells the 

brain that when something bad happens…and it’s really horrible, then somebody’s going 

to get hit eventually. – Participant 9 

There was strong agreement among participants that the witnessing of abuse at a young 

age between parents or caregivers contributed greatly to this cycle repeating in adulthood, be that 

women experiencing victimization from a male partner, or male partners victimizing female 

partners.  Beyond witnessing abuse, participants also spoke about the impact of experiencing 

abuse at a young age, and how these experiences created space for GBV to occur in adulthood. 

This again was discussed as a contributor to both adult victimization as well as perpetration of 

abuse and involved severe physical punishment or violence as a child, as well as sexual abuse.  

Participants also explained that the experience of sexual abuse at a young age seemed to 

have an impact on the transition into a successful, healthy, adulthood. This impact was perceived 

to put women at risk for experiencing GBV. One woman explained:  

…my abuse started from 13, when my mom…had a boyfriend…I ain’t even say it to my 

mom, I wrote a letter to my mother…I said, ‘Mommy, at night when you leave us [for 

work]…[your boyfriend] is troubling me.’…My mother grab me. She was [like], 

‘Troubling you how?’…I said, ‘Well he putting his hand under my clothes, he pushing he 

 

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fingers in me, he holding my breast. He want me to put his penis in my mouth.’…And my 

mother said, ‘You are a fucking liar.’ – Participant 15 

This participant described the abuse she experienced as an adult and related it back to the 

lacking support and belief from her mother when she was assaulted as a child. At the time, she 

even denied the abuse when questioned by the police because of the response she received from 

her mother upon disclosure. She explained:  

I sat down and cried. I cried until a day I just let he do whatever he felt like. – Participant 

15 

In this quote, the participant is referring to her mother’s boyfriend, and how she 

eventually could not defend herself any longer against his abuse. In relating this to the abuse she 

experienced as an adult, she explained:  

I didn’t have a mother to call and say well, ‘He beating me or he doing this to me.’ You 

know, so I didn’t have a mother to call while he doing this or that to me. – Participant 15 

 

This participant’s experience of sexual abuse at a young age, coupled with her mother’s 

rejection of the abuse, created space for her to experience GBV as an adult. The experiences 

described by this participant were supported by other women in the study:  

You got some family that does abuse women too…Young, young girls in the family…I 

may come and tell you well, ‘Mommy, my uncle is interfering [with] me’ and mommy 

might not bother. So, therefore, the mother is contributing to the violence. – Participant 

16 

The mother boyfriend, it might be…the mother friend, it might just [be] a random man. I 

have seen it. Personally, I hear a lot of stories about it, that the mother is selling the girl 

child because dem ain’t got no money and whatever. So…the man want the daughter…so 

 

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she gon’ push her although the girl child might not want that. But, ‘You got bring in 

money because we ain’t got no money. The bills got pay, the rent got pay.’ – Participant 

14 

These quotes present additional, confounding elements, beyond the experience of abuse 

as a young girl. The issues of finances, as well as the family system dynamics, are introduced. 

However, it should be noted that participants still related the experience of abuse alone, at such a 

young age, as it contributed to GBV against women as adults. The additional variables 

mentioned will be presented at other levels of the ecological model.  

 

One additional participant narrative will be referenced before moving on to the next 

theme. The sexual abuse of young boys was described as a contributor to the perpetration of 

GBV against women. One participant spoke about her abusive ex-husband, and the sexual abuse 

he experienced as a child. Like the previous narrative, she discusses his mother’s disbelief and 

lack of support and the way in which that led to his treatment of women throughout the rest of 

his life. She explained:  

Sexual abuse …seemed to have been…throughout his childhood…and the fact this is 

mother denied that he was sexually abused was something that he had mentioned that he 

took really, really hard to the point that he said he’s smashed up furniture and things like 

that in her presence…she asked him for proof cus’ he was abused by his stepfather…he 

mentioned it was a large inconvenience because his stepfather was homosexual…he felt 

very betrayed by his mother. – Participant 1 

 

This participant connected her partner’s mother’s reaction to his abuse as a motivator for 

retaliation against other women in his adulthood. Additionally, the participant’s mention of the 

abuser’s sexuality is important to consider. In her retelling of this abusive history, she deemed 

 

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this a detail that was significant to the victim, her ex-husband, the same individual who 

kidnapped her, raped her, and put her through years of abuse. She retold the story of the abuse he 

suffered at a young age and noted that the complications of a young boy being sexually abused 

by a man was a “large inconvenience” for her ex-partner. While she did not elaborate too much 

on this, she did connect it to his violent nature as an adult. This reflects the concept of hegemonic 

masculinities as discussed earlier in this dissertation.   

 

These themes are validated by Heise (1998) and many other scholars who have 

demonstrated childhood abuse (and witnessing of abuse) as a major individual level risk factor 

for both victimization and perpetration. Heise (1998) notes the well-documented findings around 

men having witnessed the abuse of their mother and their increased likelihood of abusing an 

intimate partner, as well as the impact of childhood sexual victimization and its translation to 

sexual violence towards women.  

Economic vulnerability. Economic vulnerability is the final individual level contributor 

to GBV perceived by participants. Like the previously discussed theme, economic vulnerability 

is discussed at both the individual level as well as the interpersonal level, albeit in different ways. 

At the individual level, participants shared that women, separate from any partner or relationship, 

were protected from GBV when they possessed abilities to access economic opportunities. At the 

interpersonal level, economic vulnerability will be discussed within intimate relationships, as 

manipulated by male partners. At both the individual and interpersonal level, economic 

vulnerability will be discussed across educational, employment, and general financial 

opportunities.  

Overall, participants discussed restricted opportunities for women to succeed across these 

three domains. One participant explained:  

 

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I do believe women are at risk mostly because of finances. – Participant 10 

Education level was mentioned as a protective factor, especially for preventing initial 

experiences of GBV. Many participants felt that women with a strong educational foundation 

were protected from ever being exposed to the cycle of GBV. One woman explained:  

Education. Lack of education [among women] and not being able to provide for 

themselves [causes GBV] … Go and get educated and you will be able to provide for 

yourself…Education is the way out of poverty. Go to school and get an education. Boys 

will always be there. Get an education…Go and mek better fuh yourself. You got to go 

[to] school and you got to get an education. – Participant 14 

Beyond education, women identified being unemployed or lacking income as 

contributing to economic vulnerability that leads to GBV: 

Women should learn to be independent, have an independent mindset, because if she’s in 

this type of relationship she can get up and get out, like have a career, have a purpose in 

life. If she wants to become a dancer, make sure she become a dancer, a lawyer, singer, 

whatever. So, that if she in a relationship, she...can be able to free herself. – Participant 

11 

Continuing, this woman explained that in achieving a career:  

Yes, and she might be able to attract a man that is more serious or real and not a male 

[who] will feel intimidated by a woman who is a lawyer, doctor…an accomplished 

woman. You won’t be able to touch her self-esteem. And even if the relationship goes 

astray [becomes abusive], she can just walk away. – Participant 11 

This participant quote is important because she makes the connection between economic 

vulnerability at the individual level and economic dissonance (discussed later) at the 

 

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interpersonal level.  This participant mentions a woman’s career as a protective factor from GBV 

in that she “might be able to attract a man who is more serious…” and unintimidated by her 

success. As discussed next at the interpersonal level (as well as at the societal level), these 

concepts of traditional gender roles within intimate partnerships, as they relate to providing 

financially for the family, are noted as one of the most significant causes of GBV against women 

in Barbados. As noted by this participant, achieving economic stability and independence 

through employment and career opportunities may prevent women from ever being exposed to 

the cycle of GBV to begin with.  

Economic vulnerability was discussed as a risk factor for initial abuse, as well as 

continued abuse. Participants agreed that economic stability prevented women from ever 

experiencing GBV, as well as prevented women from feeling trapped or forced to remain in 

abusive relationships. Most participants described that women in abusive relationships would 

indeed leave the relationship if they had the financial resources (shelter, enough income, food) to 

do so, for her and her children. Individual finances as a contributor to continued GBV within 

intimate relationships was brought up many times across interviews:  

I didn’t have anywhere to go so, you know, I kept on trying to make it work because of 

that economic situation that I was in. – Participant 2 

But I was trapped because I had kids from him and not working. [I] still have to depend 

on him to make sure that my children won’t starve. So, I couldn’t go anywhere. – 

Participant 6 

Not having no money, when you is the woman not having finances and you have to 

depend on a man. So, she depends on you for money, so I can treat her the way I feel like. 

– Participant 7 

 

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I just decided to stay [in the abusive relationship] you know, because it’s always the 

money. – Participant 9 

Interpersonal level. The interpersonal level was the most regularly referenced level of 

the ecological model. All 33 women referenced this level when identifying contributors to GBV. 

The interpersonal level in this study is reflective of the microsystem as defined by 

Bronfenbrenner (1979) and the relationship level as defined by the CDC (2018) social-ecological 

model. Across the literature, the interpersonal level is defined by personal relationships or 

settings within which the individual is directly involved or engaged. Often times this refers to 

family, intimate, or peer relationships (Bronfenbrenner, 1979; CDC, 2018; Heise, 1998). For this 

study, the interpersonal level was broken down into two themes including intimate relationships 

and family systems: two settings in which interpersonal relationships occur. Intimate 

relationships were referenced more often than family systems as contributors to GBV, and 

therefore are discussed first. Both categories were broken down further into sub-themes, all of 

which are presented next. Like the individual level, many of the perceived contributors were 

discussed by participants as risk factors for both initial experiences of GBV, as well as continued 

experiences of GBV. Themes noted by participants at the interpersonal level as they relate to 

both intimate relationships as well as family systems, are aligned with empirical work from Haiti 

(Gage, 2005; Gage & Hutchinson, 2006).  

Intimate relationships. When asked about contributors to GBV against women in 

Barbados, survivors described elements of intimate relationships that they felt placed women at 

risk of experiencing GBV. Participants described contributors that were responsible for the 

introduction or continued existence of GBV within a partnership (e.g., alcohol use by a male 

partner), which were sustained by the overall need for men to have power or control over their 

 

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female partners. Given the overlapping nature of contributors to GBV across ecological levels, 

this will also be discussed at the societal level.  

Perceived contributors for the introduction or existence of GBV within intimate 

relationships include alcohol use by a male partner, shared financial vulnerability within a 

relationship, economic dissonance or manipulation, and traditional gender roles in intimate 

relationships. Before describing these themes, it should be noted that while some participants 

identified with a sexual orientation other than heterosexual, all the intimate relationship themes 

were derived from participants’ thoughts on and abusive experiences within heterosexual 

relationships. To initiate the descriptions of these themes, the following quote will help 

contextualize the overall tone of the intimate relationship sub-themes at the interpersonal level:  

…somebody had said he seemed to have hang-ups with women…it’s kind of interesting 

how over that period of time…he would say things and do things but I never really…it 

never really registered with me as…how he was relating to me as a woman or as his wife. 

– Participant 1 

Alcohol use by a male partner. Alcohol use by a male partner is a well-documented 

finding in the literature both globally, and specific to the Caribbean (Danns & Parsad, 1989; 

DeShong, 2011, 2015; Gage, 2005; Gage & Hutchinson, 2006; Gibbison, 2007; Heise, 1998; 

Jeremiah et al., 2017; Nagassar et al., 2010; Rawlins, 2000). Of the 33 women interviewed in the 

study, 18 mentioned alcohol use among men as a contributor to the introduction or existence of 

GBV within intimate relationships:  

I have a friend that her boyfriend drinks and he beats her because when he comes in 

drunk, that’s the only time he could find to beat her. For me, it was my children father 

 

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just like the same. He would just hit me for no reason till I had to get away. I feel I 

woulda been dead. – Participant 19 

Well Barbados, is the Caribbean [birthplace] of rum, so the men here love rum. Have a 

lot of rum shops, they drink a lotta rum. They go out…they drink alcohol, then they come 

home, and they get upset for foolish things and they usually take out their anger on her. – 

Participant 28  

 

One participant described her husband’s use of alcohol and how it became an issue for 

him at work as a police officer. He was later dismissed from his job and continued to brutally 

attack his wife. Throughout her relationship with him, seeking support from the police became 

less and less of an option given her partner’s connection with the force. Overall, participants felt 

that drinking alcohol, as well as the rum shop culture, contributes to GBV against women in 

Barbados. One woman who participated in the member checking process indicated, however, 

that alcohol itself was not a cause of GBV against women, so much as it was an ever present 

constant across violent situations. This distinction was important to her narrative as she felt, if 

presented otherwise, gave men an excuse or an easy way out.  

Shared financial vulnerability within a relationship. Shared financial vulnerability within 

an intimate relationship was also noted by participants as a contributor to the introduction or 

existence of GBV against women within intimate relationships. This is different from the 

economic dissonance described later in this section as it focuses on the shared element of 

financial instability as a unit. One woman explained:  

…sometimes it’ll be a case where you decide you gon’ probably buy something [for 

dinner] on the way home but then I’m buying…for everybody, which could be costly. So 

then it comes a case where you are quarrelling about the budget, you quarrelling about 

 

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the money and they will say to you ‘you could have go home and cook something’…but 

you bought something on the road that the family could have eat…by the time you get 

home you realize well you only got $20 left…you would hear ‘you does waste money.’ So, 

then we go into the case of making the woman feel it’s all her fault… – Participant 23  

Economic dissonance or manipulation. While economic vulnerability is discussed as an 

individual level factor, economic dissonance is mentioned at the interpersonal level due to the 

common reference of financial stability in comparison to, or as a result of the manipulation by, a 

male partner. Economic dissonance or manipulation was one of the top three themes cited within 

the intimate relationship category. Economic dissonance or manipulation was seen in three 

different arenas, including educational, employment, and financial, and refers to a significant 

economic difference between the couple, or manipulation by a male partner to achieve or 

maintain this difference. This dissonance or manipulation was a major contributor to the 

introduction or existence of GBV within intimate relationships.  

Education, employment, and financial dissonance were discussed as operating in 

complicated and reinforcing ways within relationships such that an initial economic dissonance 

between the two partners was used as a justification for abuse perpetrated by male partners. Even 

more complicated was the fact that abusive male partners reacted to this dissonance with 

violence regardless of which side of that dissonance they were on. If the woman was making less 

money that the man, he would use violence to remind her that she was contributing less to the 

family and the household:  

…so they would like drop it in your face like ‘don’t forget you ain’t working’ or ‘don’t 

forget that you ain’t got nothing’…So, you would just pull back, fall back, fall back and 

just down to zero but you feel you at 10 but really and truly you at zero. And, because you 

 

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ain’t getting money, you ain’t getting food and a lot of things so you ain’t happy. – 

Participant 5 

It would [be] more in the situation that women not making enough money and having to 

stand for violence because the man is making more money, he feel he could be abusive 

towards her. – Participant 12 

This participant described situations wherein her abusive partner would use violence to 

remind her of this dissonance often, while also using it as a mechanism to maintain this 

dissonance. In a situation where the woman was making more money than the man, he would use 

violence to show her that she was not in charge despite her income. In such a situation, abusive 

men use violence to reset that dissonance in their favor. One woman explained: 

…so, when he was in prison, I had a job, so when…he came home now, I was still 

working. So, he was like, ‘Since I back home now, you can’t go to work’ and he was 

going to do everything. But I was telling he that I still want to work, and he was shouting 

at me, like cursing me, he even hit me, so I had to call [work]…and say I wasn’t coming 

back no more. – Participant 5 

Another woman explained:  

…then sometimes you find like if they feel the female is like more dominating as in like 

providing more financially...I find like they turn to abuse as a way to control basically.  – 

Participant 12 

I don’t know if men feel belittled when they are not making more money than their 

spouses, so I find like they get aggravated by that and it turns to violence as a means to 

control and be in control. – Participant 12 

 

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Participant 12 continued to explain her perceptions around the abusive male partner’s 

thinking in situations where the female partner is making more money than the male partner:  

… ‘she’s making more money but I’m going to show that I’m the man cause I’m going to 

do this thing [abuse]. I don’t owe you anything because you can’t fight me on that level 

so you would see that I’m dominating.’ – Participant 12 

These narratives describe partner reactions to employment and income leading to cursing, 

hitting, and general violence, which potentially leads to job termination. For Participant 5, this 

violence in reaction to her job and income forced her to quit her job. Her partner’s use of 

violence intended to reset that dissonance in his favor, so that she was no longer financial free or 

independent. This initiates a dangerous cycle wherein women are not protected by job security or 

income. Unemployed or women with lower incomes than their partners are subjected to abuse 

for being dependent on the man, and employed women with higher incomes than their partners 

are subjected to abuse because the man wants her to depend on him financially, not only so he 

can be viewed as the head of the household, but also because he becomes justified in his abuse 

once she is making less money.  

Other participants noted moments when the male partner would recognize a potential tip 

in the scales of economic dissonance, during which he would turn to violence. One participant 

explained:  

I started doing nursing before and he was like, ‘Why you doing nursing? You too stupid. 

You can’t do that.’ Or ‘You too this, you can’t do that’ …And he used to have to provide 

the bus fare and stuff for me. He never used to want to give it to me to go to class. At all. 

– Participant 15 

 

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This participant’s continued progression through schooling or other opportunities 

subjected her to further violence from her partner. This participant clarified:  

…he figured that if I did the classes, I would leave him. He had that power over me 

because I had nowhere to go…I had nowhere to go and I…had no income. I was at home 

taking care of his son. So, he thinks that soon as I did the classes he said, ‘You want go 

and do what? Try to elevate yourself for what? You…too stupid for this thing girl.’ – 

Participant 15 

These potential educational or employment opportunities were viewed as a direct threat 

to the man’s position in the household and were also perceived as jeopardizing the benefits he 

was getting from having his partner stay home:  

…it [Barbados] is got a set of men that don’t want women to like go out and work [these 

men feel] that once they are working, they feel they have the upper hand because them is 

the providers. Yea, so they could control things. – Participant 5 

Participants noted that abusive partners benefitted from this dependency in that someone 

was there to take care of the house and children, so they did not have to. The additional benefit, 

as previously mentioned, was that he could continue to abuse his partner with the assumption 

that she had nowhere to go: 

I remembered my daughter father he was saying to me…’there is no way you should be 

working for more money that me’…this man seem to got [an] issue because obviously he 

does not want you to be doing better than him because he believes you should be at home, 

just child-rearing and taking care of the household and the meals and the laundry… - 

Participant 23 

 

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Yeah and because he know that if I working, I wouldn’t have to take nothing from 

him…But I was trapped because I had kids from him and not working. [I] still have to 

depend on him to make sure that my children won’t starve so I couldn’t go anywhere. – 

Participant 5 

As articulated by Participant 19, however, this does not align with women’s lived 

realities. She explained: 

…women in Barbados tend to strive more than men, I find. Women want to do more, want 

to accomplish more than men. A man would be laid back with doing a normal job giving 

him minimum wage, and a woman wants more. So, if she’s getting more money than him, 

he feels intimidated and he becomes angered and takes it out on her. – Participant 19 

 

While this educational and employment restriction does not align with Bajan women’s 

goals, participants explained that they had to live this new normal in order to prevent abuse and 

make sure their children had housing and food. A lack of compliance also meant their children 

could potentially be abused. 

 

One final element of economic dissonance mentioned by participants was age 

discordance within an intimate relationship:  

…let’s say you are about 18, 19, and this gentleman comes along, he’s about 40. And he 

come and he would help you. He would give you anything. He would help you through 

school. If you have to study, he would help you through your degree and whatever. So, 

you are…looking at him as a father-figure, then he may…become intimate…So because 

you didn’t have that male person in your home, you see him as…the person who is there 

for you, your protector, your daddy. It becomes violent then, when she realizes that, she 

is 26 and he is 50, and there is this young man out there that, she like him, but this man, 

 

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who would have helped her throughout her career. She might feel that she is obligated 

[to this] man…he says to her, ‘You can’t leave me. I help you through school…I pick you 

up off the gutter when you had nothing.’ This is where the abuse starts. – Participant 31 

Age discordance within intimate relationships was discussed by several participants and 

was noted as a factor that contributed to this economic dissonance leading to abuse, especially in 

circumstances when older men are preying on younger girls or women who are in need. Another 

woman explained:  

Well, you know you would meet a guy and he would be a little older than you and…you 

would explain certain situations to him about your life and stuff, things that you don’t 

have and stuff, and then he would…be sweet [to] you and make you talk with him and he 

would give you everything in the beginning, and then he would try to like put in your 

head ‘Well you have to get up and be independent.’ But, his way of being independent is 

he has a friend that wants to see you and he would carry you by the friend and you not 

knowing that his idea of you being independent and trying to…get stuff on your own is to 

have sex with his friend…and then you don’t want to have sex with his friend… – 

Participant 6 

 

This participant went on to explain situations wherein the younger, female partner is 

subjected to extreme abuse if she does not comply to the forced prostitution by her older, male 

partner. This may mean physical violence, as well as being held hostage in the house until she 

complies.  

Traditional gender roles in intimate relationships. The final contributor to GBV at the 

intimate partnership level is traditional gender roles, specifically household duties such as 

cooking, cleaning, and child-rearing. This theme encompassed characteristics and preconceived 

 

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notions of what it means to be a husband or wife in Barbados as well. Across the study, 31 

women mentioned traditional gender roles as contributors:  

…some men believe women supposed to be…we supposed to know our place. That some, 

some men actually think our place is being at home or in the kitchen or, you know, or 

being a child-bearer for them, nothing else. – Participant 15 

This participant described how this played out in her relationship, and how any departure 

from her traditional gender roles placed her at risk for abusive treatment from her partner:  

…I was home and I had the baby in my hand, and I was tired…he came in, he kissed us, 

he asked, ‘How is my two favorite girls?’ I was like ‘I am okay.’ Then I smile until…he 

went in the kitchen and he come back and he start [to] curse me, ‘Where the fuck is my 

[dinner]?’ – Participant 15 

This participant went on to describe the abuse she suffered for not having her partner’s 

dinner ready:  

I say, ‘…I literally just walked through the door.’ He drag me up, he fling me in a 

position on the wall. I still had, in my hand, the baby. His mom was in the other room. 

When he fling me and I hit the partition, my head hit the partition and [the baby] slide 

out my hand. His mom opened her bedroom door, took up [the baby], and went back 

in…He bit me. He bite me there and then he hit me with the frying pan in my face…I was 

just seeing just nothing but blood.  – Participant 15  

Another woman explained:  

Deh got certain men that believe, alright, I go work and I come home, you supposed to 

got food on the table, you know? If I come home and I want to have sex, we supposed to 

have sex because I working the hardest and bringing in the money. – Participant 18 

 

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Similarly, Participant 23 explained that even when both partners are contributing 

financially to the household, the woman may “get a chuck” if she is not prioritizing the cooking:  

…when I put money here the money is spent to buy the food, the money spent to pay bills, 

but at the same time there are two of y’all doing the same thing so it is not [financially] 

more than anyone else…And then he want…you alone to be responsible of taking care of 

the family…It is not a case where daddy can’t go into the kitchen and prepare the 

evening meal. So what I find is that a lot of…the men are still within the mind frame 

thinking that the mother’s role is only to take care of the children and take care of the 

home, prepare everything for everyone, meals, clothes, laundry, everything is at the role 

of the mother. – Participant 23 

Participant 26 explained that the abuse she experienced seemed to worsen when she and 

her partner moved in together. Specifically, the gender roles in the relationship carried more 

weight:  

…we move in together and to me, it [the abuse] got more worse. It’s like, okay, I don’t 

mind cooking fuh you. I don’t mind washing fuh you. I don’t mind cleaning fuh you. But I 

is work just like you. You can’t expect me to do thing in your time…If a weekend I ain’t 

get up and start cooking, he real angry. – Participant 26 

This participant continued to explain the brutal violence she experienced from her 

partner, even during times of illness. A great deal of the abuse, she explained, was prompted by 

her partner’s need to control and maintain the gender norms in their relationship and in the 

household. An additional gender norm mentioned by participants referred to men having 

multiple partners. This was unacceptable for the woman, but okay for the man:  

 

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They [men] would feel…that they got more, they got more right to, ‘Me woman got to 

stay at home with children and clean and just leh me provide...that is why they got these 

terms now, girlfriend and wifey. So wifey home and girlfriend out there. – Participant 21  

This concept was discussed frequently across participants and tied into what is acceptable 

and unacceptable behavior for men and women within intimate relationships. A man having what 

was referred to as an outside woman, was not only discussed as tolerated socially (this is the 

man’s right), but was also discussed as solidifying his position in his other relationship such that 

his partner’s position became less about intimacy, and more about performing household 

functions for his benefit. 

The four themes discussed, including alcohol use by a male partner, shared financial 

vulnerability within a relationship, economic dissonance or manipulation, and traditional gender 

roles in intimate relationships, were noted as being sustained by one additional factor: the 

general need for power or control over a female partner. This need to exercise control over a 

woman was noted frequently as feeding contributors such as economic dissonance and traditional 

gender roles, and saturated nearly all other themes discussed within intimate relationships: 

I guess it’s because men believe the masculine power supposed to be strong and in 

control, powerful so if someone tells them they’re soft [weak] that’s the total opposite of 

that, so that’s where that comes from. But beating a woman does not make you powerful. 

– Participant 28 

I find that most relationships I was in, guys does usually be controlling…They does like 

to know that you are scared of them, that they have you regardless. Cus’ they know once 

you’re scared you wouldn’t want to leave. Well you would want to leave but you would 

be scared to leave. They does like to know that you ain’t going nowhere. – Participant 28 

 

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…they then think their woman have to be controlled, that’s the first thing…they feel that 

women are supposed to be controlled…and men…they know how to control a woman is 

through the violence because that is how they would have been controlled when they 

were small. – Participant 2 

And they men…they think they are the head of the house. So, if a woman says “no” or 

whatever…they does just feel to knock around women fuh anything. – Participant 31  

Family system. The family system was the second of the two major themes at the 

interpersonal level. Participants described four main contributors within family systems that are 

related to GBV against women, including the raising of young boys versus young girls, dissonant 

expectations or experiences of young boys versus young girls, family system protection of men, 

and use or history of violence within the family.  

Raising of young boys versus young girls. The most frequently referenced contributor to 

GBV against women within the family system was the raising of young boys versus young girls. 

One woman explained that young boys, who then grow up to be men, are given special 

accommodations and privileges:  

It’s like…they’re never wrong, they are never wrong. A mother ‘Oh, this is my boy child, 

he would never do anything’ ... – Participant 10  

This concept of young boys being special or treated with privilege was brought up very 

often across the interviews. Participants explained that this privileged treatment bordered on an 

almost worshipping of young boys and the young men they grow into. Furthermore, there was a 

bit of reciprocity mentioned in that young men grew very dependent on their mothers as a result 

of this specialized treatment. At times this was exhibited as great respect for their mother, and at 

other times this was disrespect for their mothers because they knew they would continue to be 

 

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worshipped and treated as special within the family unit, no matter their actions or behaviors. 

Furthermore, these dynamics complicated issues when these young men began to engage in 

intimate relationships, and the role the mother would play in intervening during violent episodes 

and telling her son that he should not treat a woman with such disrespect. This very rarely 

happened. Many women who participated in the study spoke about how their partner’s mother 

knew of the abuse, at times even witnessed the abuse, but still never intervened or spoke with her 

son about his horrid behaviors:  

 So now he brings a girlfriend and now the mom is jealous of the girlfriend and is never 

going to take her side on anything. – Participant 10 

 One woman described a violent encounter with her partner and mentioned how his 

mother witnessed the abuse. She explains that:  

…most mothers in Barbados is like…I got my son back. – Participant 16 

 

Participants explained that many young men are continuously supported by their mothers, 

from childhood through adulthood, no matter their treatment of others, their financial 

status/financial drain on her own well-being, or their overall character. No matter the degree of 

the abuse, most participants agreed that most mothers would support their sons.  

The raising of young boys was discussed with a foundation of entitlement. Participants 

spoke about how boys are taught that they are entitled to whatever they want, and this was 

solidified by their treatment within the family system. This then carries over into intimate 

relationships in adulthood and creates a setting in which abuse becomes regular when their 

entitlement is not supported by their female partner. As was quoted in the methods section, 

Participant 33 explained:  

 

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Okay [boys are] like superior. I don’t know how to explain, like starting from primary 

school, nursery school, the boys would probably get to do more activities than the girls 

so they would feel more entitled to stuff. So, when that elevates and goes into manhood, it 

gets bigger with age. – Participant 33  

So, they grow up from 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, into adulthood believing that every single woman they 

can just pass, touch. If the woman shuts them down, they curse them because that is what 

they grow up to. – Participant 29 

Many participants also spoke about the things that young boys witness in the house, and 

how that impacts their perceptions and actions as they grow older. For instance, they may be 

observing that the father has control of the house, and when it starts to slip, he becomes violent. 

Or he may observe the ways in which his mother or sisters are treated by others and believe that 

it is acceptable treatment. When this is coupled with the specialized treatment he is also 

receiving, a message about gendered power dynamics is solidified.  

One of the most compelling and nuanced observations made by a participant involved the 

ways in which young boys and girls are socialized by the family unit as part of their upbringing:  

So, it happens that from [the] time a young man is growing up, they [his family] always 

teach them that…you could go out and find a girl. Or they will say, ‘You will have plenty 

girls when you grow up’ and thing. But then, when it comes to a female, they raise them 

so isolated. Be at home, be the cooks, the cleaners, always be at home. – Participant 24 

This isolation to the house seems to be contributing to the expectation of gender role 

performance within intimate relationships later in life, which was clarified previously as a key 

contributor to GBV against women. Participants continued to explain:  

 

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Then the young ladies turn into the same housewife because that’s how they…were raised 

to be. So, you find them, they staying home and probably being loyal to one partner, and 

then you have the guys believing that they could, you know, do whatever they want. They 

are the man of the house, so they go in and come out as they please and go wherever they 

feel like. So then, it’s not equal, in terms of being in a relationship and believing you have 

equal say or equal rights. – Participant 24 

I understand that a woman must know how to cook and do other stuff, but not every girl 

wants to be a housewife. Yes, there are certain skill she gon’ need to learn, but not every 

girl wanna be a housewife. And…not every boy is gonna go out to go out whenever he 

feel like and come home whenever he feel like…but to me, the parents give the boys more 

leeway than the girls. – Participant 25 

Because girls are supposed to be soft, they supposed to be in the house, cooking, 

washing, whatever. The boys are supposed to be out there climbing trees, falling down, 

breaking deh feet…that is basically how they were raised, because men are not supposed 

to be in the house cooking. Boys are not supposed to be in the house cooking or washing. 

It’s supposed to be a lady’s thing. – Participant 31 

Participants painted a clear picture of how the raising of young boys promotes male 

entitlement and introduces, as well as reinforces, expectations of men and women within 

intimate relationships later in life. This further perpetuated traditional gender norms within 

intimate relationships as a risk factor. Participants discussed that many young men were raised to 

believe that there should not be equal power within intimate, heterosexual relationships. Young 

boys were also discussed as having the freedom to go out, explore sexual relationships, and were 

 

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simply given a bit more room to grow. Young girls on the other hand experienced a great deal of 

control and were restricted to the home and completion of schoolwork. 

One final commonality that emerged in relation to the raising of young boys, was the 

lacking acknowledgement of trauma during childhood. Many women spoke about young boys 

and young girls as witnessing and experiencing abuse, but that this trauma was never dealt with. 

For young boys, this meant this unaddressed trauma translated into violent behaviors as adults:  

…alright, my child father now for instance, he said his mother left his father for another 

man. So, he had seen that. So, that is the key where now he grow up as a man, he 

retaliated on me. – Participant 3 

Dissonant expectations or experiences of young boys versus young girls. Related to the 

raising of young boys versus young girls, participants also spoke about differences in 

expectations and experiences of young boys versus young girls. Sexual abuse was mentioned for 

both young boys and young girls, although it was discussed as being much more common for 

young girls. The commonality of young girls being assaulted by visiting partners, family 

members, or men in the community who held some sort of power or status, was discussed. This 

was coded at the individual level as well when it was talked about as trauma leading to future 

experiences of GBV. However, it is also discussed here as participants spoke about it being more 

common and normalized for young girls than it was for young boys. At times, participants shared 

that mothers would know that this abuse was happening within the home, but the perpetrator may 

have been providing some sort of support to the family or household, so it was ignored, if not 

encouraged at times: 

 …mothers put their girl children in a lot of sexual positions because they can’t 

afford…they want the money, the man want the girl child instead of the mother. The 

 

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mother gon’ give the man the girl child because he bringing in the money. So, she putting 

her daughter in a sexual position because [of] lack of finances. – Participant 14 

These experiences were also coded at the individual level, since many women then 

believed that this was normal, or even required in order to make ends meet, financially. Overall, 

a great deal of harassment, sexual coercion, sexual assault, and rape were discussed as things that 

many young women experience in Barbados. Some women described in detail assault by a 

stepfather or visiting boyfriend of another family member. This was often met with disbelief 

from the mother, or others in the family, leaving the young girl isolated and without resources. 

These experiences were not as normalized for young men, according to the participants. Again, 

this exists as an individual level contributor, but is also pulled out at the family level because the 

occurrence depends on the family system support of this experience and is characterized and 

therefore set as a precedence for young women.  

Family system protection of men. The family’s protection of men was another theme that 

emerged from the data. Many women spoke about how they never learned of their partner’s 

abusive history, until after it started happening within their relationship. Participants spoke about 

how numerous family members, friends, or people within their shared network had ample time to 

share this information with her, but in their pursuit of protecting the perpetrator, they never did. 

Furthermore, it was not solely that the perpetrator received protection from their family; there 

was an added layer that he held some sort of power position in the familial network, making it 

challenging for family members to speak out about his abusive behaviors. Siblings were 

mentioned as providing rides for victims to the emergency room, but never truly speaking out 

against their brother’s actions, for instance. Very often family members witnessed the abuse 

taking place, but no intervention followed. At a minimum, some family members heard there 

 

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was abuse within the relationship, but never inquired further. Perpetrators maintained their 

positions of power within their family or extended family networks to further isolate victims and 

take advantage of the protection they were receiving:  

I could never go back to the family, you know, it’s too much support for the perpetrator, 

too much support, and none for the victim. – Participant 10 

Participants explained that this power within the family system allowed for the continued 

violence to happen within their intimate relationship. One woman explained that she knew her 

partner from when they were young. Their families were very close, and his family actively hid 

his abusive behaviors towards past partners. Therefore, when she entered a relationship with him, 

she did not know she had reason to be worried. She explained that she entered the relationship in 

a vulnerable state because his family manipulated her and her own family to believe he was a 

good person: 

…my guard was already down, so you know by the time he started to manifest these 

things [his abusive behavior], and I found out some of the things he did, it was like ‘Well, 

you know maybe I can change him.’ – Participant 10  

One woman spoke about her abusive ex-husband and how he was sexually abused as a 

child. She related his behavior as an adult to this experience, specifically in that his mother never 

believed him when he disclosed this information to her. She explained that he retaliated later in 

life by abusing women, and she felt that, while his mother knew of this behavior, she never said 

anything about it because it was her way of offering him the protection later in life that she 

should have granted him as a child.  

Another woman spoke about a man who was assaulting young girls at the beach. When 

she found out about his behavior, she confronted his family members and friends, and all had 

 

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admitted to not doing anything about it. They had ascribed to a similar code of protection for the 

perpetrator and allowed him to continue his abusive behavior towards other young girls. Overall, 

this persistent protection of men by their family networks was identified by participants as 

directly contributing to GBV against women.  

Use or history of violence within the family. The final contributor within the family 

system is the use or history of abuse within the family. This has been discussed across the 

preceding themes but will be briefly mentioned here as well, albeit in more general terms. 

Participants endorsed the individual contributor of witnessing or experiencing violence as a 

child, but also spoke about the general use of violence within the family system as a separate 

contributor. Women posited that if violence was a constant presence in someone’s life, especially 

as a child, they will likely grow up thinking it is okay to be violent towards others, or to be 

treated violently by others. This was discussed as family members being violent towards one 

another, towards strangers, towards animals, as well as a history of this behavior being a norm 

within one’s family system: 

Majority of the time it is widespread, and it is the norm of most households to have some 

form of it [abuse] going on…no one talks about it. You know [it’s going on] …you know 

uncles troubling their nieces or whatever…so that is really what is causing the problem. 

– Participant 10  

…even in my own family…my brother and my sister used to fight a lot…Sometimes I 

would be the cause of it, like if my sister does something that my brother doesn’t like to 

me, like he would just get up and beat her. Then of course, like as I got older and more 

defiant, he thought he could try it with me…The police knew our address from the time 

they heard our names. So yeah, it was pretty toxic growing up there…I think everyone [in 

 

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the neighborhood] was so accustomed to it. Like I can’t think of any functional family in 

that neighborhood. – Participant 13 

This normalization of violence is discussed at later levels of the ecological model, but its 

existence in the family system is noted here given the strong influence the system has on family 

members’ outcomes, especially in the Caribbean where people tend to live with their families 

well into adulthood (M. Burnham, personal communication, February 4, 2019).  

 

Community level. Moving beyond the interpersonal level, the community level was 

referenced with a frequency similar to the societal level of the ecological model. The community 

level in this study is reflective of the exosystem in Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model (1979) 

and the community level as defined by the CDC social ecological model (2018). Across the 

literature, this level is often defined by health and social services available, community 

resources, neighborhoods, law enforcement and the judicial system, and many other entities that 

have an impact on individuals, but that those individuals may not be regularly connected to. This 

level can also refer to settings in which relationships or interactions occur, and discusses the 

dynamics or norms within those settings (Bronfenbrenner, 1979; CDC, 2018). This theme will be 

structured like the way in which the intimate relationship themes were nested in the interpersonal 

level such that the contributors to the introduction of existence of GBV will be presented first, 

followed by the factors that serve as sustainability mechanisms. For the current study, the 

community level themes included the normalization of violence across communities and 

community settings and the acceptance or trivialization of GBV by systems (inconsistent 

enforcement of laws across police officers, police lack of understanding about abuse, and 

policies, protocols, and the court system). These contributors were noted as sustained by the 

 

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small community dynamic that can be found across the island and the need for (or current lack 

of) services.  

 

Normalization of violence across communities and community settings. The 

normalization of violence was noted by participants as directly contributing to GBV against 

women in Barbados. This normalization went beyond the family system and functioned as an 

acceptable practice across a diversity of settings. The normalization of violence against women 

was described by participants as a veil that was laid over all community settings, such as 

neighborhoods and schools:   

You know it is something that we accustomed to see in the neighborhood and my mom 

would tell me in her time, like for entertainment sometimes, there was this one man and 

his family… [that would] go crazy on the weekend. He would come home drunk and he 

would, you know, um hit his girlfriend…All the neighbors would come out laughing so 

it’s like ‘Oh we know it is normal, we don’t see anything wrong with it.’ – Participant 10 

 

Multiple women talked about how the harassment of young girls at school was widely 

accepted, and how there was not enough going on in school settings to teach children about 

healthy relationships. Another woman described a situation where a schoolgirl was being 

assaulted regularly by a van (public transit) driver, but neither the school nor the other van 

patrons acted on it. Many participants also described the widespread occurrence of coerced and 

forced sex and agreed that most women would likely describe their first sexual experiences as 

such. Despite the well-established nature of that trend, participants explained that it was not 

viewed as cause for alarm among most people; in fact, they felt it did the opposite and even 

encouraged this trend to continue to grow. Participants referred to men “troubling” or 

“interfering with” young girls as a regular occurrence, referring primarily to sexual abuse, and 

 

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mentioned that the identity and behaviors of perpetrators within neighborhoods are many times 

known by the surrounding community members.   

 

Acceptance or trivialization of GBV by systems. There was an overwhelming perception 

that judicial bodies, such as the police, accepted or trivialized GBV against women, in that there 

was a significant lack of efforts by police officers to appropriately handle sexual and domestic 

violence cases, there were perpetrators on the force, and increased training was desperately 

needed. As a reminder, the FCU (Family Conflict Unit within the Royal Barbados Police Force) 

was started in 2013 and is responsible for overhauling the police force response to GBV, 

specifically domestic violence. The FCU, headed by Sergeant Husbands, works to provide 

training and support for police officers responding to domestic violence calls. They work closely 

with the judicial system and aim to transform the landscape of justice as it relates to women and 

girls who are victims of GBV (Station Sergeant C. Husbands, personal communication, 

September 17, 2019). Because some of the participants’ experiences with the police force would 

have happened before the FCU was established, it is important to contextualize their reactions to 

the police force as not necessarily related to the FCU. This sub-theme was one of the most 

pivotal, widely referenced codes throughout the study. Participants were adamant that the 

acceptance and trivialization of GBV within the police system directly contributed to initial as 

well as continued experiences of GBV, if not domestic violence homicide as well.  

 

Overall, police officers were noted as endorsing many of the pre-conceived notions and 

beliefs discussed in preceding ecological levels. There was a great deal of blaming the victim 

mentality exhibited by the police, and participants noted that their lack of empathy, their 

disinterest in assessing the severity of situations, and their general lack of concern and respect for 

women translated directly into lives lost due to domestic violence homicide. Two major concerns 

 

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were expressed regarding the police. Participants described police as inconsistently enforcing the 

law, which sends a message to many men that GBV will be tolerated. They also felt that police 

were lacking a deep understanding of abuse and were more often guided by their frustration 

towards women who return to violent partners. In such situations, police officers often ignore 

calls for help and again send a message of accepting GBV.  

 

Inconsistent enforcement of laws across police officers. Participants noted mass 

inconsistencies across police officers in how GBV cases were handled. Many women explained 

that police officers were outright disrespectful while making it clear that they knew the 

perpetrator and therefore were unlikely to pursue any criminal action against him. One woman 

explained:  

The inspector, when he come in…it was like he trying to mek it clear that he know them 

[the perpetrator and his family]…So I was like, ‘Oh, so you trying to let me know that 

yeah you know them from young?’ – Participant 16 

This woman continued to say that, after the Sergeant left the room, the inspector started 

to communicate these things, trying to manipulate her into changing her story. She then realized:  

Uh-huh, ‘This ain’t ever going in you favor [talking to herself]. This ain’t ever working 

fuh you.’ – Participant 16 

Participants also spoke about delays in police response once a call was made. One 

woman described calling the police six times in a row, with no answer. She explained:  

I was actually in a situation where I was calling the police number and it rang and rang 

and rang and no one answered. I called about six times. If it was a more…if it was a 

worse situation probably I would not be alive or something because nobody answer. – 

Participant 33 

 

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Women also spoke about the critical moment when a report or a call is made, and the 

police judgment that takes place regarding the importance of that report. In cases where sex 

workers or women who have a history of domestic violence call the police, many officers deem 

their situation as not important or not worthy of a visit. Participants also mentioned the reality of 

perpetrators being within the police force, making the “not worthy” call much easier for some. 

Participants spoke about these factors as a direct pathway to domestic violence homicide.  

Another woman described that police often lead with the question about whether the 

situation involved a boyfriend or husband. From her perspective, if the woman told the police 

that the issue was with a boyfriend or husband, police officers tended to trivialize the situation:  

Yes, that’s the first question they always ask. If it’s your boyfriend or if you and the 

person are involved. And then if you say ‘yeah’ they’ll say y’all are going to resolve it or 

get over it. Sometimes they may come, sometimes they may not come... – Participant 33 

 

Police lack of understanding about abuse. Participants mentioned a deep need for police 

officers to better understand the complexities of abuse so that they did not blame the victims. 

Their incapacity to grasp patterns and behaviors exhibited by victims translated into lives lost 

and contributed to a system of disregard for women:  

I heard women may call, call the police and they are like ‘Uh, just make up and get done 

with it…because you know that you are going to go back.’ – Participant 10 

The training of the police. The police. Zero. Like zero. You think when they come to 

respond to the call…They have the same attitude [of] ‘But we don’t have to go because 

she’s probably going to go back to the guy.’ I’ve seen that attitude more than once from 

police. I do not understand the dynamics of it, but I definitely would say training of the 

police would make a big difference... – Participant 13 

 

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And then when they go back again and call the police…you call the police 3 or 4 times 

for the same person. Some of the police don’t pay you no mind. – Participant 17 

One woman spoke about the police informal policy of:  

‘If you got back with him, don’t come back to us.’ – Participant 29 

Another woman shared her experience with the police and how their lack of concern 

almost cost her, her life. This woman had made various reports to the police station, but most 

were dismissed and not taken seriously. The abusive partner was a former police officer, and was 

later dismissed from the force, yet continued to impersonate a police officer by wearing his 

uniform. Her attempts to involve the police were trivialized given the police officer’s friendly 

relationship with her partner, and eventually he broke into the house, beat her with a weapon, 

tied her up, and lit her and her house on fire. She played dead for as long as she could, and then 

was able to escape. She barely survived his attack:  

…when the incident happened, and I was taken to the police station, one of the officers 

who mainly came to take the [previous] reports, when he saw my face, he could not sit at 

the desk anymore. He just got up and left. He just got up and left. I, I don’t know if he felt 

bad because he obviously knew of the reports that I have put in against this person, and 

every time they come it was a like brush off because obviously, he [my partner] was part 

of the force. It was just a brush off in all of the reports, or most of the reports. So, I feel 

that he felt bad after he saw my face and everything that happened. He just got up and 

left...I guess he couldn’t face me…a lot of the officers did not take it serious. They don’t 

take it serious because the most they would say is um ‘Don’t worry, she would be back 

with him tomorrow, think about it.’ – Participant 4 

 

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The disregard for GBV, the sexist, and at times assaultive behavior by police officers, 

and their trivialization of, and lack of training around, domestic violence cases were all noted as 

perceived direct contributors to GBV against women in Barbados; both for initial experiences of 

GBV, as well as continued experiences of GBV. One woman who participated in the member 

checking process noted, however, that not all experiences with police officers are negative. She 

was adamant that many police officers are trying their best when it comes to GBV, but that the 

officers need more resources if they are to effectively handle GBV calls.  

Policies, protocols, and the court system. Participants described major contributors to 

GBV existing within the court system and were described as related to, but more of an extension 

of the police force. While the court was not viewed as a contributor to the initiation of GBV, it 

was seen as contributing to re-occurrence. This theme was namely defined by the court system’s 

significant delays, which created space for continued GBV against women to occur. Protective 

orders were discussed as meaningless, and rarely were they respected. Like the police response, 

the court system was viewed as more so protecting the perpetrator, and not the victim. 

Furthermore, participants spoke about the court’s incapacity to enlist strict sentencing, making 

domestic violence homicide a real possibility once the perpetrator is set free. Overall, policies 

and practices in the court system were described more so as contributing to continued GBV, but 

certainly made initial experiences of GBV easier for perpetrators and more challenging for 

survivors.  

 

Court delays were an issue for women, requiring they take significant time off work and 

having to relive the abuse regularly. One woman indicated her case was in the court system 

going on several years. Furthermore, this woman explained that women can be charged a fee 

from the court if they later decide to drop the charges, regardless if her dropping the charges is 

 

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due to the court taking years to process their case, improper treatment of the survivor within the 

court system, or the survivor’s inability to take further time off work to attend court dates. 

Participants also spoke about how perpetrators will threaten victims, forcing them to drop the 

case, potentially leading to the fine described, while also making the victim more vulnerable to 

continued abuse. Partner retaliation was thought to happen once the victim dropped the court 

case, at which point the victim was usually met with disinterest from the court system moving 

forward. Her dropping of the case and return to her abusive partner allowed the court to label her 

as a lost cause.  

Another woman mentioned that bail was granted and met too easily, even in the case of 

murder or severe injury to another person. She mentioned that there have been a few cases where 

men will get out on bail after being arrested for murder, and then they commit another murder 

while they are out of custody. 

 

In describing being brutally attacked in her own home, tied up, and set on fire, one 

woman explained:  

So, every time I go to court it's a lot of butterflies going through my belly, a lot of things 

going through my head, because we don't know at what point in time that the judge would 

give bail. And the way how he reacted I tell them to me he’s not finished, not the way how 

he reacting, he is not finished (sic)…When it reach the court system…it was questioned 

by a particular judge like ‘What is this charge?” Because obviously the police have to 

charge and they gave the incident a burglary charge…Yeah, they put it [as] burglary, but 

when it went to the High Court, the judge was like ‘What charge is this? This is not seen 

in the documents, the medical reports from the doctors and everything. This is not 

burglary.’ – Participant 4 

 

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While this judge recognized the shortcoming of the police and fought to ensure this was 

not prosecuted as a burglary, the court case was still up against timelines for how long they could 

hold the perpetrator; he was likely to be granted bail. Because the investigation had to be 

repeated with the appropriate charge, there was a significant lag in the court case. 

Other participants also noted positive experiences with judges, but not all participants. 

Additionally, positive experiences with judges did not override the lengthy, convoluted, and 

patriarchal court system they were up against. Laws and policies in Barbados still serve to 

disadvantage women, especially regarding domestic violence and spousal rape. Many women 

found that once their case was understood by the court as existing within a romantic relationship, 

the remnants of the outdated policies around spousal rape and assault began to creep their way 

into the proceedings.   

Two different women explained that they were later charged for the self-defense they 

used during violent encounters, demonstrating the court’s elevation of male voices and 

protection of men’s lives over women. Another woman told a story during which she felt the 

magistrate essentially gave her partner permission to kill her during his next assault. As the 

woman was in the court presenting her case, in front of the perpetrator, the magistrate trivialized 

the situation and made a comment about how she is lucky she is not in Trinidad because she 

likely would have been killed by her partner, rather than just injured. Making a mockery of her 

partner’s attempts to hurt her and framing his violence against her as a pitiful effort, she felt, sent 

him the message that he could go on and try again, but harder next time.  

 

At the community level, participants focused on the normalization of violence, within and 

beyond systems, as contributors to GBV that allowed for the persistent and continued presence 

of violence. Beyond these contributors, participants also described a few mechanisms by which 

 

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these contributors were sustained. These mechanisms included the small community dynamic 

across Barbados, as well as the lacking visibility and services available to survivors. Both 

sustainability mechanisms are described next.  

Small community dynamic. Barbados was frequently described as a small island; so 

small in fact that one participant described it as a place where everyone basically knows 

everyone. This small community dynamic allows for and sustains the normalization of violence 

against girls and women as well as the acceptance of it across the judicial systems. Participants 

described this small community dynamic as characterized by a culture of silence, the labeling of 

domestic violence as a private matter between a husband and wife, and a lack of community 

member intervention in the presence of GBV against women.  

 

Culture of silence. A culture of silence, like many other emergent themes, is not unique to 

Barbados. Nonetheless, participants identified this as a mechanism that sustained the lacking and 

inappropriate police intervention. This culture of silence was described by participants as making 

it hard for women to disclose abuse to the police and set a tone or a norm that GBV is not 

something that should be disclosed or reported. Participants spoke about perpetrators being 

aware of this culture of silence and using this to their advantage, allowing for the continued 

abuse of women.  

 

Private matter. GBV was also discussed as being viewed culturally as a private matter 

that occurred between a husband and wife. Constructing GBV as a private matter contributed to 

GBV in three ways: First, many police officers endorsed this belief, sending a message that GBV 

would not be prosecuted. Second, religious leaders endorsed this belief and encouraged women 

to stay in abusive relationships as their wife duty. Third, community members endorsed this as a 

 

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way to justify their non-action or lack of intervention when they knew of or witnessed GBV 

happening. Regarding police endorsement of this belief, one woman explained:   

…the police were called, and you know I said I didn’t want to press charges. I just want 

him to know it’s not okay for him to put his hand on me. They were like ‘Oh, you know 

you should make up. Just give him a kiss.’ And I’m like ‘I have the prints of his fingers 

around my throat…’ – Participant 10 

Multiple women also described religious leaders as contributing to GBV against women, 

both as perpetrators themselves, as well as through their support for perpetrators and their 

disregard for survivors. One woman described the incredible support she received from one 

pastor, but this was after her previous pastor had cast her out of their church community once she 

called the police on her abusive husband. Her pastor at the time, and he was supported by the 

church, rejected her and said she was no longer welcome in their community once she involved 

the police:  

…because I called police, right, that was the non-Christian thing to do…A Christian 

shouldn’t…we shouldn’t…our situation should never get to the point where it involved 

the law…it was the wrong thing for a [married] Christian woman to do. – Participant 8 

Patriarchal religion as a sustainability mechanism for GBV against women, specifically 

regarding support for the perpetrator and rejection of the woman, most significantly if she 

involves police, was mentioned by at least four participants.  

 

 Finally, the endorsement of GBV as a private matter by community members was used 

to justify their inaction while witnessing GBV. Participants reiterated that community member 

endorsement of GBV as a private matter made it easy for people to ignore, explaining it away as 

a small issue between a husband and wife. This was reflected in the police approach such that 

 

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male friends, like male officers, rarely take a stand against violence perpetrated by another man, 

but instead would engage in the following behavior:  

It is not a case where he is telling him not to treat the lady like…most of the times [they 

may] say ‘man, cool you head, don’t get yourself in trouble for she.’ So, it’s not a case 

where they say ‘Man you wrong, you had no right putting your hand…’ – Participant 23 

 

Last, Barbados’ small community dynamic was also discussed as challenging in that the 

‘everyone knows everyone’ mentality makes it so perpetrators are usually protected by someone; 

whether they have a family member in the police force or are friends with a judge. This too 

helped sustain the community level factors previously mentioned.  

 Finally, the lacking visibility and accessibility of services was identified as a 

sustainability mechanism at the community level as well. Participants agreed that more services 

were needed to better address GBV happening across communities and noted this lack of 

services as something that allowed GBV to continue. Without appropriate services for women 

experiencing GBV, participants noted it was nearly impossible for victims to exit abusive 

situations. Furthermore, many participants spoke about a lack of confidentiality on the island and 

how this made service seeking a challenge, if not a complete deterrent to accessing support; be 

that from police, social services, or health services. Participants discussed that their situation was 

not going to be kept confidential and therefore tended to disengage from most help seeking 

opportunities. The lack of services, coupled with the lack of confidentiality across existing 

services was noted as a contributor to continued GBV against women, sustaining the community 

level factors that were identified by participants.  

 

Societal level. It should first be noted that the preceding ecological levels were all 

impacted by the societal level. In referencing back to the ecological model, the nesting of levels 

 

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becomes particularly important. The individual, interpersonal, and community levels are all 

influenced by subsequent levels in the ecological model. As such, many of the previous themes 

are deeply influenced by factors at the societal level. For instance, male partner power or control 

over a female partner would be societally informed, even though it was discussed as a sustaining 

mechanism at the interpersonal, intimate partnership level.  

 

Two major themes at the societal level emerged as contributing to GBV against women 

in Barbados, including the impact of the historical enslavement of individuals and families and 

traditional gender roles in a heteronormative society. The latter theme will be discussed primarily 

through the socialization of men, toxic masculinity, and societal disregard or lacking support for 

women.  

 

Impact of the historical enslavement of individuals and families. Four participants 

mentioned the impact of the enslavement of individuals and families as a contributor to current 

day GBV against women. One woman related this back to the forced complacency of enslaved 

individuals and how that impacted the family unit:  

Okay, bus fares are going up, they [Bajans] would rather call in [to the radio]…and 

murmur and complain, but they are not actually going to say ‘Alright, you know we are 

going to do something about it…’ not proactive, we are not, and they said that actually 

comes from the fact that we were, our ancestors were …slaves, and how slaves learn to 

blend in and not make any noise…So that also, um, permeated the family unit and gave 

birth or allowed abuse to happen. – Participant 10 

Other women explained:  

I know it doesn’t justify what he did, but it certainly was in him. So, I think it stems 

from…a cultural mindset…which could even date back from slavery as well within the 

 

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Caribbean. So, slaves were…beaten. That was another form of discipline and control. So, 

then it’s kind of like in your DNA almost, it’s passed from generation to generation. – 

Participant 2 

Because when there was slavery…they would separate the families…They would just 

break families apart. Yes, during slavery…black people were slaves, but part of it 

interfered with the…family structure in the Caribbean. – Participant 11 

This woman mentioned this forced destruction of the Caribbean family unit as connected 

to the regional trend of single female headed households; single women as head of their 

household, she felt, were vulnerable to GBV given the nature of visiting intimate partnerships 

with men.  

Another woman described GBV against women in the Afro-Caribbean Bajan community 

as being contextually different from GBV in the white Bajan community. This woman described 

this contextual difference as related to the historical oppression of Afro-Caribbean people and 

communities on the island, and how that has translated to economic disadvantage across races. 

She continued to explain that the current state of the economy and the government in Barbados 

served to perpetuate this disparity.  This, she felt, was going to contribute to more crime, more 

abuse, and feed the economic vulnerability indicators discussed at earlier levels of the ecological 

model while specifically disenfranchising the Afro-Caribbean Bajan community.  

 

Traditional gender roles in a heteronormative society. The socialization among men 

within a heteronormative society was identified by participants as a contributor to initial 

experiences of GBV as well as continued experiences of GBV. This theme was discussed in two, 

seemingly opposing ways. Participants spoke about the strong influence of men on their peers, as 

well as the power structure within groups of men, such that there tends to be a dominant man, 

 

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and the other men are expected to follow suit in terms of his behaviors and beliefs; making sure 

not to cause disruptions in this power structure. However, participants also spoke about a 

consistent sense of competition among men, which seems to go against the constant order 

previously described. This competition among men, according to some participants, was even 

said to lead to domestic violence homicide in some cases. One woman explained:  

Like he would go out and have sex with women, come home, and he would tell me that he 

just went out. I was like, ‘Where you was?’ ‘I went fucking, where else?’…Then I 

wouldn’t want to have sex with him and then he would force me to. He would force me. 

He would force it. And if I don’t want to, he would cuff me right here in my stomach…or 

he would beat me. The last beating I got from him, it was over somebody messaging me 

on Facebook and he was on my laptop, on my Facebook account…Somebody messaged 

me and said, ‘Hey pretty face’…that beating was…honestly I cannot remember…I know 

when I wake up I was…in emergency because he beat me to the core. – Participant 15 

This participant’s narrative articulates so well not only the double standard where men 

are permitted to have multiple sexual partners, while women are expected to remain 

monogamous, but also the confrontation of this double standard as an immediate precursor to an 

abusive episode within an intimate relationship. Furthermore, this quote illustrates the severe 

competition among, and the sense of ownership of women by, men as a clear contributor to her 

partner’s reactions and his violent behavior. Another woman explained:  

…a woman would come home from work and say she tired, she ain’t want [to] have sex. 

The man would [be] thinking now, she went [and have sex] with somebody and he…does 

get real angry and beat you and thing. – Participant 9 

 

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Other women spoke about the general encouragement among, as well as pressure from, 

men to engage in abusive behaviors within intimate relationships. One participant explained:  

Well, like say you in public, and you talk to he in a certain way and he friends would be 

like, ‘That is how you got your girl talking to you fuh true?’ So he now, he gon’ want to 

react cause he gon’ want mek it look…like, ‘Well she can’t talk to me so all the time, how 

come she want talk to me so now?’ He guh want show off with he friends…He will want 

slap she in the face because he friends seh, ‘That’s how you got she talking to you? You 

soft.’ So, he ain’t want feel that he soft, so he will want slap she in she face or whatever. 

– Participant 18 

Another woman explained:  

It also has something to do with who you like…if you on the block with you fellas and 

they hear how you treating you girl good. They gon’ holler, ‘Oh, she got you whipped’ or 

something so, and they gon’ think, ‘Well, if my boys telling me I treating she real good, 

and they don’t really approve, well I should probably treat she lil rough or something 

so.’ So, I kinda think those are some of the factors [contributing to violence against 

women]. – Participant 25  

One participant explained further about the power structure within male friend groups, 

and how it directly translates to violence against women. She explained: 

I don’t know where it come up from cus’ they usually don’t even fight with [other] guys. I 

actually been in some situation like that where the fellas actually being soft, where other 

fellas gon come, start lil foolish thing, he ain’t gon react. But let me do something now, I 

get a whole reaction. Like, where this come from? – Participant 28 

 

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This woman noted the violence perpetrated by her partner was seeming to be in reaction 

to the forced submissive role he had to play among his group of male friends. He did not have 

the alpha position in that setting, so he made sure to forcefully and violently demand it in his 

shared setting with his girlfriend. Continuing, another woman explained:  

He’s do jail nuff so it’s kind of like when he goes to jail, that’s when he friends would 

[say] that is foolishness, but, but they wouldn’t say it in front of him…Because he like, he 

like the upper person to them too, he like the ruler.  

Many participants spoke about rum shop culture, and the encouragement among men to 

“give she a slap” when their partners were not acting under their control. Participants also spoke 

about the fact that most men would not intervene or tell another man that what he is doing is 

wrong, when it comes to violence against women. At most, a man may say something to suggest 

to his friend that the woman is not worth getting in trouble for, but that would be the furthest 

they would extend their protest. One woman explained:  

So, he was a very dominant alpha male so his, his friends wouldn’t probably ever dare to 

[tell him to stop abusing me]. – Participant 2 

Another woman echoed this peer support among men for GBV, as well as the 

maintenance of power structures among men:  

The male friend does not want to say to his friends that he is wrong to lose the friendship 

between the two of them. Because, obviously you telling another man that he is wrong 

[is] going to put something between there, even although he is wrong. The reality is 

people don’t like to be told they are wrong by their own friends so you’d find that he 

would prefer to condone his behavior than to tell him that ‘Well, you know this was 

something that was extremely wrong.’ – Participant 23 

 

 

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This was later explained as setting a tone within social networks that violence against 

women is not only accepted among men, but it is also expected: 

I don’t know if it’s to prove to their friends that you know, that is power or that’s being 

something cool to do... – Participant 7 

This encouragement or maintenance of the power structure among men was even 

observed within the police force. Women often discussed how male police officers rarely told the 

perpetrator what he was doing was wrong, rather they would approach it by determining the 

woman as not being worth it, or not worthy of getting in trouble over. Similarly, the competition 

among men was also replicated within the police force, such that:  

…sometimes you go to the police station and the police themselves try to get a bit too 

personal with you. So, you’re coming to report a situation and then it’s like, ‘Man, you 

can get rid of that man you deh with. I is a good man here.’ So, it switch from what I 

originally come for…you now in your personal ego and obviously if one woman has 

encountered it, she would tell her friends and then obviously women will say, ‘I ain’t 

going to the police station because when you go to them it’s like they want you number, 

they want to get involved with you.’ – Participant 23 

This participant related this type of situation directly to domestic violence homicide in 

that the socialization among men and male officers is a complete turn off for women wanting to 

report abuse to the police. This was a direct contributor to continued abuse and the loss of life 

among women.  

There was a great deal of conversation about how women were not permitted to have 

friendships with men, endorsing the concept in a heteronormative culture that male and female 

relationships are for male servitude. Many of the women explained that, regardless of the 

 

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friendship she had with a man, a platonic male/female relationship did not exist within her 

abusive partner’s reality. In one situation a participant spoke about a case she had heard of where 

one man killed another man because his female partner had been friendly with him. One 

participant went as far to say:  

Toxic masculinity, you know, it’s very rife here…So the boys think it’s okay, you know, to 

be kind of that way. They think it’s cool…so we need to kind of deal with that as well. – 

Participant 2 

To conclude this theme, it is important to end with the following participant narrative. 

This woman explained a situation wherein she sees a friend/acquaintance regularly at the bus 

stop. One morning he walked up to her and pulled her hair:  

And I am like…’You don’t pay for my hairstyle so why are you grabbing it?’ And…he got 

really offensive and angry. He said he would not make sport [joke around with] with me 

again. I was like, ‘Okay, but in the end all I was saying is that when you pull my hair, you 

don’t pay for it, one. And then, when you pull it and you go along, I have a headache. So, 

I am the one suffering, because if you pull it, I have to go and pay to get it over. Which 

you are not gonna give me the money. And then when I have a headache, I gotta go and 

buy tablets or Panadols, or whatever…’ So, he was really, really angry. And…he said, 

‘When you see me, just don’t speak to me again.’ I was like, ‘Huh’ So, I was supposed to 

just let him pull my hair? And…then he walk along and leave me with a headache? – 

Participant 29 

This participant continued to explain the general mentality of men that, if they know you 

casually, they feel entitled to your body and space:  

 

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Even if they ain’t know you sometimes, but most of the times [they think] they can come 

and do all sorts of things to you. Sometimes they ask you for a hug, next thing you know 

their hand all over your bottom, rubbing it…And if you push them away, it’s a problem. – 

Participant 29 

 

Continuing, this participant explained her thoughts behind this male entitlement she was 

describing in her narrative:  

He may like you or may just wanna have sex with you and you are not allowing him…So, 

because of that he kind of get aggressive because he tells himself he been waiting too 

long [and that you] must say ‘Yes’ because you know them and according to them, they 

been waiting long…They never tell themself that maybe the reason they didn’t get 

through [with having sex with you] is because you can’t deal with the harassment that 

they are giving…So instead of that, most of them get aggressive, they curse, they carry 

on. Sometimes they even chuck you, they hit you. – Participant 29 

This severe level of male entitlement permeated across all ecological levels explored 

throughout this study and is symptomatic of the power dynamics inherent in a heteronormative 

society. Other symptoms of a heteronormative society that were discussed by participants as 

contributors to GBV against women included the declining economy as being more dangerous 

for women, the gender pay gap, and the fact that men were offered employment opportunities 

more often than women because employers “…they think, like, you know a woman does get she 

menstrual period. Right, so they’re saying that could get used as an excuse every month…” 

(Participant 16). One woman explained: 

They’re [women] trapped because of the economic deprivation that goes on within the 

social system. The social system in Barbados fails women. There’s not enough done to 

 

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help vulnerable people, so every situation they’re in, they’re stuck. They’re absolutely 

stuck. So, a woman would put up with the blows because she got nowhere else to go. – 

Participant 2 

The themes mentioned at the societal level are important to understand through their 

position within an ecologically reinforcing system of abuse that includes early or first 

experiences of GBV, as well as continued experiences of GBV. An initial model of this 

reinforcing system is provided in Figure 10 but requires additional research to better identify 

which mechanisms provide the greatest potential for effective prevention and intervention 

programs for Barbados. Figure 10 illustrates the relationships among themes that emerged across 

participant narratives, while providing context around the relationships across ecological levels.  

 

 

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Figure 10. Ecologically reinforcing model of GBV against women in Barbados. 

 

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While the model is complicated, it intends to provide a look at the comprehensive set of 

relationships discussed across participants. To begin, it is important to recognize that participants 

mentioned contributors to initial experiences of GBV, as well as continued experiences of GBV. 

All major themes that contributed to initial experiences of GBV are marked by a dark green, 

dashed line. This includes all the individual level factors (in orange) included in the model, as 

well as the intimate relationship factors at the interpersonal level (in purple), and the 

normalization of violence across communities and community settings at the community level 

(in pink).  Contributors to continued experiences of GBV are marked by blue, dashed lines, and 

include initial experiences of GBV, acceptance or trivialization of GBV by systems and the 

normalization of violence across communities and community settings at the community level, 

as well as the economic disenfranchisement of women and traditional gender roles in a 

heteronormative society at the societal level (in teal). The economic disenfranchisement of 

women was not a direct code or theme that emerged from the cross-case results, rather it was 

added to this model, post-analysis, as it was a common thread throughout the study. Furthermore, 

continued experiences of GBV experiences were noted as further perpetuated by many of these 

same factors. For instance, traditional gender roles in a heteronormative society were noted as 

contributors to continued experiences of GBV, creating a reciprocal or cyclical relationship such 

that continued experiences of GBV also reinforce the traditional gender roles in a 

heteronormative culture.  

 

As can be seen in the model, there are a great deal of relationships across ecological 

levels as well as themes embedded across levels. For example, individual level contributors (in 

orange) such as witnessing abuse as a child resulted from the family system factors (at the 

interpersonal level in purple), creating space for GBV experiences within a woman’s life, 

 

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specifically within her intimate relationships (also at the interpersonal level, in purple). These 

outcomes were influenced and further exacerbated by the community level factors (in pink), as 

well as the societal level factors (in teal). The interactions of these factors and ecological levels 

should be further scrutinized to better understand which settings and variables require further 

research and manipulation for intervention development.  

Within-Case Analysis 

 

The cross-case themes and sub-themes illustrate commonalities across participants’ 

experiences. The within-case analysis looks at the rich narratives of two survivors, while 

considering all the data collected and coded at their case node in NVivo (2015). This within-case 

analysis provides a look at the data from a different perspective, further highlighting the 

ecological levels and connections across levels within individual accounts. The same themes 

presented in the cross-case analysis will be utilized to elucidate the intersectionality within 

participant cases. Within-case analysis provides a deeper immersion in data from single 

narratives within the study. “Within-case analysis can also occur after cross-case comparison, as 

a means of identifying typographic linkages or theoretical propositions that have been suggested 

in the comparative analysis” (Wiebe, Durepos, & Mills, 2010, p. 971). The within-case analyses 

intend to reveal more information about the relationships across themes as presented in Figure 

10.  

These two participant cases were selected for various reasons, including overall reflection 

of the cross-case themes presented, and deep reflection of the interpersonal level themes 

presented given the weight carried by that ecological level compared to all others. Finally, the 

interview guide did not require participants speak about their personal experiences of GBV 

directly; however, some participants opted to do so. Such a tone also facilitated the selection for 

 

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within-case analysis, as a personal account indicated a more direct connection with the emergent 

interview themes. 

Within-case analysis: Participant 4. The hierarchical coding chart of the emergent 

themes across Participant 4’s interview is provided in Figure 11. Participant 4 was recruited from 

the shelter, her home parish was in the rural cluster, she is in the 30-34-year age group, and 

identifies as Barbadian, Afro-Caribbean, and heterosexual. Participant 4 indicated that she had 

completed secondary school and had never been married. An in-depth look at her narrative is 

provided.  

 

Figure 11. Participant 4 hierarchical coding chart.  

At the individual level, Participant 4 focused on concepts of financial vulnerability. She 

described a great deal of family issues that she determined as the sole factor for not turning to her 

family as a safety net while she was experiencing abuse. Participant 4 had been in a relationship 

with her partner for an extended number of years, and it was throughout those years that her 

 

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partner learned that regardless of his treatment of her, she had nowhere to go because she could 

not return home, nor did she have the financial freedom to move her and the children elsewhere. 

These individual level factors created an opportunity for GBV to initially emerge within the 

relationship. Furthermore, Participant 4 explained that, due to her family experiences growing 

up, she had a deep commitment to keeping her own family together; her pledge to keep her 

family intact was something her partner used against her. He knew she was deeply dedicated to 

providing that setting for her children, more so than she was to exiting their relationship, no 

matter how brutal his treatment. Furthermore, Participant 4 noted that, growing up, her partner 

witnessed his father’s abusive treatment towards his mother. 

Participant 4 described initial experiences of GBV resulting from her partner’s severe 

need to exercise power and control within the household. Upon realizing she had nowhere to 

turn, her partner also recognized that he had created a setting where he could continue with his 

abusive treatment. Participant 4 characterized initial experiences of GBV by partner alcohol use 

as well, all of which became further complicated and perpetuated by his affiliation with the 

police force. Participant 4’s previous calls and reports to the police were not taken seriously 

because of officer familiarity with her partner, and even after he was dismissed from the force, 

which was at least partially due to his alcohol use and aggression, her reports were still dismissed 

because there remained a closeness between her partner and his fellow officers. This informal 

officer agreement became even more destructive when her partner eventually started making 

false cases against her in order to get ahead of any court cases to come.  

 After successfully separating from her partner, Participant 4 described the night he broke 

into their house and brutally attacked her, with an accomplice, to the point of near death. 

Participant 4 described his breaking and entering into the family home on a night when the 

 

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children were staying with another family member. He proceeded to attack her, tie her up with 

the help of a friend, and beat her so severely with a weapon that she felt she was able to get away 

with playing dead. Immobile, terrified, and near death, she began smelling a familiar scent of 

aerosol insecticide. Both attackers filled her bedroom with this insecticide and started a fire. 

Immediately after they fled the scene, Participant 4 escaped. Upon reporting to the police office 

after this near fatal attack, the officer with whom she had made previous reports stood up and 

exited the station immediately after he recognized the severity of her injuries. Participant 4 was 

eventually assigned other officers who were instrumental in her case once it was introduced to 

the court system but indicated that the police force protection of the perpetrator was responsible 

for the extreme, severe, and brutal attempt on her life. This case was initially charged by the 

police as an aggravated burglary. However, once at the High Court, all the evidence was 

reviewed and re-evaluated. Participant 4, however, noted that the trivialization of GBV within 

systems in Barbados have left her feeling continuously worried while the court proceedings take 

place. She has little hope that she will be completely protected from the perpetrator in the future. 

As highlighted in the cross-case analysis, Participant 4 explained:  

So, every time I go to court it's a lot of butterflies going through my belly, a lot of things 

going through my head, because we don't know at what point in time that the judge would 

give bail. And the way how he reacted I tell them to me he’s not finished, not the way how 

he reacting, he is not finished (sic). – Participant 4 

Overall, Participant 4 focused mostly on the interpersonal and community levels. Alcohol 

use, family history of partner abuse, lacking financial freedom to leave an abusive relationship, 

and the police system failing survivors were the main system elements that contributed to her 

experiences of GBV.  

 

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Within-case analysis: Participant 6. The hierarchical coding chart of the emergent 

themes across Participant 6’s interview is provided in Figure 12. Participant 6 was recruited from 

the shelter, her home parish was in the urban cluster, she is in the 18-24-year age group, and 

identifies as Barbadian, Afro-Caribbean, and heterosexual. Participant 6 indicated that she had 

completed primary school and had never been married.    

 

Figure 12. Participant 6 hierarchical coding chart.  

 

At the individual level, Participant 6 focused a great deal on economic vulnerability, 

specifically noting the tangible barriers that trapped her in an abusive relationship. Participant 6 

also noted, like Participant 4, that her abusive partner exerted severe control over her, taking 

advantage of her commitment to keep her family unit together, ensuring her children had both a 

mother and a father within the household. Initial experiences of GBV were noted as being 

connected to her partner’s control over all elements of her life. Violent episodes were often 

characterized by, for instance, her partner giving her permission to leave the house, then 

 

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changing his mind. Participant 6 also noted that whenever her phone received a call or a 

notification, violence would ensue as her partner assumed she was talking to other men. 

Nonetheless, she explained she had to stay because she had children with him and was not 

working at the time. 

 

Within the relationship, Participant 6 also noted that her partner took control of their 

finances, even of her own money. There was also a significant age gap between her and her 

partner, which she noted as a major contributor to the abuse. This was often characterized as 

patronizing language and treatment with the intent of making her feel like a child with 

diminished capacities. Participant 6 related all these experiences back to the fact that her own 

mother was abused by her father. She explained that the weight of intergenerational abuse, 

constant head injuries, and the exhaustion of having children involved in the abusive relationship 

left her even more vulnerable to continued abuse. This weight of intergenerational abuse was 

noted not only from her family and her witnessing the abuse suffered by her mother, but also the 

childhood issues experienced by her partner, and his lack of prioritization of dealing with those 

issues.  

 

Participant 6 went on to describe a hypothetical situation wherein a man may sell his 

girlfriend to his friends under the guise of her making money and becoming independent. In this 

hypothetical situation, Participant 6 explained that the money the woman made from this forced 

prostitution would be stolen by the man who forced her into such situations. She described this 

hypothetical situation with phrases that could only be categorized as repeated sexual assault and 

rape. This abusive treatment continued and intensified (kidnapping, physical abuse) when the 

woman who was being forced into prostitution refused to participate. It is unclear if Participant 6 

 

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was the victim of this forced prostitution by her partner; however, she did make strong 

connections across this hypothetical situation and experiences she had with her partner.  

 

Overall, Participant 6 noted financial insecurity at the individual level combined with a 

family history of violence and a significant age discordance with her partner as the main 

contributors to GBV. She also described severe forced prostitution, sexual assault, and rape as a 

tactic used by abusive partners to gain further control and to manipulate the woman’s financial 

freedoms, preventing her from exiting the relationship, and sustaining the cycle further. 

Additional Context  

Throughout the analyses, two other considerations emerged which yielded additional 

visualization opportunities. Figure 13 provides thematic coding by age group, and Table 3 

illustrates thematic learnings across parishes. Because the study was overly represented by 

women under the age of 40, it was important to consider if different themes were emerging from 

these two groups (18-39 years old and 40 years and older) within the sample. A quick look at the 

top used codes in NVivo (2015) across these two groups shows a fair amount of similarity, with 

just a couple of differences.  

Both age groups felt that interpersonal factors at the family system level such as the 

raising of young boys versus young girls, as well as economic dissonance or manipulation within 

the intimate relationship level, were contributing to GBV against women in Barbados. 

Furthermore, there was agreement that traditional gender roles in a heteronormative society at 

the societal level were also contributing to GBV against women.  However, within the 18-39 

years group, traditional gender roles within intimate relationships at the interpersonal level were 

referenced a great deal, while for the 40 years and older group, the family protection of men was 

most frequently referenced.  

 

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18-39 years

Interpersonal level: Intimate 
relationships (traditional 
gender roles within intimate  
relationships)

40 years +

Interpersonal level: Family 
system (family system 
protection of men)

Interpersonal: Family system (raising of young boys versus 

young girls) 

Interpersonal level: Intimate relationships (economic 

dissonance or manipulation) 

Societal level: Traditional gender norms in a heteronormative 

society 

 
 

 

 

Figure 13. Visualization of unique findings by age group.  

 

Across the 11 parishes of Barbados there was also a great deal of agreement around the 

contributors to GBV against women. Figure 14 shows a map of Barbados, with a circle over each 

parish, the size of which represents the parish presence in the final sample. The table that follows 

(Table 3) shows the exact number of participants from each. The parishes of Saint Thomas and 

Saint Joseph are not represented on the map or the table as no participants identified either of 

these two parishes as their parish of residence. It should also be noted that this map does not 

intend to provide any generalizations about parish data, especially considering some parishes 

only had one or two participants in the sample.  

 

While the size of the circle over each parish represents the number of participants in the 

study, the color of the circle represents the ecological level most commonly endorsed. Table 3 

demonstrates the specific code within that ecological level that played the most significant role in 

each parish’s data. As can be seen, the interpersonal level (grey circles) was most commonly 

endorsed across parishes, followed by the community (in blue), and the societal level (in yellow). 

 

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As mentioned previously, the qualitative foundation and small sample size of this study cannot 

generalize to any level. Furthermore, the small size of the island, the close proximity of 

communities across parishes, and the fluid movement of people across the island makes parish 

specific generalizations even more impossible. However, Figure 14 was included to simply begin 

the conversation about trends across the island. Anecdotally speaking, Bajans do look at parishes 

as being different from one another. While these differences were not present in the data from 

survivors around their perceptions of GBV, many Bajans do consider the parish of Saint James, 

for instance, as being substantively different from, say, Saint Lucy (M. Burnham, personal 

communication, February 4, 2019).  

Figure 14. Map of Barbados and sample contribution. 

 

 

 

 

 

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Table 3. Parish by Participants in Sample and Top Code Endorsed 
 
Parish  

Participants  Top Code 

Christ Church  3 

Saint Philip 

5 

Saint Michael  10 

Saint George 

Saint John 

Saint James 

1 

3 

4 

Saint Thomas  0 
0 
Saint Joseph 
Saint Peter 
2 

Saint Andrew  2 

Saint Lucy 

3 

Nodes\\Community\Normalization of violence across 
communities and community settings 
Nodes\\Interpersonal\Family system\Raising of young boys 
versus young girls 
Nodes\\Interpersonal\Intimate relationships\Traditional gender 
roles within intimate relationships 
Nodes\\Interpersonal\Intimate relationships\Economic 
dissonance or manipulation\Financial 
Nodes\\Community\Acceptance or trivialization of GBV by 
systems\Policies, protocols, and the court system 
Nodes\\Societal\Traditional gender roles in a heteronormative 
society\Toxic masculinity 
N/A 
N/A 
Nodes\\Interpersonal\Family system\Raising of young boys 
versus young girls 
Nodes\\Interpersonal\Intimate relationships\Traditional gender 
roles within intimate relationships 
Nodes\\Interpersonal\Intimate relationships\Traditional gender 
roles within intimate relationships 

 

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DISCUSSION 

This study was pursued to better understand how survivors in Barbados perceive risk 

factors for GBV so as to align or tailor intervention efforts with survivor perceptions in mind. 

Overall, participants’ perceptions aligned with empirical evidence both globally (Heise, 1998; 

Jewkes, 2002) and regionally (DeShong, 2011, 2015; Gage, 2005; Gage & Hutchinson, 2006). 

Across interviews it was agreed that women were not deserving of abuse. Rather, violence 

against women was noted as a cultural issue that emerged across various levels of the ecological 

model and women’s lived realities in Barbados. Participants spent a great deal of time talking 

about traditional gender roles, traversing levels of the ecological model. In fact, traditional 

gender roles materialized at all four of the ecological levels discussed, whether in relation to the 

witnessing of abuse against one’s mother (individual level), as a result of shifting household 

duties (interpersonal level), as endorsed by police officers (community level), or as supported by 

court protocols (societal level). Given the presence of traditional gender roles in the data, it is 

important to return to the concept of hegemonic masculinity discussed in the literature review.  

Hegemonic masculinities are an important concept to contextualize the results of the 

current study. At this point it is important to refer to a previously referenced scholarly quote. As 

reflected in the data, as well as the work by Reddock and colleagues (2004), the socialization 

among men is a crucial component of hegemonic masculinities. Reddock (2004) explains:  

So far the discourse has highlighted the conflict with other men, which often takes place 

through the bodies of women. The female, often depersonalized, may be the ground, the 

territory over or upon which fierce battles are fought, but increasingly as women 

challenge accepted notions of masculinity and enter spaces perceived as male preserves, 

the battle also becomes one directly against them. (p. xxx) 

 

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No other quote in the scholarly literature better captures the results of this study. The 

concept of “fierce battles” territorially being fought “over or upon” women reflects a great deal 

of relevancy for the current study. From one participant describing an incident of one man 

murdering another because he was friendly with his female partner, to this participant quote 

referenced earlier:  

I don’t know where it come up from cus’ they usually don’t even fight with [other] guys. I 

actually been in some situation like that where the fella’s actually being soft, where other 

fella’s gon come, start lil foolish thing, he ain’t gon react. But let me do something now, I 

get a whole reaction. Like, where this come from? – Participant 28 

 

Women, and their bodies, were frequently discussed as a setting over which violent 

battles were fought, not only from a territorial or ownership positionality, but also as a 

disposable setting. For this reason, the concept of hegemonic masculinities will be a major focus 

of this discussion. Caribbean hegemonic masculinities, discussed earlier, are characterized by 

entitlement and hyper, if not aggressive, heterosexuality, having emerged as a reflection of and 

reaction to dominant and inhumane masculinities that drove the enslavement of Afro-Caribbean 

people (Beckles, 2004; P. Mohammed, 2004; Nurse, 2004; Reddock, 2004). The diversity of 

Caribbean masculinities, informed by hegemonic masculinities (Beckles, 2004; P. Mohammed, 

2004; Nurse, 2004; Reddock, 2004) needs to be considered explicitly in its relation to Caribbean 

hegemonic femininity. Furthermore, research needs to be examined through the lens of 

historically informed, Caribbean hegemonic masculinities as problematizing and further 

complicating variables, such as economic and financial stability, rather than presenting an 

argument of unaligned research and confounding variables.  

 

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It is also important to consider how survivors’ perceived contributors align with the 

current empirical evidence around risk and protective factors for GBV against women. Jewkes 

(2002) notes “Poverty and associated stress are key contributors to intimate partner violence. 

Although violence occurs in all socioeconomic groups…” (Jewkes, 2002, p. 1424). Continuing, 

Jewkes (2002) explains: 

Violence against women becomes a social norm in which men are violent towards 

women they can no longer control or economically support. Violence against women is 

thus seen not just as an expression of male powerfulness and dominance over women, but 

also as being rooted in male vulnerability stemming from social expectations of manhood 

that are unattainable because of factors such as poverty experienced by men. Male 

identity is associated with experiences of power. Challenges to the exercise of power by 

men can be perceived by them as threats to their masculine identity. An inability to meet 

social expectations of successful manhood can trigger a crisis of male identity. Violence 

against women is a means of resolving this crisis because it allows expression of power 

that is otherwise denied. Associations between intimate partner violence and situations in 

which husbands have lower status or fewer resources than their wives may also be 

substantially meditated through ideas of successful manhood and crises of male identity 

(p. 1424) 

Across ecological levels, a great deal of research has documented variables and risk 

factors that align with the perceived contributors identified by study participants. This includes 

witnessing and experiencing violence during childhood, alcohol use by a male partner, 

educational attainment among women, economic power/empowerment among women, economic 

opportunities for women, lacking familial and legal support for survivors, as well as male 

 

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entitlement and traditional gender norms within relationships and heteronormative societies 

(Jewkes, 2002). Overall, participants’ perceptions of contributors to GBV align with the global, 

as well as regional, data regarding risk factors for women (DeShong, 2011; DeShong & Haynes, 

2015; Gage, 2005; Gage & Hutchinson, 2006; Heise, 1998; Jewkes, 2002).  

It should be noted that the witnessing or experiencing of violence as a child was noted as 

a contributor to violence against women, both in terms of experiencing GBV as an adult, as well 

as perpetrating GBV as an adult (for young men). While this risk factor has been identified at the 

individual level across the literature (Heise, 1998; Jewkes, 2002), participants did not endorse the 

biological or prenatal concepts of violence as inherent among young men (Golding & Fitzgerald, 

2018) so much as they endorsed the learned, intergenerational nature of violence, specifically 

within family systems. Only one participant noted that she felt her ex-partner had violence in his 

“DNA,” but she quickly related this back to the history of enslavement in the Caribbean, as well 

as her partner’s witnessing of abuse against his mother.  

Specific to this study, it is important to untangle some of the regional data on economic 

vulnerability and GBV against women. Gage (2005) found a positive association for all forms of 

intimate partner violence and female-dominated financial decision making.  However, male-

dominated decision making, as well as neighborhood poverty and male unemployment, were 

found as risk factors for sexual violence specifically; women’s economic independence 

functioned as a protective factor against emotional and physical violence (Gage, 2005). These 

findings are further complicated by female headship rates and risk of sexual violence (Gage & 

Hutchinson, 2006). 

Further studies are necessary to adequately understand the complex relationship between 

women’s economic empowerment and GBV. This has been articulated well by Schuler and 

 

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Nazneen (2019) throughout their research with Bangladeshi women. Schuler and Nazneen 

(2019) explain:  

Although the role of gender inequality in fostering intimate partner violence (IPV) is well 

documented, studies examining the relationship between women’s empowerment and 

IPV provide mixed evidence as to whether IPV decreases as gender norms become more 

equitable; many recent studies have documented a positive relationship rather than the 

negative relationship that one might expect. (p. 2) 

More research is needed given that economic and financial stability present as both risk 

and protective factors for GBV across the literature (Heise, 1998; Jewkes, 2002) as well as this 

study. This is a finding that has been replicated across research endeavors, as can be seen in the 

aforementioned quote (Schuler & Nazneen, 2019), and remains relevant within the Caribbean 

(Gage & Hutchinson, 2006). Gage and Hutchinson (2006) explain: 

The effects of female education will be two-fold. Higher levels of female education will 

increase economic opportunities and earnings potential, reduce dependency on husbands, 

and make women more economically viable in the household, thereby reducing the 

likelihood of sexual violence. On the other hand, women’s completion of more years of 

schooling than their husbands will have the opposite effect, threatening traditional power 

relationships within the household, and increasing the likelihood of sexual violence. (p. 

14) 

Multiple participants articulated this contradiction, noting that, while finances are at the 

foundation of violence against women, economic stability alone does not protect a woman from 

GBV. In fact, many women commented on how financial stability jeopardized their safety.  

 

136 

 

Study Limitations 

 

Methodological limitations need to be considered alongside the data and interpretations. 

Given the nature of qualitative research, the results are not generalizable. Recruitment strategies 

could have been more diversified, potentially utilizing household interview methods. 

Furthermore, there is no way of knowing the year in which participants experienced GBV; 

therefore, participant perceptions of and experiences with the police force (and the FCU) need 

further contextualization. This same limitation applies to other elements of the data collected. 

Finally, this study would have benefitted from a mixed-methods design, potentially utilizing 

census data, to supplement participant narratives. Nonetheless, given the dearth of GBV field 

research in the region, specifically in Barbados, this explorative, qualitative research was an 

important starting point in determining how survivors perceive risk factors for GBV.  

 

Recruitment occurred primarily through the women’s shelter and four polyclinics. The 

women’s shelter assisted in recruiting past and current clients, all of whom would likely have 

participated in the organization’s classes, support groups, or events. One limitation is that shelter 

participants’ perceived contributors may have been heavily influenced by the programming they 

received while a resident at the shelter. The polyclinics (across two urban and two rural parishes) 

provided opportunity for diversity beyond the shelter community and helped to maintain a 

balance of participants across parishes. However, considering household interview methods in 

the future may provide an even better approach to recruitment and sample diversity. 

Additionally, the sample was relatively homogenous in terms of race/ethnicity, sexual 

orientation, highest level of education completed, and age. Most of the women fell within an 

under 40-years age group, identified as black or Afro-Caribbean and heterosexual, and had 

completed education levels beyond secondary school. While these characteristics are reflected in 

 

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the total population as documented by the census data (2017), a greater representation of non-

majority communities is important in future studies.  

Another limitation is that year or time of GBV was not a collected data point for this 

study. Such information may be important to consider, however, given that the time of assault 

may impact a survivor’s perception of contributors to GBV. As mentioned in earlier sections, the 

FCU began their work in 2013. Therefore, participant narratives that focused on police 

intervention are influenced by their interaction with officers either before or after the start of this 

specialized unit. Along these same lines, 2016 marks two significant legislative changes related 

to domestic violence. Future research incorporating life history methods or quantitative methods 

focused on police or court interaction may help clarify relationships and perceived risk factors 

further.  

 

Finally, qualitative methods alone provide only a limited understanding of participants’ 

perceptions around contributors to GBV. A narrow lens for a topic as complex as ecological 

contributors to violence against women provides an equally narrow understanding of the subject. 

Multiple meetings with each participant could be considered to broaden the level of 

understanding of GBV from survivors’ perspectives. Many participants expressed gratitude at the 

end of the interview, identifying it as one of the only times they have been able to speak about 

their experiences in a nonjudgmental setting. Some women described the interview as their first 

opportunity to speak about it at all. Providing survivors with multiple, staged interviews to 

continue to articulate their thoughts around the contributors to GBV, as opposed to facilitating 

that within one, single (potentially participants’ first) opportunity to do so, may alleviate pressure 

and create space for further data to emerge. Coupling this approach with quantitative data at both 

 

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the individual and community level would provide an even more comprehensive understanding 

of GBV against women in Barbados.  

Future Research Directions 

 

The results of this study have contributed to the mobilization of GBV research and 

outreach efforts on the island. However, a great deal more research is needed in order to 

effectively identify mechanisms that contribute to, and sustain, GBV against women. Expanding 

this research locally, as well as regionally, is critical.  

First, data on GBV in the Caribbean has been labeled as contradictory across studies 

(Gopaul & Cain, 1996), when in actuality studies may simply be lacking the contextual 

framework for a better understanding of the rich diversity in the region. Regarding interpersonal 

violence, Mason and Satchell (2016) explained “An ecological approach seems more productive 

in view of the contradictory findings observed when any singular class or theory…is used to 

explain violence” (p. 216). Moving forward, a mixed-methods approach is required to contribute 

to a future comprehensive understanding of GBV against women as it is situated within the 

diversity and history of the Caribbean. Research should continue in the direction of unearthing 

the complex data on GBV against women in the Caribbean through ecological frameworks. 

 

Many women also suggested expanding this research to better understand contributors to 

violence against women from a male (or perpetrator) perspective. A closer look at data 

convergence or divergence across these two data sets would be valuable. Two potential 

considerations include research with men in the prison system or focus groups with men at rum 

shops.  

 

Similar research opportunities exist within the police force, specifically connected to the 

goals of the FCU. A mixed-methods approach using interview methods to better understand 

 

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police perceptions around the contributors to GBV and methods for effectively handling 

domestic and sexual violence cases, coupled with evaluation on the FCU and the incorporation 

of survivor outcome measures (crime statistics, household survey data) would be an ideal 

research design to move this work to the next stage.  

 

Finally, economic dissonance within intimate relationships needs further research. This 

argument has been posited elsewhere in GBV research (Gage, 2005; Gage & Hutchinson, 2006; 

Schuler & Nazneen, 2019), given the complexity of economic empowerment and financial 

stability as both a risk and protective factor for violence against women. This finding was 

replicated across participant narratives in the current study and requires further attention. 

Participants described financial instability as a window through which GBV could enter, and 

remain in, one’s lived reality. Research around closing this window and promoting economic 

empowerment among girls and women may contribute significantly to intervention development 

and lowering GBV rates.  

Practice Implications 

Beyond contribution to the regional research, there are significant implications for 

practice that need to be considered. Endorsed by participants, the establishment of what is being 

referred to as a GBV Response Team needs to be explored. Additionally, increased attention to 

police training and intervention development is crucial. 

GBV response team. Sexual assault response teams (SARTs) are coordinated efforts 

aimed at connecting and improving victim support across healthcare/medical, legal, law 

enforcement, and social service entities. SARTs are a model used internationally and have 

demonstrated significant promise in system coordination and survivor outcomes (Greeson & 

Campbell, 2012). The National Sexual Violence Resource Center (2011) has published a 

 

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development guide for communities interested in establishing SARTs, outlining the crucial 

system components as well as the resources needed to establish this response method. Victim 

advocacy and support, in addition to service coordination, is a cornerstone of this community 

model (Greeson & Campbell, 2012), and while this is happening informally on the island, 

targeted coordination among the organizations and systems currently responding to GBV in 

Barbados would be a major benefit, and may also provide some relief to certain agencies that are 

currently overburdened, such as the FCU.  

Participants identified this lack of coordination and spoke about the need for a “one stop 

shop” for survivors. Many women spoke indirectly about the need for advocacy and support, 

specifically in navigating the systems that are traditionally involved in the creation of SARTs as 

mentioned earlier. Early discussions for this response team began during the stakeholder 

engagement feedback meeting. 

While a GBV response team may not be as specialized as a sexual assault response team, 

this would be a significant first step with the potential of creating more specialized response 

teams (e.g., one for domestic violence, one for sexual assault, etc.) in the future. This level of 

coordination was recently called on by the President of the National Organization of Women in 

Barbados, Marsha Hinds. In the past year, a domestic violence case that had surfaced amidst a 

child custody battle led to the untimely and horrific death of two children when their father 

locked them and himself in the house and ignited the home. This initiated a national conversation 

about the level of information that the public should have access to (reports had been made 

against the perpetrator in his place of employment in addition to his partner’s account), as well as 

the lack of coordination across social service entities such as the Child Care Board and the 

Welfare Department (Hinds, 2019). Finally, the concept of confidentiality across services, which 

 

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emerged across multiple interviews, would be a center focus. The significant lack of 

confidentiality across medical, law/legal, and social services within this small island community 

was noted as having negative outcomes for survivor well-being.  

The Family Conflict Unit. Participants also described the need for increased police 

training. The FCU has been referenced frequently throughout this dissertation. Their work has 

been never ending since they opened their doors in 2013. Station Sergeant Husbands has 

dedicated her career to addressing GBV ethically, effectively, and intensely within the Barbados 

Police Force. Her mission, and that of the FCU, is colossal. Strategy meetings with the FCU will 

be planned for the new year, and data will be shared, not only as it relates to police force 

intervention discussed across interviews, but also more generally to support the unit’s overall 

efforts to effectively respond to GBV. This study was not an evaluation of the FCU and does not 

intend to pose as one. However, future collaborations with the FCU provide a great opportunity 

to address one of the ecological levels frequently endorsed by participants as a mechanism for 

GBV against women in Barbados. While, it is important to consider the fact that the Barbados 

police force is understaffed and faced with the handling of violent crimes in addition to GBV, it 

is also crucial to share data that reflects the need for continued training around the identification, 

manifestation, and alleviation of abuse. In actuality, the data may serve as justification for the 

FCU’s presence in Barbados.  

Local and regional dissemination for intervention development. As discussed earlier, 

various regional organizations have been selected for dissemination of the study findings. The 

goals of this dissertation were to, again, contribute to the regional body of work focusing on 

GBV against women, to potentially contribute to prevention and intervention design, to inquire 

about the relevancy of the results across the eastern Caribbean islands, and to align the regional 

 

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efforts moving forward. Connections to UN Women are being pursued given their presence in 

the Caribbean and their head office location in Barbados.  

Ecologically informed, cross-level prevention and intervention efforts are needed.  

Programs should provide the multilevel, simultaneous, and overlapping program dosage and 

reach as suggested by the CDC (2018). Furthermore, prevention and intervention efforts should 

work directly with survivors to develop, implement, and measure outcomes for GBV initiatives. 

Finally, family level prevention and intervention efforts should be critically screened for the 

potential to pathologize contextually relevant family structures. Given the enslavement and 

forced displacement of families in the Caribbean, as well as the scholarly history of 

pathologizing the Afro-Caribbean family unit  (Beckles, 2004), this screening process should be 

heavily weighted. 

 

Earlier in the dissertation the recent changes in government leadership were mentioned. 

The Honorable Mia Mottley, the newly elected Prime Minister in 2018, as well as the Governor 

General and the Chief Justice of Barbados, the Minister of People Empowerment and Elder 

Affairs, the Minister of Youth and Community Empowerment, and the Minister of Health and 

Wellness, have been contacted regarding a dissemination meeting for the results of this study. 

While ambitious, sharing the data with the current leadership in power is crucial, especially 

considering their financial support of services such as the women’s shelter. Discussions around 

intervention development, specifically tailored to the interpersonal level, will be of focus when 

sharing the data with government officials. Government financial support and endorsement of 

interventions focused on intimate relationships and the family system may make a significant 

contribution to the issue of violence against women in Barbados. Furthermore, their support for 

the establishment of a GBVRT is absolutely essential.  

 

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Conclusion 

GBV against women in Barbados and the Caribbean is a significant concern that has been 

the focus of very few empirical studies (CADRES, 2009; DeShong, 2011, 2015; DeShong & 

Haynes, 2015). This dissertation intended to contribute to the early empirical exploration of 

violence against women in Barbados, specifically looking at perceived contributors as 

experienced by survivors. Data focused on individual, interpersonal, community, and societal 

level risk factors that are viewed as contributing to the initiation of GBV, as well as the 

continued narrative of violence that women may experience thereafter. Witnessing or 

experiencing abuse as a child, economic dissonance and manipulation within intimate 

relationships, differences in the raising of young boys versus young girls, trivialization of GBV 

by systems, the normalization of violence, and gender norms within a heteronormative society 

were among the most commonly endorsed contributing factors perceived by survivors. 

Participants focused significantly on the interpersonal level, namely contributors within intimate 

partnerships and the family unit. It is hoped that this study’s findings can impact policies and 

practices that align with survivors’ lived realities in Barbados, and that such responses play at 

least a small part in reducing GBV in the Caribbean.  

 

 

 

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APPENDICES 

145 

 

Appendix A: Interview Protocol 

Materials needed for interview:  

•  Locked box 

o  Tablet (charged) 
o  Tablet charger 

▪  Qualtrics (interview administration questions, consent signature, and 

recruitment screening questions/responses) 

o  Wi-Fi hotspot (charger/with data) 
o  Audio recorder (charged) 
o  Back-up batteries 
o  Paper copies of consent form (IRB approved) 
o  Paper copies of interview protocol (IRB approved) 
o  Pen 

•  Laptop (charged) 

o  Case notes document ready for each participant 

•  Laptop charger 

SECTION ONE: ADMINISTRATION 

Interview Administration 

Open Qualtrics to begin. Will use tablet and Qualtrics for the consent process. Can enter 
the immediate information below before the interview starts (on tablet/laptop or paper). 

Date/Time:  
Participant ID:  
Parish:  
Sampling cluster:  
 

Consent Process 

Thank you for agreeing to help me with this study on violence against women in 

Barbados. Before we begin, I want to go through the consent process.  

 

Offer participant a hard copy of the consent form and go through the consent form 

together. To avoid any literacy concerns, be sure to read through the consent process 

fully.  

Return to tablet/Qualtrics to complete the consent process.  

When complete, ask participant to complete signature questions on tablet. Determine if 

participant would like to keep their copy. Encourage them to keep their form but discuss 

any safety concerns. 

146 

 

 

 

 

Interview Introduction 

Switch back to paper or digital copy of interview protocol. Begin audio recording now. 

Thank you for agreeing to participate in this study. As you’ve heard from the consent 

process, this project is exploring what YOU believe to be the causes of violence against 

women here in Barbados. I want to start off by expressing my thanks for your time and 

openness about this sensitive topic. Would it help for us to establish an “end” phrase? 

For instance, if someone walks in and you want to end the interview without that person 

ever knowing what we were talking about, you can say something like “thank you for 

telling me about your research on nutrition,” and that will tell me that we need to end 

the interview. Would that be helpful?* 

☐ YES 

☐ NO 

 

*For many people this will be unnecessary so don’t push it, just move on.  

Do you have any concerns about your safety either during the interview or after we 

finish? Should we talk about how we can ensure your safety after you leave? 

☐ YES 

 

☐ NO 

And just a reminder, when we talk about GBV, I am referring to things such as domestic 

violence, intimate partner violence, partner abuse, sexual assault, rape, spousal abuse, 

sexual violence, trafficking, forced sex, incest, molestation, sexual harassment, 

childhood sexual assault, and similar experiences that occur in reaction to one’s sex or 

gender. Some of these experiences may be grouped as physical violence, emotional or 

psychological abuse such as name calling, or isolation from family and friends, 

economic abuse such as controlling money, or sexual violence including forcing 

someone to engage in sexual activities against that person’s will, interest, or consent. Do 

you have any questions about what I am referring to with the term GBV? 

SECTION TWO: ECOLOGICAL PREDICTORS OF GBV AGAINST WOMEN  

Interview Guide Reminder 

147 

 

 

The order of the interview questions that follow should not be chronological. Though 

there are four domains of the ecological theory that could be explored, the initial 

questions and questions that emerge as a result of the context of the conversation must be 

guided by the participant and not prescripted by the interview guide. The four columns 

below simply serve as a reminder of the levels at which participants may focus.  

Individual factors 

Relationship factors 

Community factors 

Societal factors 

•  Age 
•  Marital status 
 

•  Family 

• 

relationships 
Intimate 
relationships 

•  Peer 

relationships 

•  Neighborhood 

•  Economic 

resources 

climate 

•  Peer or social 

 

network 
acceptance of 
GBV 

Interview Questions 

To get us started, I want to acknowledge you as a Bajan woman, and as a survivor of 

and expert on violence against women. It is crucial that researchers and policy makers 

work with survivors to prevent violence against women and girls. So, to start our 

conversation I’d like to begin with asking how YOU would describe GBV? What are the 

key factors in how YOU would define GBV? 

•  Probes:  

o  Can you give me a concrete example of GBV against women in 

Barbados? 

o  Where does your experience, or experiences you have witnessed or heard 

about, land in that definition? 

o  What about situations where a partner is controlling all the finances? Is 

that something that you would consider to be a form of GBV? 

▪  Note: Can probe on other elements provided in definition from 

interview introduction to better understand their definitional 

boundaries.  

And do you think that violence against women and girls is a common problem here in 

Barbados? 

148 

 

 

If yes, follow-up statements/questions:  
 
Yes, definitely. In fact, some of the 
statistics would suggest that the rate of 
intimate partner GBV alone in the 
Caribbean is upwards of almost 30%. 

If no, follow-up statements/questions:  
 
And sometimes it’s hard to know or see. In 
fact, in the Caribbean some data has 
suggested that upwards of nearly 30% of 
women have experienced intimate partner 
GBV.  

Before we go any further, I want to take a minute to say that the remainder of the 

interview questions do not intend to place blame on Barbadian culture in any way. 

Countries, cultures, and communities across the globe have varying rates of GBV 

against women. All cultures have both protective factors, as well as factors that put 

women and girls at greater risk of violence. Throughout this interview you will hear me 

use the terms “protective factors” and “risk factors.” Protective factors are things that 

reduce the risk of GBV occurring against women and girls. Risk factors are things that 

may lead to, predict, or make it more likely for women or girls to experience GBV.  

 

Referring back to the stat of 30%, what do you think about that figure? As mentioned, 

this rate has been documented as much higher in some countries, and lower in others. 

Why do you think it is as high as 30% here in Barbados?  

•  Probes:  

o  Can you tell me more about that? 

o  What does that look like here in Barbados? 

o  Do you think it’s more or less common here than in other parts of the 

world?  

o  How do you think it compares to other countries?  

▪  Why do you say that? 

149 

 

 

Again, all countries, cultures, and communities have both protective and risk factors. In 

other words, in all cultures there are things that happen that protect girls and women 

from GBV, and things that happen that may lead to GBV. What does this look like here 

in Barbados? 

•  Probes:  

o  What would you say may lead to GBV against women across the globe? 

▪  What about here in Barbados? What do YOU believe causes 

GBV? 

o  What do women in Barbados do, if anything, to prevent or protect 

themselves from GBV? 

o  Family life can be both protective and not. What elements of family life 

or structure in Barbados, if any, do you think may protect women and 

girls from violence?  

o  And what factors of family life or structures in Barbados, if any, do you 

think may put women and girls at risk of violence? 

o  What happens in intimate relationships that may protect against or lead to 

GBV against women? 

o  What do, or could, communities in Barbados do to prevent GBV against 

women and girls? 

▪  What happens across communities in Barbados that may protect 

against or lead to GBV against women? 

▪  Are there neighborhoods where this may occur more frequently? 

▪ 

▪ 

Is GBV something that happens more in rural areas? More in 

town?  

Is this something that is happening from Oistens to Black Rock to 

Sandy Lane and every neighborhood in between? 

o  In thinking about Barbadian society, what protects women from GBV? 

▪  Are there societal things that make it more likely for women to 

experience GBV? 

▪  Do men and women have the same opportunities in Barbados? 

150 

 

 

At this point the participant may likely begin directing the conversation towards one of 

the four ecological levels. This text is a marker to indicate a likely departure from the 

chronological order of the remainder of the interview items that follow. Navigate 

through the items below as they fit with the conversation.   

Just to reiterate, all families across cultures and communities have varying 

characteristics that may protect women and girls from violence. Would you be 

comfortable telling me about your family? 

•  Probes:  

o  Can you describe your family to me? 

o  What was your family like growing up? Can you tell me about your 

parents or siblings? 

o  Have you ever gotten a sense of their thoughts on GBV?  

o  Was GBV something you were aware of growing up? 

o  What about in terms of the family you have started? 

▪  Do you have children? How old are they? What are they like?  

▪  Tell me about being a mother. How do you support your children? 

Is there anyone who assists you if you need additional help? 

o  Are you comfortable sharing about your relationship with any past or 

current partners and any family roles they take on? 

151 

 

 

Relationship norms vary across cultures and countries, again presenting both risk and 

protective factors. Let’s talk more about intimate relationships here in Barbados; 

whether in regard to intimate relationships you’ve been in, or more broadly speaking 

about intimate relationships here. What are the norms and how might these relationship 

norms protect women from GBV? 

•  Probes:  

o  Are you currently in an intimate relationship? What is expected of 

individuals in intimate relationships here? 

o  How would you describe any past or current intimate relationships? 

o  What roles did you play in the relationship? What about your partner? 

o  Do you feel like there were any overarching factors that influenced this 

relationship/the relationship dynamic? 

▪  Do you feel like your age or your partner’s age influence(d) the 

dynamic of the relationship? 

Following up on relationship norms, do you believe there are any here that put women 

at greater risk of GBV? 

•  Probes:  

o  Can you tell me more about that? 

And now thinking about your friends, colleagues, social group: 

•  Probes:  

o  Are you aware of their thoughts and/or experiences regarding GBV? 

▪  Are they aware of your thoughts and/or experiences regarding 

GBV? 

o  Again, broadly speaking, and acknowledging that all cultures and 

communities have protective and risk factors, what have you seen in 

Barbados across social groups that protect women and girls from GBV? 

▪  What have you seen that may put women and girls at greater risk 

for GBV? 

152 

 

 

Barbados and the entire Caribbean is so diverse. Knowing that everyone has different 

life experiences, and that people’s lives are shaped by many different factors, I am 

wondering if you see that as related to GBV. Do you feel as though certain individuals, 

groups, or communities experience higher rates of GBV? When thinking about 

differences in people’s experiences across race, ethnicity, religion, age, economic status, 

things like that, do you think GBV is more or less prevalent across any of these groups?  

•  Probes:  

o  What does this look like? Are there differences within these groups? 

o  What makes you say that? 

o  Is GBV something that happens within vulnerable groups? 

▪  Does it feel isolated to certain communities? Are different levels 

of support available to different communities? 

▪  Do you think women who have moved here from other countries 

experience this too?  

▪  What about in terms of people here who share similar cultural 

experiences? What might GBV look like for them? 

To what extent does GBV against women in Barbados feel like a private situation versus 

something you can see or talk about socially?  

•  Probes:  

o  Is this something that only happens privately behind closed doors? 

o  Or is this something that you can see in public or social spaces? 

o  Are individuals quick to intervene? Are individuals quick to support any 

of the parties involved? 

o  Or, on the opposite end of the spectrum, have you ever witnessed a 

normalization or social acceptance of GBV? 

153 

 

 

In general, how do you find people in Barbados react or respond to GBV against 

women? 

•  Probes:  

o  What are other people’s perceptions of GBV against women? 

o  What role does social support play here? 

o  What sort of reactions have you personally witnessed? 

o  How do you feel about the way these situations are reported in the 

newspapers? Why do you think they are reported in such a way? 

o  What about across social media? TV? 

Depending on the context of the conversation, it may be possible to follow up on levels 

the participant didn’t bring up. This can only be approached by acknowledging they 

didn’t mention the level prior. For instance, “You didn’t mention anything about family 

or friends. I want to clarify that you didn’t see those elements as protective or risk factors 

for GBV here in Barbados?” 

What do you think are, or would be, the best services for women and girls who have 

experienced violence and abuse? 

•  Probes:  

o  Have you used any of the services? What about anyone you know?  

o  Why or why not? 

o  What was your (or their) experience using these services? 

o  Are there a lot of resources here for survivors? What services are still 

missing? 

Now let’s talk about what you think should be done to prevent GBV from happening. 

•  Probes:  

o  How can boys and men be engaged in prevention?  

o  What can Barbados do better to make these changes happen? 

154 

 

 

I would like to end by asking for any final thoughts on how we can work to end violence 

against women in Barbados. As someone who has experienced this firsthand, do you 

have any other thoughts on how we can end this problem? 

•  Probes: 

o  What do you see as immediate changes necessary? What are the top 

priorities?  

o  What would you say are the long-term actions needed? 

SECTION THREE: FINAL THOUGHTS 

And finally, I want to acknowledge again your expertise on this topic, and I want to 

make sure we have the time and space for you to share with me anything else you’d like 

to about why violence against women and girls is so common and what we can do about 

it. Is there anything else you would like to share? 

SECTION FOUR: COMPLETION OF THE INTERVIEW 

Lastly, I want to thank you for your time, energy, and openness. I want to use what I’m 

learning in this project to help Bajan women and girls, and your input is truly 

invaluable. I know I have asked you to share with me very difficult experiences, and I 

want to be respectful and mindful of that. Do you have any questions for me? 

After I have done all the interviews I will go through and try to look for common issues 

as well as differences in people’s perspectives, so I can then share the findings with 

people in Barbados who could make a positive difference. Would you be interested in 

looking over my understanding of the data and then meeting again to tell me where you 

think I got it right and where you disagree with anything? This is completely optional – I 

know some people will have time for this and many won’t so please don’t feel any 

pressure.   

☐ YES 

 

☐ NO 

155 

 

 
 
 

 

If yes, what is the best way to get a hold of you? 

☐ WhatsApp message 

☐ WhatsApp call 

☐ Regular text message 

☐ Phone call 

☐ Email 

 

 

Thank you again, have a great day and please reach out with any questions or concerns. 

Leave behind (1) resource information if requested/desired; (2) incentive /travel 
reimbursement; (3) contact information. 

End audio recording, ensure all data has been saved/stored (Qualtrics, recording, notes, 
etc.), and pack up all materials into locked box.  

 

 

156 

 

 

Appendix B: Recruitment Flyer 

What Causes Gender-Based Violence Against Women in Barbados? 

Are you a woman 18 years of age or older who has experienced gender-based violence? This 

may include domestic violence, intimate partner violence, partner abuse, sexual assault, rape, 

spousal abuse, sexual violence, trafficking, forced sex, incest, molestation, sexual harassment, 

childhood sexual assault, or any other form of gender-based violence that involved physical, 

emotional, psychological, economic, or sexual violence because of your sex or gender? If so, 

keep reading to learn more about the project. 

 

We are women researchers who want to hear your thoughts on the causes of violence against 

women in Barbados. We want to use what we learn to make a difference in Barbados! 

 

What is involved? 

•  Complete a brief screening questionnaire.  

•  Share your thoughts about gender-based violence with a student researcher. The entire 

interview may take up to 1-2 hours, and you can change your mind or stop participating 

at any time.  

•  At the end of the interview, you will receive $50Bds to thank you for your time and 

invaluable perspective. 

 

Who should I contact about participating? 

If you are a woman who is 18 years of age or older who has experienced gender-based violence 

as a child or adult, please contact Katherine Cloutier by calling +1 246-285-2513, or email her at 

one of the email addresses below:  

clouti25@msu.edu 

kcloutier28@gmail.com 

 

You can also send her your information to contact you by clicking on the following link: 

https://qtrial2018q2az1.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_4OvTkCXNct5Guq1 

 

 

 

157 

 

Appendix C: Screening Tool 

What Causes Gender-Based Violence Against Women in Barbados? 

This is a research project that you are being invited to participate in. The purpose of this research 
project is to learn more about the causes, contributors, and predictors of gender-based violence 
against women in Barbados to better develop interventions, programs, and services to support 
women and girls. Given your experience as a survivor of gender-based violence, your 
participation would be invaluable.    

If you are interested in participating, please complete the brief questionnaire below and be sure 
to provide your contact information if you would like to participate.     

If you have any questions regarding the project, please feel free to reach out to Katherine 
Cloutier, the primary investigator, either by phone (+1 246-285-2513) or email 
(kcloutier28@gmail.com OR clouti25@msu.edu). 

Have you ever experienced any form of gender-based violence, such as domestic violence, 
intimate partner violence, partner abuse, sexual assault, rape, spousal abuse, sexual violence, 
trafficking, forced sex, incest, molestation, sexual harassment, childhood sexual assault, or any 
other form of gender-based violence that involved physical, emotional, psychological, economic, 
or sexual violence as a result of your sex or gender? 

Yes ☐ 

No ☐ 

Are you a woman? 

Yes ☐ 

No ☐ 

Are you 18 years of age or older? 

Yes ☐ 

No ☐ 

If you are interested in participating, please leave your contact information below as this will be 
the only way to reach out and arrange for your participation in the interview process. 

Name ____________________________ 

Email Address ____________________________ 

Phone Number ____________________________ 

Parish of Residence____________________________ 

 

 

158 

 

 

Appendix D: Consent Form 

 

 

159 

 

 

 

 

 

 

160 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

161 

 

Appendix E: Initial Coding Framework 

Figure 15. Initial analytical framework.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

162 

 

Appendix F: Initial Ecological Model 

Figure 16. Initial ecological model.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

163 

 

Appendix G: Example Participant Causal Flow Case Summary 

 

Figure 18. Hierarchical Coding Case Flow Example.  

Individual: 18 

•  Self-worth 
•  Witnessing or experiencing abuse as a child 
•  Economic vulnerability: Financial 

Interpersonal: 81  

• 
• 
• 

Intimate relationships: Alcohol use by a male partner 
Intimate relationships: Toxic masculinity 
Intimate relationships: Power or control over female partner 

Community: 86 

•  Small community dynamic: Culture of silence 
•  Police training and response: Inconsistent enforcement of laws across police officers 
•  Policies, protocols, and law enforcement 

Societal: 1 

•  Traditional gender roles in a heteronormative society 

 

 

164 

 

Isolated causal flow quotes:  

o  So, every time I go to court it's a lot of butterflies going through my belly, a lot of 
things going through my head, because we don't know at what point in time that the 
judge  would  give  bail.  And  the  way  how  he  reacted  I  tell  them  to  me  he’s  not 
finished, not the way how he reacting, he is not finished (sic). 

o  …me being not raised with a mother and father together I always tried to picture 

having this family for my kids. 

o  Um,  jealousy  is  another  thing  too,  jealously  is  another  thing.  Um,  I  met  a 
brother from my father's side, he didn't know my background and one day we was 
walking and my brother saw me so my brother come and hugged me and I saw his 
face expression just changed. And then afterwards I was like “meet my brother” 
and I gave them, exchanged the names. And, it is like certain things, schoolmates if 
they come around, being a male, female is okay, but being a male and you’ll see 
his body language change or his voice, you know how he will speak and I was like 
he was very jealous, jealousy is another thing.  

o  So, it was like he wasn’t being loved from either parents, they were probably there 
for his rescue in growing up but the love and attention that he wanted as a child he 
didn’t get, he didn’t get. So, growing up now to be a man this is what he craving 
for, this is what he wants so he probably met me and this is what I gave him. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Societal

 

Police intervention 

Community 

Interpersonal

Individual

Figure 19. Isolated Causal Flow Quotes.  

165 

 

Appendix H: Refined Analytical Framework 

Table 4. Refined Analytical Framework 

Name 

Individual 

Self-worth 

Witnessing or 
experiencing abuse as a 
child 

Economic vulnerability 

Description 

Individual ecological level. 

This individual level code was used whenever a woman 
referred directly to the concept of self-worth as risk factor 
contributing to GBV against women. This code was also 
used in reference to perpetrator sense of self-worth. 
Additionally, whenever participants referred to concepts of 
self-esteem, jealousy, or other related traits, this code was 
used. 

This individual level code was used whenever participants 
referred to witnessing or experiencing abuse as a child as a 
contributor to GBV against women. This code was also 
applied whenever participants mentioned their children 
witnessing or experiencing abuse. This was another 
individual level code that applied as a risk factor for both 
victimization as well as perpetration.  

Economic vulnerability referred to instances when 
participants mentioned disadvantage when it comes to 
education, employment, or finances. This was often double 
coded with the economic dissonance or manipulation codes; 
however, when participants mentioned economic 
vulnerability without relating to their partner, the individual 
codes were used. Sometimes these child codes overlapped 
with one another as well. 

Educational 

Economic vulnerability factors related to formal or informal 
education, training, or continued skill development. 

Employment 

Economic vulnerability factors related to employment.  

Financial 

Economic vulnerability factors related to income.  

 

 

 

 

166 

 

Table 4. (cont’d).  

Interpersonal 

Interpersonal ecological level. This level had two main 
categories, including the family system and intimate 
relationships. 

Intimate relationships 

Intimate relationships were one of two settings identified 
within the interpersonal ecological level. This code was used 
alone at times, but often a sub-code was used. 

Alcohol use by a 
male partner 

This code was used whenever alcohol was referenced as a 
contributor to GBV. This code was also used when drugs 
were mentioned. A separate code for drugs was not created 
as they weren’t mentioned often. When drugs were 
mentioned, they were also linked to alcohol use. 

Shared financial 
vulnerability within a 
relationship 

Shared financial vulnerability within the relationship was 
cited as a contributor to GBV. This code was used when 
participants spoke generally about the partnership or family 
struggling to make ends meet. This was sometimes used with 
the economic dissonance codes, but not always. 

Economic dissonance 
or manipulation 

Economic dissonance or manipulation was used to indicate 
when a participant mentioned either an economic dissonance 
between two partners or directed manipulation by the male 
partner to ensure that the female partner was economically 
disadvantaged. This became one of the more interesting 
themes throughout the study as it illustrated economic 
stability and empowerment as both a risk and protective 
factor for women. This referred to education, employment, 
and finances, all of which were pulled out as sub-themes. 
This code was used alone at times when it was discussed at a 
more general level.  

Educational 

This sub-code was used when the participant spoke about 
educational or training dissonance or manipulation to 
achieve or maintain economic dissonance by a male partner. 

Employment 

This sub-code was used when the participant spoke about 
employment dissonance or manipulation to achieve or 
maintain economic dissonance by a male partner.  

 

 

 

167 

 

Table 4. (cont’d).  

Financial 

This sub-code was used when the participant spoke about 
financial dissonance or manipulation to achieve or maintain 
economic dissonance by a male partner.  

Traditional gender 
roles within intimate 
relationships 

Family system 

Raising of young 
boys versus young 
girls 

Traditional gender roles within a relationship were 
referenced frequently in the context of GBV contributors. 
This usually included references to cooking, cleaning, and 
raising children, but also reached into general balance in the 
household in terms of what it means to be a man and what it 
means to be a woman (employment, income; this was double 
coded at times with the economic dissonance or 
manipulation codes). This code was also used when women 
as the head of the household were discussed and when 
women as single parents were discussed (both an opposition 
to traditional gender roles). Finally, this code was also used 
when men were discussed as having multiple partners. In 
those instances, the content was also double coded with the 
societal codes. 

The family system was one of two main categories at the 
interpersonal level. At times this code was used alone if 
nothing specific was being said about the family setting, but 
GBV was being referenced as coming from the family. 

This code was used to document when the raising of young 
boys versus young girls was mentioned as a contributor to 
GBV. The raising of young boys and young girls was usually 
described as different from one another. The raising of young 
boys (e.g., given more freedom) was discussed as a 
contributor to potential abusive behavior as adult men, and 
the raising of young girls (e.g., expected to help with the 
household chores) was discussed as being a potential risk 
factor for experiencing GBV as adult women. Furthermore, 
if it was discussed that a young (or older) man received 
special treatment from his mother, this code was also used as 
it was frequently related back to the way in which boys/men 
are raised in Barbados.  

 

 

 

 

168 

 

Table 4. (cont’d).  

Dissonant 
expectations or 
experiences of young 
boys versus young 
girls 

This sub-code was used when describing different 
expectations or experiences between young girls and young 
boys. At times this was discussed within intimate or sexual 
relationships/encounters, and at other times this was 
discussed by the way young girls are expected to act and 
how that later translates into potential risk factors for GBV.  

Family system 
protection of men 

Use or history of 
violence within the 
family 

This code was used when perpetrator behavior was hidden or 
protected by their family. Participants described behaviors 
exhibited by their abusive partners and the lack of familial 
action or intervention that followed. Whenever compliance, 
tolerance, or acceptance by the perpetrator’s family was 
described, this code was used to demonstrate that the 
perpetrator had some sort of control over his family 
members.   

This code was used when the participant mentioned a general 
use of violence in the family. If they didn’t speak directly 
about witnessing or experiencing the abuse, but more so 
referred to it as something that was going on (regardless of 
who was involved), this code was used. This code was also 
used when sexual violence was mentioned within the family 
system. During those situations, the content was also double 
coded with witnessing or experiencing abuse at the 
individual level.  

Community 

Community ecological level.  

Normalization of violence 
across communities and 
community settings 

This code was used when participants spoke about the 
normalization of violence across neighborhoods or 
community settings such as schools, and how this 
normalization allowed for the continuation of GBV against 
women.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

169 

 

Table 4. (cont’d).  

Acceptance or 
trivialization of GBV by 
systems 

Inconsistent 
enforcement of laws 
across police officers 

Police lack of 
understanding about 
abuse 

Policies, protocols, 
and the court system 

This code was used to indicate when a woman spoke about a 
general system such as law enforcement or the court system. 
Participants spoke about these two systems as having a 
general acceptance of GBV against women. This code was 
used alone in some instances, but often was coded at one of 
the sub-themes related to inconsistency and lack of 
knowledge of abuse among police officers, or in reference to 
policies in the court system.  

This code was used when participants spoke about the 
inconsistencies around police response, and how that not 
only sent a confused message on the police force stance on 
GBV against women, but also established an impossible 
position for victims as the support and response when calling 
the police is unpredictable.  

Participants spoke a great deal about the police force lacking 
an understanding of abuse, and their overwhelming 
disinterest in responding to repeat calls for domestic 
violence. This was noted as a significant contributor to the 
continuation of GBV against women in Barbados, and even 
homicide at times.  

This code was used separate from the police training codes 
as it referred more specifically to policies, protocols, 
processes, and laws, and how they served to put women at 
risk for GBV. This code was also use when participants 
spoke about the ways in which the court system was failing 
women.  

Societal 

Societal ecological level. 

Impact of the historical 
enslavement of 
individuals and families 

The impact of the transatlantic forced deportation and 
enslavement of African people was cited by some 
participants as being a contributor to GBV against women in 
Barbados. Some women directly connected this to the forced 
and inhumane breaking apart of families.  

 

 

 

 

170 

 

Table 4. (cont’d).  

Traditional gender roles in 
a heteronormative society 

Socialization among 
men 

Toxic masculinity 

 

 

 

 

This code was used when masculinities were discussed. For 
example, the socialization among men as competitive, yet 
submissive when necessary (establishing and maintaining a 
power hierarchy among communities of men) was discussed 
as a contributor to GBV against women.  

This code was moved from the community level during 
analysis as it better fit the societal level in terms of how men 
relate to one another (and how that relation impacts women 
and their place in society). This code was used when 
participants spoke about relationships between men, and how 
those relationship norms make gender roles more rigid, 
societally.  

This code was moved from the interpersonal level as it is 
closely related to gender norms within relationships; 
however, it was moved during analysis as it was more 
illustrative of the parameters around what it means to be a 
Barbadian man (e.g., heterosexual, multiple partners, alpha).  

171 

 

Appendix I: Post-Project Reflexive Statement 

There is a lot to reflect on as this stage of the project comes to a close. First and foremost 

is my responsibility as a social justice scholar to ensure the ethical and intended use of the data. 

It was my goal from the start to use this data to facilitate social change. Incredible work is 

happening in Barbados and has been for some time. I am committed to using this data to assist 

with the work already going on, in the hope that it will facilitate the forward movement of those 

efforts to the next level of systems coordination in the name of social justice. In collaboration 

with one of my community partners, we are very committed to establishing a gender-based 

violence response team in Barbados. This is a very ambitious goal that would require significant 

grant funding, but we are up for the challenge and are invested in the fact that this could save 

lives.  

While it is easy to state (and carry out) my own commitment to the ethical (and change-

focused) use of this data, it is more challenging to consider how this data could be used 

inappropriately by others. When I publish on this work, I will need to pay particular attention to 

this. I referred to the pathologizing language that has been used across research in the past 

when exploring Caribbean family structures. It is possible that modeling non-pathologizing 

language in my publications may not be enough to prevent the reframing of this data in a 

negative way. Extreme sensitivity will be practiced in all future writing and dissemination of this 

work, and I hope to include in all publications a direct statement about ethical, and historically 

informed use of the data, the results, and the research in general.  

 

It also feels important to revisit my identity at this stage. There were some unanticipated 

experiences throughout the data collection stage that need to be unpacked. As a survivor of GBV 

myself, the more challenging moments were the harassment I received in some of the polyclinics. 

 

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At each of the four polyclinics there was at least one man who followed me back to my interview 

room to let me know how they felt about my research. I had practiced my response to this over 

and over, but each time this still summoned feelings in me that I wasn’t interested in exploring 

during such a professionally crucial stage in my dissertation. However, I think there is more 

here than a man responding to a woman whose research is focused on violence against women. 

More accurately this was a situation where a white, American woman may have been perceived 

by Caribbean men as chastising their community. Revisiting some of the literature on 

intergenerational trauma feels important here in order for me to continue to unpack these 

experiences, and I thank Dr. NiCole Buchanan for bringing up that literature in the defense 

meeting. 

Further reflecting on my insider/outsider positionality is also weighing heavily on me. 

While I’ve been in Barbados for seven years, I am still an outsider and that is not lost on most 

Bajans. During the interviews, this outsider status was very obvious from my race to my accent, 

and many other things I am sure. I do believe that my outsider status provided a sense of security 

during the interviews. Barbados is a small community and many participants indicated that this 

small community dynamic has restricted their access to resources and opportunities to simply 

discuss their experiences. Each interview was a walk to a very vulnerable place with each 

woman who participated, but I could only refer them to the informational envelope I provided 

during each meeting. Interviews of this nature are always vulnerable, but I felt a different layer 

of vulnerability given the safety my outsider status seemed to provide. At times it felt more than a 

deeper level of sharing; there was a freeing, raw element as well. Anecdotally speaking, cursing 

is not common in Barbados. This was not apparent in some of the interviews. There was a raw 

energy to our discussions that indicated to me a very visceral investment from the participants. I 

 

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feel deeply committed to matching the depth, vulnerability, and raw energy I witnessed during 

the interviews in my efforts to use the data for social justice.  

 

Lastly, I want to reflect briefly on how this feels like the end of a very long and intense 

journey. As a first-generation college student who navigated many barriers during grad school, I 

am working on coming to terms with the length of time I took to complete this program. Nearly a 

decade has passed that has been full of transition, growth, learning, and reflection, and its feels 

incredible to enter the next decade on the heels of this defense. A series of unanticipated 

moments has brought me to this point. This journey looked absolutely nothing like my initial plan 

when I started grad school at MSU. I can now say that I am forever grateful for that.    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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