A critical review of Indigenous women’s knowledge systems related to gender-based violence in the Global South

Abstract

The study was a critical review of research focused on developing countries that was concerned with women’s indigenous knowledge resources and systems to understand and confront GBV, together with the importance and the role of community response to GBV, as documented in the literature. This was done by conducting a narrative and meta-analyses review of the literature focused on how communities respond to GBV, and how women use indigenous knowledges and practices to understand and deal with GBV. The study utilized indigenous knowledge systems approach to analyse the data. Owing to the nature of the phenomenon of interest, the study employed a qualitative research design. The gathered data was analysed using thematic analysis. The study found that Indigenous women are not helplessly going through GBV, they instead deploy various coping strategies as prescribe by their cultural beliefs. These coping strategies include involving family elders as mediators, finding comfort in prayer and God, finding solace in proverbs, and positive reframing of GBV experiences. As proactive as Indigenous women were found to be in dealing with their victimization, some of their strategies of dealing with GBV were found to be counterproductive. The study further found that the community’s role in the fight against GBV is a critical and an irreplaceable one, especially because inequitable gender norms and beliefs are established and upheld within and by the community, therefore, within and by the community is where their disintegration should begin. Considering indigenous women’s respect for culture, it is important that initiatives aimed at doing away with GBV are implemented in a manner that honours the cultural beliefs of those who are meant to be helped.