Intimate Violence Against Rural Women: The Current State of Sociological Knowledge

Abstract

Sociological research on violence against rural women quickly exploded on the scene in the latter part of the last decade. There is now strong international empirical evidence showing that rural women are at greater risk of experiencing various types of intimate violence than are their urban and suburban counterparts. Nevertheless, more sociological empirical and theoretical contributions are necessary. The main objective of this paper is to describe the current state of sociological knowledge about intimate violence against rural women and to suggest new directions in understanding this problem.