Women’s everyday resistance to intimate partner violence

Aotearoa/New Zealand’s rate of reported intimate partner violence (IPV) is among the highest in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). In this article, we step behind the statistical trends to document the ways in which violence manifests in women’s everyday lives and the subtle, imperfect ways in which they respond through the development of various resistive tactics. We explore how these women navigate their daily lives with violence, paying particular attention to moments of adaptation, agency and resistance. With the help of Te Whakakruruhau (Māori Women’s Refuge), we conducted semi-structured discussions with eight women (four staff members and four former clients) who revealed how deeply enmeshed IPV can become within the conduct of everyday life. This necessitates their development of tactics for surviving the danger associated with mundane practices, such as grocery shopping, sleeping and doing the dishes. In responding to everyday violence, the women in our study create moments of routine and radical freedom in the midst of the chaos that comes with IPV.