"Det är en blind spot" : En kvalitativ studie om förståelsen för och hanteringen av våld i nära relationer på sex svenska arbetsplatser

Sammanfattning: One in three women is exposed to intimate partner violence at some point during their lives. Exposure to violence can have severe negative effects on the victims’ working lives. This qualitative study intends to examine how intimate partner violence is understood and handled in six Swedish workplaces. The questions the study intends to answer is; How is intimate partner violence constructed in the workplaces? In what way does it affect the workplaces’ handling of the effects of intimate partner violence? The empirical material is collected through sex semi-structured interviews with women who work in managerial positions or in HR. The material is analyzed using theoretical tools from Berger & Luckmanns (1991) theory; objectivation and institutionalization. What emerged during the analysis of the empirical material was that the workplaces do not have any institutionalized processes for dealing with intimate partner violence, the phenomenon is objectivated as a private problem and lacks a concrete form in the workplaces. The understanding of intimate partner violence was twofold, where the respondents on a subjective level understood the phenomenon, but through the perspective of their professional role, that understanding is made more difficult. To understand the phenomenon in relation to the workplace, attempts were made to place it within existing institutionalized processes, however, there was no given place within any of them. To deal with intimate partner violence in the workplace informal structures arose, but they were temporary and dependent on the knowledge and awareness of the people who happen to be present when they occur. The fact that intimate partner violence is not institutionalized also means that there are limited resources for support in the workplace. The respondents are therefore forced to find out for themselves which other institutions in society that can be helpful for dealing with the problem. Consequently, it is unclear to everyone in the workplace how the problem should be handled.