Cultural-Specific Gender Ideology and Wife Abuse in Mexican-Descent Families1

The present study, which was designed to improve understanding of the context, patterns, and meanings of violence against wives, uses a standpoint-based approach which incorporates a symbolic interactionist method and a feminist perspective to examine wife abuse in Mexican-descent families. Findings from the study indicate that wife abuse occurs in the complex context of economic hardship, changes in gender role expectations and performances, and husbands' attempt to maintain male dominance and control of the family. The control aspect of wife abuse was reflected in the patterns of violence used by husbands, the unequal power relationship between husbands and wives, and the differences between wives' and husbands' reactions to family conflicts. These findings suggest that efforts to stop wife abuse need to focus not only on increasing women's economic independence but also on eliminating culture-specific ideologies of male supremacy.