Danger in families

“You have to be able to afford to escape violence”

The home is the most dangerous place for women.

(Bild: dpa/Maurizio Gambarini)

The family has a high status in Tyrol, it is seen as a place of refuge. Nevertheless, the family is also the place where most violence occurs. We took a closer look at this. Laura Volgger is part of a team at the University of Innsbruck that is conducting a study on (sexualized) violence in families. In an interview with the "Krone" newspaper, she explains why it is often kept quiet.

"Krone": Why is the family model so successful?
Laura Volgger: Good question. The family - and by that I mean the heterosexual nuclear family - is to a certain extent the state in miniature. It is so successful as a model because it promises protection and stability both for the members within the family and for core state values. The state delegates its power to the family, usually to the head of the family. And this is where the problem begins: within the family, people are assigned traditional roles based on their gender, and the roles are hierarchized. For a long time, the husband was considered the head of the family, and the wife and children had to submit to him. The man is assigned to the public sphere, the woman to the "private" sphere, namely the household and raising children. This model is extremely profitable for the state: it saves millions because care work in the family is unpaid. After all, where else do so many women perform unpaid care work that is presented as a "labor of love" - without pay or pension entitlements, of course? Where else do women do so much work for free, which unfortunately is not even perceived as work?