Tazeen Saeed Ali, Karolinska Institutet

Tazeen Saeed Ali, Division of Global Health (IHCAR) at the Dept. of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, defended her doctoral dissertation entited ”Living with violence in the home: Exposure and experiences among married women, residing in urban Karachi, Pakistan” on Friday 16 December 2011. The thesis is based on a study conducted in urban Karachi, Pakistan to investigate prevalence, frequency, risk factors, and mental health effects of husbands’ violence against their wife. It also explores current gender roles in urban Karachi, Pakistan, how these are reproduced and maintained, and their influence on life circumstances for both men and women. Further, it explores the women’s perceptions of situations which create conflicts and potentially lead to different forms of violence and the immediate consequences of violence exposure. reveals serious gender inequalities and human rights violations against women within marriage, in her extended family and within Pakistani society. The unequal gender roles were perceived as static and enforced by structures imbedded in society. The opponent was Professor Berit Schei, University of Bergen, Norway. More information.