Violence against Deaf Women from an Intersectional Framework in Mexico

This research aimed to analyse the association between violence with linguistic knowledge in Mexican Sign Language (LSM) and sociodemographic data of Mexican Deaf women. To collect data from an intersectional framework, this study applied an opportunistic and chain sampling of 46 Deaf women from different areas of Mexico. Methods included in-person and remote interviews. Forty-one per cent of women indicated that they had been victims of abuse by their partner. In comparison, 73.9% of women had suffered some abuse in schools, and 39% of women had been victims of sexual abuse. The analyses with Spearman bivariate correlation showed that as the LSM learning age of the Deaf women increased, the levels of labour abuse ( r s = .50, p < .0001), violence in a bank ( r s = . 51, p < .0001), violence in school ( r s = .56, p < .0001), and violence by an interpreter ( r s = .45, p < .01) increased too. Results also revealed that a more excellent LSM family knowledge of LSM is moderately related to less labour abuse ( r s = -.53, p < .0001), violence in a bank ( r s = -.45, p < .01), violence in school ( r s = -.43, p < .01), violence by an interpreter ( r s = -.39, p < .01), and with lower magnitude to institutional violence ( r s = -.37, p < .05).


Deaf Women from Mexico: Still Segregated
A study into the perception of Deaf women regarding the violence they have suffered allows us to visualise the places, environments, and people that perpetrate it, as well as the way they have been violated throughout their lives.As Sierralta indicates (2013), women in this group are more vulnerable to structural and political violence, which affects their physical, psychological, or sexual well-being (Estrada et al., 2021, p. 191).In addition, Deaf women are more exposed to various forms of violence since, compared to others, they are more dependent on their partner, less aware of the abuse, and have lower schooling rates (González & Espinosa, 2011).
This research shows that Deaf women are already raising their hands to express their needs.Nevertheless, it seems that Mexican policies still regulate the rights of Deaf citizens from the handicap setting and not from a linguistic or human rights point of view.From a social and psychological perspective, deafness is a culture.In other words, being Deaf is more than a handicap; it is an identity.In this setting, therefore, education and service policies for D/d people should be built from a perspective of rethinking and considering each contribution made by various researchers at a global level regarding deafness as an identity, cultural, and linguistic advantage.Padden and Humphries (1990) highlight this topic and refer to the fact that "Deaf" is sometimes capitalised and sometimes written in lowercase.The use of a lowercase "d" refers to people with a diagnosed hearing loss who may not consider themselves members of the Deaf community and may not use sign language.Instead, the uppercase "D" means a group of Deaf people who share Sign Language and culture (Ladd, 2004).
In an equity promotion sense, the education policy for Deaf women and their families must be reviewed and updated.

Education Policy to Prevent Violence from a Human Rights Focus
There is a relationship between violence and limited access to education for Deaf girls, young women, and women.There are young women whose communication is lacking because they have uneven levels of Mexican Sign Language and a poor command of written Spanish.Similarly, there are deep flaws in mainstream schools for Deaf students, as described in previous works (Moreno et al., 2021).This research found that most abuses against Deaf women were committed due to linguistic deprivation and the handicaps in regulating linguistics rights.(Moreno et al., 2021).
In this regard, the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD), which is an international nongovernmental organisation representing approximately 72 million deaf people worldwide, estimated that more than 80% of them live in developing countries where authorities are rarely familiar with their needs or desires (WFD, 2013).Furthermore, Deaf women and girls cannot enjoy fundamental human rights (WFD, 2013).Most branches of deaf women without a provision for sign language are found in developing countries.The World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) 2013 highlighted a significant barrier concerning the human rights situation of deaf people in gender-specific ways.There is very little data on the lives of deaf people, especially those in developing countries (WFD, 2013).

Bilingual Education for the Deaf in Mexico
In some developing countries, such as Mexico, education for deaf people lags behind that in developed countries.Our previous research studies found different approaches to the handicaps of the D/deaf in accessing Mexican mainstream education (Moreno et al., 2022;2021;Moreno, 2017).
Providing bilingual education for deaf people is an ongoing concern on which several authors worldwide have focused in the last few decades (Moreno & Fernández, 2017).In the human rights setting, Article 24 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) focuses on the right to education for everyone, encouraging special and inclusive education.
Similarly, the Deaf Linguistic Models (Moreno et al., 2022) suggest using research ethics within the Deaf community.Based on our experience, it is necessary to recognise, as authors, the Deaf Linguistic Models involved in the research.Intellectual property and equity perspective means empowerment for the experience and research work of the Deaf colleagues.The lack of this empowerment in all areas of daily life, such as labour, family, education, government, and social spaces, promotes gender-based violence towards Deaf women.Therefore, it is a consequence of multifactor causes that merits intervention strategies from several angles.

Intersectional and Feminist Approach to the Study of Violence against Deaf Women
Deaf women, adolescents and girls represent a minority historically invisible in public policy, specifically in accessing their fundamental rights such as education, linguistic rights and a life free from violence.According to the UN Women (2019), the value of intersectionality in understanding violence against women and girls (VAWG) includes consideration of where gender intersects with other inequalities/oppressions (sexuality, gender identity, ethnicity, indigeneity, immigration status, disability).This intersection produces unique experiences of violence (UN WOMEN, 2019).In this exact order of ideas, Calvacante (2018) reports that intersectional discrimination causes consequences in the incidence of sexual violence against women with disabilities (Calvancante, 2018).
Intersectionality allows us to find the most vulnerable women who have been obscured or invisible (Awid, 2004).Intersectionality studies specialise in identifying the discriminatory and violent practices women face based on their condition and multiple identities, including in the family rank, where women and girls are placed at the lowest level of the family hierarchy.
Feminist and intersectionality studies point to power relations from patriarchy and the privileges attached to the dominant hegemonic culture: being a man, young, white, middle class, heterosexual, with resources and access to goods and rights, in contrast with minorities or groups that do not belong to this classification, such as women, those of ethnic origin, D/deaf, with little education, living in poverty, due to their age, their family position, marital status and place of rural or urban residence, all of which are situations and conditions that put them at a disadvantage.
The position of women in the family and social hierarchies and relationships are also considered in this regard.Within the family, women in a situation of subordination concerning the father, brothers or other relatives are vulnerable to being physically, emotionally and sexually violated.Likewise, in labour hierarchies, vulnerability is evident in power relations and the impossibility of communicating in their language.So there is not only the violence perpetrated against Deaf women but also the impossibility of reporting it due to various factors: The lack of action mechanisms and specific protocols in Mexico that guarantee a life free of violence for women who belong to minority communities, failures in the teaching of written Spanish and frequently not well-consolidated skills in Mexican Sign Language, demagogy in the few Institutions that receive complaints and demands, deficiencies in access to Mexican Sign Language Interpreters with legal competence.For their part, the family is frequently uncommunicated with the Deaf woman, and, as the results show, there are sexual abuses that occur at home.Who are the sexual offenders of Deaf women at home?Many questions and unresolved demands exist for equality and a safe environment for Deaf women in Mexico.
Feminist and intersectionality studies allowed us to make visible inequalities and violence based on the condition and position of women.These conditions will enable us to delve into the violence and inequalities women face that are not sufficiently visible or addressed by public policy.Moreover, the handicaps regarding the safety and well-being of Mexican Deaf women have violated the international frameworks on the advancement and empowerment of all women proposed by UN Women.
Institutional violence and gender blindness are evident for a minority of deaf women of indigenous origin.From a qualitative and intersectional approach, the study looks at the felt and lived experience of Deaf women in Mexico.
According to Krause M. and Ballesteros MS. (2018), the intersectional analysis is made up of the interconnections that are related to the power structures experienced in Deaf women's daily life or their environment, as well as the institutional arrangements that are characterised by gender blindness (Volio, 2016) and lack of public policy for attention, follow-up and support to vulnerable groups from a gender perspective.Although the intersectional studies arose from reflections on the violence and inequalities faced by black women in the United States about white women, it was possible to show and understand that race, class, and gender emerge in their state of inequality compared to other women and to break the bias of considering women as a homogeneous group.
In the same vein, intersectionality is a methodological tool used to reveal the inequalities of violence towards women from a justice perspective because, historically, they have been made invisible, and their experience of oppression places them in the most vulnerable category among women.In this hierarchy, girls are the most vulnerable group because they cannot represent themselves in the face of violence (García & Solís, 2018).The same applies to Deaf women whose only means of communication is Mexican Sign Language: they are generally isolated because no part of Mexican society is open to listening to or acting on the needs they present.

Methods
This study is a part of the Registry of Violence towards Deaf Women project, CONAHCyT Scholarship 223224.The study involved research on the national violence status against Deaf women from intersectional and feminist approaches.The sample comprised an opportunistic and chain sampling of thirty-seven Deaf women from different areas of Mexico.The instruments were a Google formulary and semi-structured interviews conducted face-to-face.Twenty-one Deaf women (See Annexe 1, Figure 11) answered online.The Google formularies supported each question with a Mexican Sign Language video and accessible reading text.This adjusted methodology was designed to help Deaf participants approach the survey questions.Researchers applied face-to-face interviews with sixteen Deaf women from Yucatan because of internet failures in the area.The distribution of the Yucatan's face-to-face interviews is the next: Seven women from the Deaf Community in Chican and nine from Merida.Chican and Merida are different scenarios of Yucatan.Chican is a town of less than a thousand inhabitants in Tixméhuac, Yucatan.Deaf inhabitants in Chican are users of the Mayan Sign Language.In the case of Merida, it is the capital of Yucatan, and its Deaf Community is a user of Mexican Sign Language.

Characteristics of the Qualitative Methodology Used in This Study
The intentional sample is reduced (37 Deaf Mexican women) due to the intersectionality of Deaf women, reading and writing skills and internet access.In the Mexican context, an uneven understanding of sign language prevails.The interviews consisted of a Google Formulary with simple Spanish written text and respective interpretations in Mexican Sign Language to help with comprehension of the questions.As mentioned earlier, face-to-face interviews were also applied in Yucatan.Regarding the Google Formulary, it included closed questions of simple selection (yes/no).Then, according to the selected option, Deaf participants chose the frequency among the following options: sometimes, frequently, always, and never.Finally, a numerical value from 1 to 3 was assigned, where 1 was the less value, and 3 was the more seldom.This accessible methodology allowed us to understand the sociodemographic data of the participating Deaf women and explore the intimate partner institutional and structural violence they face.In this order of ideas, questions 1 and 2 are related to the place of residence and marital status.Both questions shed light on intersectional data.
Related to the face-to-face interviews in Yucatan, semi-structured interviews were applied based on the same 15 questions (See Annexe 1).Itzel Moreno and Sara Márquez went there in person to conduct the interviews.In the case of Chican, a Mayan Sign Language Interpreter assisted with the communication and in the case of Merida, Yucatan, Deaf women expressed themselves in Mexican Sign Language (LSM).Sara Marquez was the Deaf interpreter from Mexican Sign Language to oral Spanish.In the same vein, the intersectionality tool referred to earlier [See the provision Intersectional and feminist approach] was applied to approach the study of violence against Deaf women in this research sample.The information was analysed with Spearman correlations to determine the associations of violence with sociocultural determinants in Mexican Deaf women.

General Objective
To analyse the associations of violence with sociocultural determinants in Deaf women.

Specific Objectives
O1. Describe how Deaf women have experienced violence in different social areas of their everyday lives in Mexico.
O2. Provide more data that strengthen the statement of exclusion, violence risks, and difficulties accessing education for Deaf women (Sierralta, 2013).

Research Questions
Two research questions guided this study: Q1.Have any violent experiences been suffered by Deaf women participating in the study?Q2.Is Gender-based violence against Deaf women driven by social, educational, or family structures?

Exploratory Analysis
The following Figure 1 shows the age distribution of Deaf women.According to Figure 3, 4% of the Deaf women indicated that they had always felt supported by both parents, even though 44% stated that they had always received advice from their mother and only occasionally from their father; 41% said that their mother had always supported them, but that their father never had.Of the surveyed women, 96% have always felt guided by their mothers.According to Figure 4, 70% of women indicated that they had never experienced violence in the banks, 17% said sometimes, and 7% stated frequently; 28% of women between 25 and 29 years old suffered more violence, followed by women in the 20-24 age range (24%) and, lastly, the group aged between 30 and 34 (17%).According to Figure 5, 43% of surveyed women stated that they had been abused frequently in hospitals, among whom 15% are women aged from 25 to 29 years old and from 20 to 24 years old (13%); 28% indicated that every time they went to a hospital they suffered abuse, 13% had suffered occasional violence and 15% had never been victims of abuse in a hospital.According to Figure 6, 50% of Deaf women indicated that they have frequently suffered violence (sum of all the orange groups), 46% have never experienced it (sum of all the blue ones), 2% sometimes experienced it and 2% report that they have always experienced violence perpetrated by an interpreter.Deaf women aged 25 to 29 have experienced the most violence, followed by the group of 20 to 24 years.

Results Regarding Violence in Education and Labour Area
Other questions to the Deaf women were related to sign language teaching and their experience at their first education levels.
As part of this topic, they were asked about their perception of violence at school, in elementary and secondary education, and the main form of communication in their home.
Figure 7 shows women's violence at school, and Figure 6 depicts the abuse in labour settings.

Source: In-house
Figure 7 shows the percentage and level of abuse for Deaf women in Mexican schools.Fortyeight per cent of Deaf women indicated that they had sometimes suffered violence at school, 17.4% said frequently, and 9% said they had always been victims of violence.In comparison, 26.1% of women said they had never experienced violence.In general terms, 73.9% of women suffered abuse.Figure 9 shows that thirty-nine per cent of women have been victims of sexual abuse, against 61% who have never experienced it.In conclusion, Deaf women who were interviewed have suffered more labour-related abuse than sexual abuse.Nevertheless, we keep in mind that not all Deaf women who have faced sexual abuse can express or recognise it.Finally, surveyed women were asked whether they received government support.Seventy-two per cent said they had yet to receive any help, and only 28% had been beneficiaries of some support.The and 34.For the other age groups, the percentage of beneficiaries decreases and, in the case of women between 20 and 24 years old (24%), they have yet to receive any government support; this would suggest an attention and focalisation problem, especially concerning vulnerable people.

Normality Test and Correlations
The normality test in SPSS is a statistical test used to determine whether a sample of data follows a normal distribution.The test is based on comparing the data distribution with a theoretical normal distribution.If the data fit a normal distribution, then parametric tests can be applied to analyse the data.To apply the normality test, this study used a sum of the different forms of violence that deaf women could experience, such as by their partner, work, hospital, bank, school, institutions and by the interpreter.The above corresponded to a Likert scale (0=never, 1=sometimes, 2=frequently, 3=always). So: After that, the normality test was carried out to identify the type of data distribution with a 95% confidence interval.According to the normality analysis results, there were no missing cases in the responses of the Deaf female informants, and it was considered 100% for each educational level.Results indicate that the sample of data distribution was not in the standard settings.Consequently, the Spearman bivariate correlation (non-parametric test) was applied to determine if there was a relation between the educational level and the violence faced by Deaf women in the sample.We used a correlation between violence and education (See Table 3).This analysis enables us to find no significant correlation between both variables.

The Correlation of Violence and Education Variables
This analysis was carried out to ascertain whether the higher the educational level of Deaf women, the greater the violence they experienced.
The processing was carried out in SPSS (See Table 4), in which: The correlation hypotheses corresponded to the following: H1 = The higher the educational level, the greater the violence H0 = Educational level is not related to the violence that deaf women have experienced

Discussion
There is extensive discussion about the factors that affect or promote violence against Deaf women in Mexico.We are mindful of the fact that this study is based on small sample size and of the drawbacks represented by non-probabilistic sampling classes, which presuppose a selection of participants with more excellent care and control due to the specifications of the people (Hernández et al., 2014).It is, however, considered pertinent and relevant to highlight the benefits of studying populations that are difficult to access and that their evaluation requires adjustments in the conventional methodology.In this case, the intersectional methodology approach was necessary in this study, given the need to delve into the world of Deaf women and the unequal position in which they find themselves.The intersectional approach has been a valuable tool in highlighting those inequalities due to the gender condition and minority position they are in.Indeed, the intersectional approach is necessary to reveal the imbalances of Deaf women, as they do not represent a homogeneous group but a group with much diversity.Deaf women in Mexico present characteristics with varying linguistic skills and socioeconomic, cultural and social differences.This variation depends on the context of Deaf women in terms of their condition and position.
Deaf Mexican women are violated because they are women.Being a Deaf woman makes her even more vulnerable in a Mexican context.This is how we explain that the violence is not related to the academic level of Deaf women.In the Mexican context, women frequently experience violence, but in the case of Deaf women, the violence is not reported.The position of women in the family and social hierarchies and relationships are also considered in this regard.Within the family, women are subordinated to the father, brothers or other masculine figure.Deaf women receive little help and guidance from the father; the mother is the principal figure.Likewise, in labour hierarchies, vulnerability is evident in power relations and the impossibility of communicating in their language.So there is not only the violence perpetrated against Deaf women but also the impossibility of reporting it due to various factors: the lack of action mechanisms and specific protocols in Mexico that guarantee a life free of violence for women who belong to minority communities, failures in the teaching of written Spanish and frequently poorly consolidated skills in Mexican Sign Language, demagogy in the few institutions that receive complaints and demands.
Intersectionality studies, therefore, require in-depth surveys since it is difficult to record the information on violence faced by Deaf women in more private spaces such as the home, hospitals or schools.Institutions are falling short by not considering the living conditions of Mexican Deaf Women.
Regarding equity promotion, the education policy for Deaf women and their families must be reviewed and updated.This research found that most abuses against Deaf women were committed due to linguistic deprivation and the handicaps in regulating linguistics rights.(Moreno et al., 2021).
As stated above, the results of the research suggest that there is no relationship between educational level and violence.However, there is a relationship between the level of knowledge of Mexican Sign Language (LSM) and the age at which Deaf women learn LSM.The less understanding of LSM, the greater the inability to defend their rights to dignity and personal attention in the bank, at school and in the hospital.Another critical factor is the family; the less knowledge the family has about LSM, the less chance of instructing a young woman about her rights, sexual education and self-esteem.Institutional support is necessary to promote Mexican Sign Language from an early age.
Therefore, it is necessary to create, maintain and provide feedback to government programs to develop and promote early learning of Mexican Sign Language.To promote equity and nonviolence towards deaf women, policies can be updated through government programs that are linked with hospitals.These programs should focus on providing education, awareness, and early training on Mexican Sign Language, as well as fostering an understanding of Deaf individuals among families.Furthermore, it is essential to promote free and easily accessible government programs that facilitate early learning of LSM for Deaf women.
Our final reflections consider that Deaf women may face additional barriers when seeking help and reporting violence.These barriers could include a need for more interpreters or an understanding of their language and culture by service providers.It is also important to note that intersectionality is a valuable framework for understanding the experiences of Deaf women.In contrast to viewing Deafness solely through a medical lens, it is necessary to comprehend Deafness through human and linguistic rights lenses.In this regard, we find it essential to progressively teach Sign Language as soon as Deafness is detected in children.
Concerning the above, LSM instruction to families is necessary, teaching systematised and professional.Future research aims to expand the sample; however, it is always considered that Deaf women users of Mexican Sign Language are in minority communities.

Conclusion
In conclusion, Spearman analyses determined associations of violence with sociocultural determinants in the Deaf women sample.These socio-cultural determinants are related to the Deaf women families' knowledge of Mexican Sign Language (LSM) and to the age of learning LSM.The studies showed that more excellent family knowledge of LSM is moderately associated with less labour abuse, violence in banks, violence in school, violence by interpreters, and a lower magnitude of institutional violence.Regarding the educational level and risk of violence, academic level is not related to the violence that Deaf women have experienced.
Forty-one per cent of women indicated that they had been victims of abuse by their partner.
Violence occurs in other spaces, such as hospitals, where 43% of surveyed women stated that they had been frequently abused, and in places such as schools, where 47.8% indicated that they had sometimes suffered violence.The level of workplace abuse suggests that 37% of Deaf women have suffered it frequently.Government support also needs to be regularised because 72% of surveyed women do not receive any help, and there are inconsistencies in government, which provides the worst guarantees for younger Deaf women.For their part, intersectional conditions to which Deaf women are subject need strategic interventions to prevent abuse.Significantly, the Deaf women surveyed report that they receive guidance from their mother at 96% while their father's advice is almost absent, scarcely 4%.
Regarding the methodology, the research focuses on analysing a study population with a relatively low prevalence in the national context and intersectional process provided framework and systematisation of data.In addition, it has represented an exciting challenge to have the possibility of establishing communication and access to evaluate a non-probabilistic sample (of the intentional type) of Deaf Women communities.
Final reflections indicate that it is necessary to continue implementing strategies, policies, and programmes to promote early learning and family training in Mexican Sign Language.Equity must be generated at home, in the learning environment, and in the citizens' services must always be sought in Mexico.

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Age of the Mexican Deaf participants in the research Source: In-HomeFigure1shows that 57% of the Deaf women participants in this study were aged 20 to 31.Figure1also shows that as the age range increases, participation decreases.This data might suggest that the developing generations of Deaf women in Mexico are increasingly more participative and thirstier to seek Equity.

Figure 2
Figure2-9 depict specific percentages of violence suffered in different settings.Figure9shows the help that Deaf women receive from the Mexican government.

Figure 2 .
Figure 2. Marital status and prevalence of violence Source: In-houseFigure2shows that 42% of the surveyed women stated they had been victims of violence perpetrated by their partners.

Figure 3 .
Figure 3. Guidance received by the father and mother Source: In-house

Figure 4 .
Figure 4.The violence suffered at a bank Source: In-house

Figure 5 .
Figure 5. Violence suffered in hospitals Source: In-house

Figure 7 .
Figure 7. Level of violence suffered by women at school.

Figure 10 .
Figure 10.Government support Source: In-house Figure8shows the level of workplace abuse to which Deaf women are exposed in their labour settings.Each coloured bar indicates the level of labour abuse.According to Figure6, 26% of women stated they had always suffered labour-related violence.A further 37% have suffered it frequently, 17% of this group have suffered it sometimes, 20% have never suffered labourrelated abuse, and 19.7 have never faced it.
table above shows that the age group receiving the most support is between 30

Table 2 .
Normality test results