Cultural, Ideological and Structural Conditions Contributing to the Sustainability of Violence Against Women: The Case of Bulgaria

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the conditions that contribute to the sustainability of violence against women in Bulgaria, an EU member state with high rates of this phenomenon. The analysis is based on data obtained through qualitative and quantitative methods, including in-depth interviews and focus groups with experts from state institutions (the police, prosecutors, courts, and social services), politicians, journalists, and from non-governmental organizations working with victims, as well as a nationwide sample survey of the adult population of Bulgaria. The qualitative data were analyzed through thematic analysis. The article demonstrates that cultural, ideological, and structural conditions in Bulgarian society facilitate the sustainability of violence against women. These include patriarchal norms prevailing in the family, specific characteristics of the popular culture, the neoliberal ideology of extreme individualism, the withdrawal of the state from its obligations, and ineffective institutional response. These conclusions point to the need to enhance the state’s capacity to counteract the phenomenon as well as the need to address ingrained cultural norms of conduct.

1. Introduction

Violence against women (VAW)1 is a phenomenon that occurs in almost every society, albeit on a different scale and in different forms. The World Health Organization estimates that one out of three women has been subjected to physical violence by an intimate partner or to sexual violence by a man at least once in her lifetime (World Health Organization 2017). Some authors define violence against women as the most widespread, but for many years the least recognized, human rights violation in the world (Heise et al. 1999), having a significant impact not only on the personal well-being of the victim, but also on their families and society as a whole. In some countries, it is estimated that the existence of this problem costs up to 3.7% of the GDP (World Bank Group 2024).

The significance of the problem attracts research interest in the social sciences, to the point that there are now specialized scientific journals dedicated to the topic, and after 2010, publications related to gender-based violence and intimate partner violence increased significantly (Shoaib et al. 2024). Attention is focused mainly on the regions around the world where high prevalence of the problem is found, such as the “least developed countries”; the three subregions of Oceania: Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia; and the regions of Southern Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa (World Health Organization 2021, p. VI). The most active researchers are from the USA, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, Spain, and South Africa (Wu et al. 2020; Martínez-Heredia et al. 2021). Understanding which contextual factors lead to high levels of violence against women in certain countries is limited (Mannell et al. 2022). Sociological analysis of the phenomenon is rarely offered for Eastern European countries, such as Bulgaria, leading to ignorance and lack of understanding of the conditions that make it a real problem for dozens of women from these countries.

According to the observations of the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights 2014) the topic of violence against women in Bulgaria is something that is not talked about in certain groups. The main information is obtained from non-governmental organizations helping victims of violence, but these data are scarce and rarely turn into scientific analyses. Most publications on the topic are juridical and discuss various aspects of the legislation regarding domestic violence in Bulgaria (for instance Kostadinova 2024; Velchev 2019; Valkova and Doncheva 2018). Sociological analyses on the topic are rare, especially those based on empirical information. Only in November 2022 did the National Statistical Institute in the country establish a new statistical area “Gender-Based Violence” with the aim of presenting the results for Bulgaria as part of a survey conducted among all Member States of the European Union, funded by the European Commission. The sharp need for more data and analysis of the problem in Bulgaria has been particularly evident in the last few years. Several brutal cases of violence against women have become public knowledge and revealed the gaps in the system for combating this type of violence, as well as the lack of sufficient knowledge about the scale and drivers of violence against women in the country.

The aim of this article is to analyze the contextual conditions that contribute to the sustainability of the problem of violence against women in Bulgaria, starting from the idea that it is a result not so much and not only of individual characteristics but of structural, ideological, and cultural conditions in Bulgarian society. The analysis is based on data from a sociological study on the topic, which applied qualitative and quantitative methods for collecting data, thus contributing to reducing the lack of empirical information and increasing understanding of aspects important for combating the problem of violence against women in Bulgaria.

2. Literature Review

In 1995, the UN Fourth World Conference on Women2, held in Beijing, set the strategic goal of studying the causes and consequences of VAW and emphasized the importance of governments promoting research on the problem. Since then, the topic of violence against women has been widely covered in foreign scientific literature.

A prominent study (Heise 1998) demonstrates that this type of violence cannot be explained solely by individual characteristics (e.g., poor self-control) or by social/political explanations (e.g., patriarchal relations) and that the interaction of personal, situational, and sociocultural factors must also be accounted for. Drivers of intimate partner violence against women are studied, showing that it is driven by poverty and patriarchal privileges in interpersonal relationships, which, in combination with childhood trauma, poor mental health, and substance abuse, influence the manifestations of this type of violence (Gibbs et al. 2020). Understanding of the risks for specific vulnerable groups is widened, demonstrating that the presence of other forms of violence and patriarchal social norms raise levels of this type of violence (Jewkes 2002; Capaldi et al. 2012; Mannell et al. 2022). Heise and Kotsadam (2015) show that the presence of norms associated with male authority over female behavior, norms justifying spousal beating, and the extent to which law and practice place women at a disadvantage compared to men are associated with higher levels of violence against women.

Significant results regarding the influence of cultural norms on violence against women have been obtained by the study of González and Rodríguez-Planas (2020), which focusing on first- and second-generation immigrant women and reveals that higher gender equality in the country of origin is associated with a lower risk of victimization in the host country. The link between culture and violence against women is also investigated by Tur-Prats (2019), who shows through historical data that traditional family structures, cultural norms for cohabitation, and wives’ contribution to farmwork influence lower levels of intimate partner violence. Alesina et al. (2021) also reveal the influence of cultural factors and perceived gender roles in the family on the frequency of violence and the tendency for it to be justified. The authors show that ethnic groups in which women contributed less to production had higher levels of VAW; cohabitation with the husband’s family was strongly positively associated with both the level and acceptance of domestic violence, and in these families, women tended to justify their husband’s violence.

When a culture enforces tight gender norms inside the family, conflicts and tensions are more likely to occur when these roles are challenged. New research on the relationship between increasing women’s economic activity and financial independence and intimate partner violence shows that despite opportunities for empowerment, the risk of violence does not decrease, and in fact, the opposite is true (Bergvall 2024; Stern and Heise 2024; Williams et al. 2024). This statement can be linked to the thesis of Tur-Prats (2021), which analyzes the relationship between unemployment and intimate partner violence through the prism of historical forms of family structures and the cultural norms within them. The author interprets intimate partner violence through the lost gender identity and the established traditional role of the man in the family as the main source of income—violence is a means of restoring the loss of usefulness and authority.

A more recent aspect that is being studied in the literature is the impact of information and communication technologies on violence. On the one hand, technologies can be used to practice virtual violence (United Nations 2023), but on the other hand, it has been shown that they facilitate access to help and can support prevention of violence (Philbrick et al. 2021; Katuli and Wandwi 2025).

Despite rising academic interest in VAW around the world, scientific research on the subject is limited in Eastern European countries. Attention to the subject gradually intensified after the political changes of 1989 and the fall of the communist regime. Until then, the topic of domestic violence against women was a taboo (Wasileski and Miller 2010). The research on VAW in Eastern European countries focuses on the impact of large social and economic changes, military conflicts, and the communist legacy on the prevalence of the problem (Kuzmanović and Pajvančić-Cizelj 2018). This is understandable, bearing in mind the events taking place in the region in the 1990s. In her book, Nikolić-Ristanović (2002) examines how the transition to a market economy and military conflicts in countries such as Bulgaria, Hungary, Macedonia, and Serbia increase domestic violence. Nikolić-Ristanović presents arguments to show the connection between VAW and the growth of social stratification, economic hardship, unemployment, instability, insecurity, and related social tensions, changes in gender identity, and structural inequalities generated by the capitalist economic system. The positive effect of creating civil society organizations in defense of women is also considered. The book also pays attention to a significant problem that has arisen in these societies after the changes of 1989—sex trafficking of women. A study by Petrunov (2014) also indicates that trafficking in women for sexual exploitation from Eastern European countries must be considered in the context of the socio-economic development of these countries and reveals that various forms of VAW (psychological, economic, and physical) are an integral part of the activities of traffickers, who take advantage of the lack of awareness and recognition of violence in some social groups as well as the inadequacy and archaic nature of some policies in Bulgaria (Petrunov 2023, 2024).

In a study of violence against women in post-communist Slovakia, Wasileski and Miller (2010) show that twenty years after the changes, VAW is still influenced by patriarchal models from communism, which remained strong after 1989, improving in the public sphere but not in family and partner relations. The authors also pay attention to the influence of ethnicity and reveal that VAW in ethnic groups such as the Roma is favored due to cultural and ethnic factors leading to greater tolerance of violence. Additionally, while the EU and international organizations are creating a framework to combat the problem, the effect remains largely limited due to a lack of implementation and resources on the part of the state. The emphasis is on the key role of the non-governmental sector in increasing the visibility and scale of the problem. However, due to the lack of state support, its actions are grossly insufficient. This observation confirms the findings of an earlier study (Johnson and Brunell 2006), which showed that despite reforms in the field of combating VAW undertaken in post-communist countries, the role of the state is low to moderate.

The influence of cultural norms is also examined in a more recent study conducted in 2021 in eight countries, most of them from Eastern Europe (Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Latvia, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and Ukrainе). It shows that in countries with high levels of gender inequality, the rates of different forms of violence to which women are subjected can be sensitive to the socio-economic context of the respondents and the gender norms they adhere to (Oczkowska et al. 2024).

An aspect that publications on the topic of VAW from Eastern Europe often focus on is the legal side of the problem—the lack of legislation or incomplete regulations that would lead to effective prevention of the problem (Limantė et al. 2023). Research in Bulgaria is no exception, and most publications discuss various problematic aspects of legislation and related legal norms (I. Georgiev 2016; Goleva 2019; Rangelova 2024; Kostadinova 2024, etc.) and the need for legislative reforms and actions to prevent and control this phenomenon (N. Georgiev 2020; Hristov 2022). The growing anti-gender ‘debate’ (V. Todorova 2022) and the belittling of VAW in Bulgarian society are also discussed (B. Todorova 2023), especially after the protests against the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (the Istanbul Convention) in 2018. Monographic scientific studies on the topic have been written more than 20 years ago (Zlatanova 2001). Only a few years ago, a study was published on the influence of cultural and social norms and factors in Bulgarian society on VAW, which discusses violence in the Bulgarian family from a socio-psychological and ethno-psychological perspective in relation to European values and policies (Petrova et al. 2021). The study shows that VAW is not a family problem, but a systemic phenomenon, related to patriarchal stereotypes, historical and cultural attitudes, but also a lack of sensitivity on the part of society—the Bulgarian culture traditionally perceives only physical violence as “real” violence, while other forms (psychological, economic, emotional, and sexual violence) are often normalized.

3. The Bulgarian Context

In Bulgaria, manifestations of VAW are very common, which makes the topic particularly relevant for the country. Data from the National Statistical Institute (NSI) from the EU-GBV Gender-Based Violence Survey, 2021 show that among women aged 18–74 20.5% experienced one or more incidents of intimate partner violence (including psychological, sexual, and physical abuse and threats); young women (aged 18 to 29) are at the greatest risk of intimate partner violence; every third woman aged 18–29 has been raped by a current or former partner (36.3%); and that two out of three women believe that violence against women by their intimate partners in Bulgaria occurs very or quite often (National Statistical Institute 2022).

Since 2005, Bulgaria has had the Law on Domestic Violence Protection, which was adopted as a response to the growing public and international concern about the problem of VAW in the country. Previously, domestic violence was perceived as a “private matter” rather than a social problem requiring the response of society and institutions. In 2016, the Law on Equality between Men and Women was also adopted.

Soon after the entry into force of the Law on Domestic Violence Protection, discussions began on the National Strategy for Promoting Gender Equality, which was adopted in 2009. The strategy was renewed for the period 2016–2020 and the current one for the period 2021–2030. The document, alongside the priority areas for promoting equality between women and men in various social and economic spheres, also highlights the fight against gender-based violence and support for victims as a priority. This policy document has a framework nature and sets guidelines for actions in priority areas, implemented by various institutions, but its realization is often limited by a lack of resources and mechanisms for control and implementation of the measures. According to assessments by non-governmental organizations, the Strategy does not meet European and international standards for efforts to achieve equality between men and women; the proposed measures do not take into account the structural problems that lead to inequality between women and men and long-term and well-funded programs are not provided (LevFem 2020).

Bulgaria has not adopted the Istanbul Convention. In 2018, when its adoption was being discussed, violent protests erupted in the country. With decision No. 13 from 27 July 2018, the Constitutional Court determined that the convention did not comply with the Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria. The main legal act that applies to combating violence against women is the aforementioned Law on Domestic Violence Protection, which has been criticized for its ineffectiveness. However, it was not until 2023 that it underwent a more serious reform, the result of public pressure that arose after a case of a brutal attack on a young woman by her intimate partner became publicly known. The case known as the “Deborah case” was referred to by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in her 2024 address on the Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. It concerns a young woman of 18 years old who was attacked in the summer of 2023 by her intimate friend in her home. After falling unconscious from a blow to the face, the perpetrator cut off all of the victim’s hair and cut her body with a mock knife. In the hospital, doctors put 400 stitches on the slash wounds. At the moment, the court case is still ongoing.

Some of the amendments in the Law provide for an increase in the time for submitting a request for protection from domestic violence; the possibility of initiating proceedings at the request of a prosecutor; expanding the circle of victims of domestic violence who can seek protection; mechanisms facilitating access to justice; removal the requirement for “systematicity”3 of the act, etc. It is also planned to establish a National Council for Domestic Violence Prevention and Protection and a national information system for collecting the necessary data. However, these have not yet become operational and remain on paper.

The public’s strong reactions and demand for adequate measures to protect women from intimate partner violence have resulted not only in legal changes but also in inspiring courage in a number of women to reveal their situation, resulting in a significant increase in reports of VAW. Data from the Ministry of the Interior on domestic violence reports, cited by Blagorodna Makeva—former deputy director of the National Police General Directorate—show an increase in the number of reports received on the Single European Number 112 for domestic violence cases: in 2020 there were 36,527; in 2021 there were 37,121; in 2022 there were 35,751, in 2023 the complaints numbered 42,481 (Makeva 2024). In 2024 the number of signals was more than 53,000 (bTV News 2025).

In addition to signals, Makeva points out that the number of protection orders is also increasing. During the first few years of the Law of Domestic Violence Protection’s implementation, Makeva presents data that the number of protection orders received by the police district administration ranged from around 300 in 2005 to around 800 in 2008. When tracking the trend, it is found that the number of complaints received has significantly increased—from 1408 in 2010, to 2121 in 2015, and 3057 in 2020, in order to reach 4429 in 2023 (Makeva 2024, p. 98). Analyzing these data, Makeva found that bodily harm was most frequently reported (51% in 2024), followed by failure to comply with a protection order (28.3% in 2024), with the majority of victims being women and children (90%), and the perpetrators against whom protection orders were issued being predominantly men.

Although the topic has gained greater visibility in recent years, and the legal framework has been reformed, the problem of violence against women in Bulgaria remains significant, as confirmed by the increased number of complaints in the last few years. This leads to the question of what the conditions that make the sustainability of the phenomenon in the country possible are, the discovery of which is the aim of this article.

4. Materials and Methods

4.1. Study Sample, Data Collection, and Method of Analysis

In this paper, we use information obtained through a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches that can provide a better understanding of the research problems than would either approach taken alone (Molina-Azorin 2016). The application of this research strategy is well suited to the study of complex social phenomena (Creswell and Clark 2007; Silva et al. 2008), and VAW is precisely such. Combining qualitative and quantitative methods provides more granular results and in-depth findings (Office for Health Improvement & Disparities 2020).

The qualitative methods used were in-depth interviews and focus groups. The aim of these surveys was to collect information on VAW from representatives of organizations and institutions working on various aspects of the problem. Interviewers and moderators were researchers, participants in a project “Violence against Women: Typologies, Economic and Social Consequences”4.

Participants in the focus groups and interviews were representatives of all organizations identified as “stakeholders” in the preparatory phase of the study. A total of 26 interviews were conducted with members of the judiciary (7 interviews with judges, prosecutors, and an investigator), politicians and representatives of state institutions—Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Justice, and Ministry of Labor and Social Policy (a total of 9 interviews)—as well as representatives of the non-governmental sector, journalists and trade unionists (a total of 10 interviews). The interviews were conducted between 7 August 2024 and 27 January 2025. They were conducted in a setting tailored to the wishes of the interviewees, most often at their workplace. A description of the respondents in the individual interviews is presented as an Appendix A in

Table A1. Participants in-depth interviews (interview code, professional position, gender, age, date).

iDI 10—police officer, female, 41, conducted on 2 October 2024 iDI 11—police officer, female, 48, conducted on 10 October 2024 iDI 12—police officer, male, 42, conducted on 10 October 2024 iDI 13—prosecutor, male, 30, conducted on 14 October 2024 iDI 14—advisor to a minister, female, 48, conducted on 10 October 2024 iDI 20—NGO, male, 37, conducted on 13 August 2024 iDI 21—NGO, female, 52, conducted on 15 August 2024 iDI 22—judge, female, 42, conducted on 4 September 2024 iDI 23—NGO, female, 45, conducted on 12 September 2024 iDI 24—police officer, male, 46, conducted on 26 September 2024 iDI 30—NGO, female, 32, conducted on 19 August 2024 iDI 31—NGO, female, 30, conducted on 19 August 2024 iDI 32—state institution, female, 45, conducted on 20 August 2024 iDI 33—NGO, male, 61, conducted on 20 August 2024 iDI 34—state institution, female, 58, conducted on 03 October 2024 iDI 40—politician, female, 51, conducted 20 September 2024 iDI 41—international organization, female, 47, conducted on 25 September 2024 iDI 42—NGO, female, 40, conducted on 25 September 2024 iDI 43—NGO, female, 60, conducted on 27 September 2024 iDI 44—journalist, female, 35, conducted on 30 September 2024 iDI 45—politician, female, 47, conducted on 2 October 2024 iDI 50—lawyer, female, 45, conducted on 7 August 2024 iDI 51—investigator, female, 50, conducted 20 September 2024 iDI 52—judge, female, 45, conducted on 26 September 2024 iDI 53—prosecutor, female, 48, conducted on 16 October 2024 iDI 61—trade unionist, female, 59, conducted on 27 January 2025

.

Six focus groups were conducted—two in a regional town and four in the capital. A total of 63 leading representatives from the police, the prosecutor’s office, courts of justice, social welfare agencies, and NGOs participated in the focus groups. They were held in the period 11 September 2024–18 September 2024, and each focus group was led by two moderators. The focus group participants are presented as an Appendix B to the article in

Table A2. Participants in focus group discussion (participant code, professional position, gender, age).

Focus group 1, two moderators, conducted on 11 September 2024	Participant 1—prosecutor, female, 51 Participant 2—prosecutor, male, 39 Participant 3—police officer, female, 44 Participant 4—police officer, female, 42 Participant 5—police officer, male, 49 Participant 6—police officer, female, 49 Participant 7—prosecutor, female, 41 Participant 8—police officer, female, 52 Participant 9—prosecutor, male, 39 Participant 10—prosecutor, male, 42 Participant 11—police officer, male, 40 Participant 12—social worker, NGO, female, 52 Participant 13—social worker, NGO, female, 40 Participant 14—social worker, NGO, female, 44
Focus group 2, two moderators, conducted on 11 September 2024	Participant 1—police officer, female, 34 Participant 2—prosecutor, male, 35 Participant 3—prosecutor, female, 49 Participant 4—prosecutor, female, 44 Participant 5—investigator, female, 62 Participant 6—investigator, female, 48 Participant 7—police officer, male, 41 Participant 8—police officer, male, 45 Participant 9—police officer, male, 50 Participant 10—police officer, female, 52 Participant 11—social worker, NGO, female, 29 Participant 12—social worker, NGO, female, 48 Participant 13—social worker, NGO, female, 59
Focus group 3, two moderators, conducted on 17 September 2024	Participant 1—prosecutor, female, 43 Participant 3—judge, male, 34 Participant 4—social worker, NGO, female, 24 Participant 5—prosecutor, female, 31 Participant 6—police officer, male, 54 Participant 7—police officer, male 50 Participant 8—prosecutor, male, 30 Participant 10—social worker, Agency for Social Assistance, female, 45 Participant 11—social worker, NGO, female, 25 Participant 12—judge, female, 41
Focus group 4, two moderators, conducted on 17 September 2024	Participant 1—social worker, NGO, female, 25 Participant 2—social worker, NGO, female, 28 Participant 3—prosecutor, male, 40 Participant 4—prosecutor, male, 31 Participant 5—social worker, Agency for Social Assistance, female, 52 Participant 6—prosecutor, male, 35
Focus group 5, two moderators, conducted on 18 September 2024	Participant 1—social worker, NGO, female, 33 Participant 2—social worker, NGO, female, 47 Participant 5—social worker, Agency for Social Assistance, female, 60 Participant 6—prosecutor, female, 38 Participant 8—prosecutor, female, 44 Participant 9—prosecutor, female, 36 Participant 11—prosecutor, female, 40 Participant 12—police officer, male, 45
Focus group 6, two moderators, conducted on 18 September 2024	Participant 1—NGO, female, 40 Participant 2—judge, female, 38 Participant 4—police officer, female, 45 Participant 5—police officer, female, 56 Participant 6—NGO, female, 43 Participant 8—prosecutor, female, 42 Participant 9—prosecutor, male, 34 Participant 10—prosecutor, male, 30 Participant 11—police officer, female, 48 Participant 12—social worker, NGO, female, 36 Participant 13—social worker, NGO, female, 38 Participant 14—social worker, Agency for Social Assistance, female, 53

.

There were two methods used to recruit people for in-depth interviews and focus groups. The first method was to send official letters to the institutions where the experts worked, providing information about the study and inviting them to participate in an interview or focus group. The second technique of recruitment was through personal contacts from the social network of the research team members, who are acquaintances of some of the experts. The interviews were conducted by six members of the project team.

Based on review of theoretical and empirical literature concerning VAW, the research team developed a semi-structured interview guide with open-ended questions designed to promote reflection among the respondents. The interviewer had the opportunity to adapt their questions in accordance with the specific professional profile of the respondents while also following the main topics and research objectives set out in the questionnaire. The topics and subtopics in the questionnaire were related to gender equality in Bulgarian society, socio-economic factors driving violence against women, forms of violence, public policies and measures for prevention of the problem and protection of victims, and factors for unidentified violence against women. Each of the topics set out in the questionnaire was related to a certain hypothesis that the research team wanted to test.

The structure and content of the moderator’s guide for conducting focus groups coincided with the topics and subtopics in the in-depth interview questionnaire in order to obtain comparable information and more details on the research questions.

The results of the qualitative research assisted the process of preparing the research hypotheses and questionnaires used in the quantitative study: National Representative Survey “Violence against Women”. It was carried out by a sociological agency that has the network of interviewers necessary to collect the empirical information—65 interviewers participated in the study, distributed in regional teams throughout the country. The questionnaires were developed by the researchers from the project team and followed the team’s research objectives and conceptual framework. The fieldwork was carried out in the period 16 January 2025–24 February 2025, when a national survey representative of the adult population of the country (18+) was carried out with the following registration method: quantitative interview with tablets. The sample was formed using the Leslie Kish method. For the formation of the sample, 113 clusters were selected. For each cluster, a starting point for the tour was chosen, which was a school, kindergarten, administrative building, or church within the cluster’s territory. From this starting point, the interviewers begin their rounds, following a strictly defined counting procedure after the first residential building near the starting point. Within a given household, interviewers selected the person to interview using the last birthday method. The total sample size achieved, including reserves, was 1017 cases. The distribution of the sample by region, gender, age, education, and type of settlement compared to NSI data for the whole country can be seen in

Table A3. Distribution of the sample in the national representative survey by region, gender, age, education, and type of settlement compared to National Statistical Institute data.

	Sample, Nationally Representative Survey	NSI, Population Census
18–24 years old	9.1%	6.9%
25–29 years old	5.4%	5.6%
30–39 years old	19.7%	15.4%
40–49 years old	16.1%	18.0%
50–59 years old	21.5%	17.2%
60 years and older	28.1%	36.9%
Gender
Male	49.8%	47.4%
Female	50.1%	52.6%
Other	0.1%
Education:
Primary education	8.8%	19.0%
Secondary education (general and vocational)	55.4%	52.0%
Higher education	35.5%	29.0%
I don’t want to answer	0.3%
Place of residence
Capital	19.7%	18.5%
Regional city	38.9%	33.1%
Small town	21.2%	21.5%
Village	20.2%	26.8%
Region of a settlement
Blagoevgrad	2.4%	4.5%
Burgas	5.1%	5.8%
Varna	6.5%	6.6%
Veliko Tarnovo	4.4%	3.2%
Vidin	1.1%	1.2%
Vratsa	2.7%	2.3%
Gabrovo	2.0%	1.5%
Dobrich	2.7%	2.3%
Kardzhali	2.5%	2.2%
Kyustendil	2.2%	1.7%
Lovech	2.6%	1.8%
Montana	2.2%	1.9%
Pazardzhik	1.7%	3.5%
Pernik	0.5%	1.8%
Pleven	4.4%	3.5%
Plovdiv	9.8%	9.7%
Razgrad	1.3%	1.6%
Russe	3.2%	3.0%
Silistra	2.7%	1.5%
Sliven	2.6%	2.6%
Smolyan	1.5%	1.5%
Sofia-city	19.7%	19.4%
Sofia-area	0.7%	3.6%
Stara Zagora	4.0%	4.5%
Targovishte	2.4%	1.5%
Haskovo	3.6%	3.3%
Shumen	3.2%	2.3%
Yambol	2.3%	1.7%

in the Appendix C.

The author of the article analyzed the data using thematic analysis, which offers a systematic six-step procedure for identifying, analyzing, and interpreting recurring meaning patterns (themes) in qualitative data (Braun and Clarke 2021). In this case, the author applied a five-step analysis, as he combined the fourth (reviewing themes) and fifth (defining and naming themes) steps into one. This method of analysis was chosen because it is more flexible and enables working with preliminary hypotheses that were formulated before conducting empirical research. Data were processed using NVivo software. The initial orientation to the data was deductive, and the theoretical concept and hypotheses set the prism through which the author read and coded the information. As coding and theme searching progressed, an inductive orientation was also used to extract concepts and meaningful segments from the data that went beyond the pre-established hypotheses. Combining a deductive and inductive approach allowed the coding and theme development to better meet the purpose of the study, which, according to Braun and Clarke, is the most important aspect in this process (Braun and Clarke 2021, p. 56). The work was carried out at the semantic level, with a focus on the explicit (participant-driven) meaning of the information. The themes presented in this text are related to a port of the initial hypotheses of the study and do not represent all the patterns of meaning that can be derived from the collected data. Those themes were selected that best fit the research purpose of the current study.

4.2. Ethical Considerations

Before implementing the qualitative and quantitative research, the questionnaires and the applied methodology went through an approval procedure by the Ethics Committee of the Bulgarian Sociological Association. The organization represents the sociological community in Bulgaria, and the members of the commission (5 members) are sociologists with extensive theoretical and empirical experience. When conducting scientific study in Bulgaria, it is customary to seek the opinion of this commission, as getting approval from it is a reliable and objective indicator that the research meets the ethical and professional standards for conducting sociological research. This is a reason to request an opinion from the BSA, and not from the much more broadly profiled committees from one of the two universities implementing the project, which, as of July 2025, do not have a single sociologist on their staff. The qualitative research was approved with an Opinion dating from 7 August 2024 and the quantitative research with an Opinion dating from 29 November 2024.

All participants were informed about the objectives of the study and that they could withdraw at any time from the interview or survey. They gave written consent to voluntary and informed participation. Digital recordings were made only with the explicit consent of respondents. To ensure the anonymity of participants, transcribed interviews (iDI) and statements made during the focus groups (FG) were coded with numbers. The materials were stored securely by the research project leader.

5. Results

For each topic, we will present an analysis of the qualitative research data supported by quotes from participants. In addition, we will give quantitative study findings that confirm our observations.

Four main themes related to the contextual conditions contributing to the existence and persistence of violence against women in Bulgaria are identified:

• Gender inequality in the family
• Cultural norms normalizing violence
• Ideological concepts shifting the blame to the victim
• State incapacity—impunity, ineffective protection, weak support, and no prevention.

The first three topics relate to the cultural and ideological and the fourth to the structural conditions that create an environment for the sustainable existence of violence against women in Bulgarian society.

Theme 1: Gender inequality in the family.

One of the main results of the study showed that the majority of the experts firmly asserted that, despite some improvement with regard to gender equality in terms of professional realization, their experience had shown that the degree of internalization of the idea of gender equality and its implementation in practice in Bulgaria is low. Patriarchal norms were still strongly present in the Bulgarian family. The experts share:

“I mean, apparently women have rights, apparently they are equal, but in reality, they are dominated by patriarchal attitudes in our culture. That is, the Bulgarian family is still patriarchal for the most part, [...]. But in general, our society is extremely patriarchal [...]. Women are still dependent on male culture in this country.”

(iDI-21)

“But nevertheless, my observation is that in most cases men develop this sense of [being] the stronger sex and the expectation that the weaker sex must conform to its demands. When she doesn’t respond in the way he expected, then violence is resorted to. And we can say that this violence against the other person is gender-based.”

(iDI-53)

Patriarchal norms—according to which the man is responsible for supporting the family, the woman should take care of the household and the children, and decisions are made by the man, and the woman must comply with them—continue to dominate Bulgarian society. The experience of the experts from their fieldwork with specific cases shows that in many Bulgarian families the role of women is still perceived as inferior in the family structure. This is the reality despite the changed cultural conditions, the long years of modernization throughout different historical periods, and the freedom that today’s democratic societies give to citizens.

The adoption of the Law on Equality between Women and Men in Bulgaria (since 2016), as well as the adoption and efforts to implement the Strategy for Promoting Equality between Men and Women, shows that the problem has been identified at the political level. Positive developments in terms of equality are observed in the public sphere, where opportunities for professional realization for women are increasing. However, the results of the study show that both the concept of gender equality and patriarchal stereotypes (especially in family relationships) coexist. This places women in a lower position than men and, according to experts, is still a widespread perception, especially in smaller settlements.

“Because there are regions in our country where this patriarchal family model, the man is in lead, he works, he earns money, he takes care of the family. As far as I think, [in] larger cities, like, say, the capital, women, by themselves, are beginning to change that role through the job, the financial resources they have.”

(iDI-12)

The problem of a lack of gender equality is particularly significant in small towns and large cities other than the capital and in some ethnic communities where the prevailing traditional norms are that the man or the oldest person in the household (who might even be a woman) is in charge and young women are assigned the role of bearing children and looking after the home. Subordination, not only in terms of gender, but also in terms of age, is something that experts find to be a characteristic of some Roma communities, and this further lowers the position of young women in the family structure in this ethnic group.

The quantitative survey, the results of which are in Figure 1 below, confirmed the observations that a larger share of Bulgarians believe that women and men are equal in the professional sphere. This is not the case with the position of women in the family and the distribution of roles within it.

More than half the respondents (53.2%) asserted that the two, men and women, are not equal with regard to daily care for children and the home. In terms of professional realization, opinions were divided: 48.2% of respondents stated that men and women were equal in terms of salary, and 46.8% were of the opposite opinion. The higher levels of equality in terms of professional realization can be explained, on the one hand, by the legacy of the socialist system, when the state made deliberate efforts to make women part of socialist labor and to use their labor force for the needs of the rapid industrialization that was implemented. On the other hand, after 1989, and especially after Bulgaria’s accession to the EU (in 2007), political efforts were also made to guarantee equal conditions for professional realization between men and women; special measures were introduced for a faster return to the labor market for women after childbirth, etc.

However, the equal workload of men and women with professional commitments does not affect the equal distribution of duties in the family. Domestic duties remain for the woman and are not distributed on the principle of equal roles in the family. At the same time, it should be noted that despite the higher sense of equality in the workplace, data from the National Statistical Institute of the Republic of Bulgaria show that, as yet, only a small proportion of Bulgarian women hold managerial positions. On the indicator “Positions held by women in high-level management positions”, the data for the year 2023 indicate 18.3% of board members and 19.3% of directors were women (National Statistical Institute 2024).

The low degree of gender equality in the family and the view that the man’s position is more important because he supports the family may explain why certain forms of violence are not recognized as such—for example, economic dependence, psychological abuse, etc. Both in the interviews and in the focus groups, experts stated they had often observed situations where women did not recognize themselves as victims so long as direct physical violence was not involved.

“When she accepts a slap and he is saying: ‘but I only slapped her‘. Or ‘I just took her out on the terrace’, as was my last case, ‘to stand outside for a while because she hadn’t prepared a meal. It is not domestic violence, according to her, to stand with the child on the terrace locked for six hours because the meal had not been cooked. So, it’s accepted as something normal.”

(Participant 8, FG-01)

The experts’ claim that Bulgarian society, including a large share of women, recognizes only physical violence as violence is confirmed by the data from the quantitative survey. According to 12.5% of Bulgarians, controlling the finances of the wife/girlfriend is “rather not” a form of violence, and 2.9% say it is not to be considered violence; 3.9% think that a man’s limiting his wife/girlfriend’s social contacts, so that she cannot meet other men, is not a form of violence, and 12.9% say it is rather not a form of violence; 10.8% think that it is rather not violence for a man to forbid his wife to hold a job and 2.8% think it is not violence.

Additionally, while a direct question about violence can hide an answer about the personal situation, when a question is asked about other people, the situation with the control and spread of violence as economic dependence and restriction of freedom is revealed on a much larger scale, which can be seen in Figure 2.

The high percentage of people who responded that they have colleagues who are absent from work due to injuries is worrying. This can be considered a symptom of the latent nature of the problem and the tacit acceptance of the situation by many Bulgarian women as part of their family life. This way of perceiving VAW is largely related to the cultural attitudes in society towards the problem. A large portion of respondents know women who are victims of economic abuse—their partners do not allow them to work, study, or the loan is repaid only by the woman. Experts involved in the study emphasize that exposure to this form of violence does not only occur when women have limited resources. There are cases in which the woman receives more money in the family budget, but they are subjected to economic abuse, without recognizing it as such and accept it as normal family relations.

Theme 2: Cultural norms normalizing violence.

Another aspect related to VAW is the persistence of cultural norms that foster tolerance of such violence, particularly domestic violence. There is a widespread perception in Bulgaria that domestic violence is a family problem that should be addressed without the intervention of outsiders. Based on their practice and experience, the experts who participated in the study stated that this perception of the problem in Bulgaria was the norm, not the exception.

“A lot of people viewing from the side accept it as normal because they say to themselves, it is not their problem. And so, the real victims are not seen […]. A lot of people turn a blind eye and don’t want to meddle in other people’s family problems.”

(Participant 14, FG-01)

This perception is largely related to the first theme and the lower level of equality of women compared to men in the family. It is widely believed that if a man and a woman have a disagreement in the family, it is customary for them to handle the issue individually, even if it means more harsh reactions and behaviors toward the woman. Preserving family integrity is a higher priority. This is especially true when there are children in the family. Experts give an example of a case in which parents return their daughter to her abusive husband because she has small children and, first and foremost, she is a mother and a wife, and these are the roles through which her position in society is interpreted. External interference in these relationships is often perceived more negatively than the violence itself, as it is believed that it can lead to the breakdown of the family.

“But what I observe is that people are reluctant to interfere in the problems of other people’s families. And people are of the opinion, ‘why are you interfering in my personal business? It’s my problem, it’s my family’. So, I think, yes, the attitude is mostly that they shouldn’t interfere in these problems.”

(iDI-23)

The quantitative survey also showed that nearly a quarter (23.7%) of Bulgarians were of the opinion that violence against women was a family issue and should be resolved within the family, without external intervention. This explains why 24.7% of Bulgarians, if witnessing violence against women, would turn not to the police or other institutions, but to relatives of the victim.

Contemporary cultural phenomena also influence the perception of violence against women as a normal part of their lives. The younger Bulgarian generations build their perceptions through images presented in the media that have been influenced by the popular culture of the 1990s (known as chalga culture)5, representing the women as objects for the entertainment of wealthy men.

“And since violence and abuse are so widely tolerated in all aspects of life, I’m not just talking about domestic violence, but the work of one NGO is a drop in the ocean amidst all this. For example, the ‘90s, for example, this whole phenomenon of the ‘90s, which is still flourishing and, to this day, is actually objectifying women as sexual objects, validating gender inequality, normalizing aggression, and these messages are very strongly assimilated and very transgenerational.”

(iDI-21)

A certain style of music and the culture and behavior associated with it reinforce the perception of women as objects whose sole purpose in life is to attract men with their appearance and be cared for by them. This type of culture imposes a silicone look, artificial long hair, revealing clothes, and behavior that is subservient to the man, who is usually portrayed as successful and wealthy.

These observations are reflected in a disturbing fact: 10.1% of Bulgarians were of the opinion that violence against women was an invented problem, contrived to promote certain interests, and 6% answered negatively as to whether violence against women was unacceptable and should be punished by law. Along with this, 4.4% of the male respondents were of the opinion that slapping a woman for showing disrespect and/or disobedience was completely acceptable, and 3.6% stated it was rather acceptable; according to 2.9% of male respondents, the degree of acceptability depends on the concrete situation. The percentage of women who admitted they had been slapped (on the cheek, hand, or elsewhere on the body) was twice as high (21%); 6.1% of women stated they had been hit with fists, kicked, or strangled, and 2.7% said they had been injured through the use implements (sticks, belts, knives).

Theme 3: Ideological concept shifting the blame to the victim.

In times when individualism is the leading ideology, the successes and failures in people’s lives are explained solely in terms of their own efforts or, respectively, their own incapacity. This concept is also extended to the way violence is perceived: It is seen as a result of the victim’s own behavior, the fact that the victim caused it or did not have the skill to prevent it.

“Probably, society has largely adopted such a mindset, that if the victim has allowed herself to a certain behavior, then it is her own fault.”

(iDI-22)

This could be an explanation for the fact that, very often, in the course of their practice, the interviewed experts have witnessed situations in which the victim blames herself for provoking the abuser or in which other people see her as the cause of the violent act. Here we observe an intertwining of two types of norms—patriarchal, according to which the cause of violence is usually the woman’s behavior (for example, she did not cook dinner in time), and those of extreme liberalism, according to which the woman is the one who is responsible for her own situation, she is the one who decided to tolerate and allowed the man to have such an attitude towards her. The simultaneous action of both types of norms creates a sense of shame in the victim, a fear of being accused by relatives and society for not having managed to create good family relationships or for not having handled the situation. Regardless of the source of shame and fear, this perception leads to a refusal to disclose and report violence.

“In addition, I think there are also many cases that have not reached the police because many people are silent, tolerant, accepting and this is due to shame. I have been living in a village recently, maybe approximately the last two years, in a village close to the city, and what impresses me is that I already know of 3–4 cases of domestic violence on my street. And the people have never sought support.”

(iDI-23)

This perception of VAW creates purely psychological barriers to sharing experiences of violence. Reasons for not reporting and for accepting the situation of violence can also be found in the lack of trust in state institutions and in the limited opportunities for the victim to receive quick and adequate protection from the abuser.

Theme 4: State incapacity—impunity; ineffective protection; weak support and no prevention.

To the socio-cultural context in which violence against women occurs, we must add the role of state and non-state institutions responsible for punishing perpetrators, supporting victims, and preventing violence. All the participants in the study shared the opinion that the role of the state in reducing the scale of the phenomenon is limited; the efforts are insufficient, and some of the proposed changes in legislation in the last one or two years are, in fact, not working.

“There are measures, there are policies, but the fact that this phenomenon continues to grow tells us that these measures are not sufficient or are not having the desired effect at this time and at this stage […] I have spoken to victims who tell me they are embittered, worried, dissatisfied with the measures being applied to the perpetrator.”

(iDI-12)

The state’s failure to appropriately respond to cases of VAW creates impunity, which contributes to the spread of the problem. Experts share cases where the perpetrator is only given a verbal warning by the police. The police officers, in turn, point to the law as an obstacle to taking stricter measures. Representatives of the NGO sector tell of cases from smaller settlements in which police representatives do not assist the victim because they define the problem as a family problem. Here we see again the influence of cultural norms that normalize the state’s failure to support victims. This creates distrust that state institutions will help.

After the 2023 changes to the Law of Domestic Violence Protection, more opportunities for immediate assistance to victims were created, but the problem of providing effective protection remains significant. Most cases of women being killed by their husbands occurred despite a restraining order being issued. The problem is not only because of the need to change the way VAW is perceived by part of society but also because of structural issues. There are limited possibilities for removing the victim from the abuser’s house. The crisis centers where women can seek help are typically run by non-governmental organizations and have a limited number of beds. The experts working in them share about the lack of funding, which, if granted, is on a project basis, and once the project is completed, state support ends. This method of financing creates instability and lack of consistency in implementing policies in the field of combating VAW.

“Policies need to have sustainability. For a policy to be sustainable, the prevention and protection project should not be a project. Measures and policies should not be project-based. They have to be permanent and the state has to ensure that, for the individual members of society, the resources needed to support them will always be available […].”

(iDI-11)

The results of our study show that the state lags significantly behind in creating effective measures to prevent VAW and protect its victims. Despite the changes in the last two years, the state does not offer long-term solutions to the problem. It does not create conditions for increasing the number of social workers, does not provide for the establishment of institutions for prevention and protection, and does not support with sufficient funds the few remaining non-governmental organizations working to support victims. Some of the study participants even defined the role of the state as “almost zero” (Participant 7, FG-03).

In addition to the financial support and policy consistency that experts say are necessary, given the complex nature of the crime and that it is embedded in the broader cultural context, participants recognize the need for violence prevention starting in childhood, as well as the introduction of a multidisciplinary approach to protecting and supporting victims.

The quantitative survey results demonstrate that society agrees that the state should take more action to combat the problem. A total of 89.8% of Bulgarians surveyed believe that VAW is an issue that is not being addressed sufficiently, and 88.4% believe that institutions must take measures to combat it.

An important aspect that we identified during the research is the role of the media (conventional and digital) in disseminating information that supports both the prevention of VAW and the fight against injustices related to the ineffectiveness of state institutions and laws. Experts agreed that recent legislative reforms to combat the problem would not have occurred, or at least not as quickly, if the media had not played a role in disseminating information, providing an opportunity for civil protests against violence, and exerting public pressure through them.

6. Discussion

This study examines the cultural, ideological, and structural conditions that enable the persistence of violence against women in Bulgaria. Statistical data show a high incidence of the phenomena, and a literature study revealed that the topic is under-researched in post-socialist nations, particularly in Bulgaria, with a lack of knowledge of the conditions that contribute to the existence of the problem.

We identified four main themes related to the context in Bulgaria that influence the presence and prevalence of VAW in the country. The first theme, gender inequality in the family, shows that despite the state’s efforts to promote equality between men and women in Bulgaria, patriarchal norms within the family and a rigid distribution of roles are still observed. These observations are consistent with findings from earlier studies that show a link between equality in family roles and levels of VAW (Heise and Kotsadam 2015; Tur-Prats 2019). When a society has strongly entrenched cultural norms about the roles of men and women in the family, tensions and conflicts are more likely to arise when these are disturbed. Our observations complement the thesis of Tur-Prats (2021), which interprets intimate partner violence through the lost gender identity and established traditional role of the man in the family as the main source of income—violence is a way to restore the loss of this usefulness and restore authority.

The contribution of this study to the research on violence against women is the identified specificity in the Bulgarian context—higher equality in professional realization, but preserved patriarchal norms and low equality in the family, which, despite the political documents to promote gender equality, affects the existence of violence. The idea of gender equality is not internalized by part of Bulgarian society, and, in practice, the goals of the legal framework created to promote gender equality are difficult to achieve, especially in small settlements.

The unequal position of men and women in the family is also largely related to cultural norms that normalize violence—the second theme we identified. This observation is in line with the claim that the risk of VAW is greater when such violence has become a socially accepted norm (Jewkes 2002). In unequal societies, as Sen (1995) notes, gender inequality has its legitimacy accepted even by women. The results of our study are in line with the findings by Petrova et al. (2021) about the importance of patriarchal stereotypes and the attitude towards violence imposed in Bulgarian culture to perceive only physical violence while normalizing other forms. In our research, we discovered that Bulgarian women and a part of society accept some forms of violence as a normal piece of family life. One of the things that is often considered normal is economic abuse, which is control over family finances. The conclusion that it is not only women with limited resources who suffer from such violence is in line with the findings of other research (Sanders 2015). As in the study by Bruno et al. (Bruno et al. 2024), we also found that motherhood significantly increases the risk of exposure of VAW.

Our study confirmed previous studies (Alesina et al. 2021; Petrova et al. 2021), which pay attention to the influence of ethnicity on the frequency of violence and the tendency to justify it. We reveal that in some Roma groups young women are subordinate not only by gender but also by age, and the violence is part of family life.

This analysis contributes to the study of the problem by identifying the third theme and observing the influence of certain characteristics specific to the contemporary context in Bulgaria. Persistent perception of gender roles in society has been reinforced by the spread of the so-called “chalga culture” in Bulgaria, in which men are seen as the ones who have money, drive expensive cars, are successful in business, while women are the ones who conform to male desires and crave only male attention and material happiness (Rice 2002; Sundal 2012). Developing within the market ideology of neoliberalism, according to which all things are reducible to a commodity and may be an object of negotiation and sale, such commodification reduces women to objects of consumption and contributes greatly to the perception of violence against women as “part of the game”. Neoliberalism emphasizes individual responsibility and market-oriented solutions, and this tendency can lead to the privatization of social problems, to disregard for the systemic factors of certain phenomena, and hence to reduced institutional support and prevention (Prusik 2020).

In addition to the cultural conditions of the Bulgarian context, the spread of the problem is also influenced by the inability of the state to offer effective and adequate measures to prevent and combat it as well as to protect the victims. Structural issues are reinforced by the operation of cultural norms, especially in smaller settlements. The state’s inability to respond adequately to cases of VAW creates impunity, which contributes to the spread of the problem. These observations confirm conclusions made more than a decade ago by authors (Johnson and Brunell 2006; Wasileski and Miller 2010), which reveal the weak role of post-socialist countries (such as Bulgaria) in implementing policies and measures to reduce levels of VAW.

The results of our study confirm the findings of other authors (Philbrick et al. 2021) on the important role that the media can play in preventing and combating violence against women. In Bulgaria, it was the publicity of cruel cases of violence that became the catalyst for important legal changes in accordance with the fight against VAW.

The study does not claim to be exhaustive on the themes related to VAW, but it highlights specific characteristics of the Bulgarian context that make the existence and persistence of the phenomenon in Bulgaria possible and are poorly investigated. The study does not examine particular elements such as economic and financial restrictions, psychological problems, or the influence of drugs and alcohol, all of which have been found to have an impact in previous studies (Gibbs et al. 2020). A limitation of this text also arises from the subjectivity of the researcher, which is part of the interpretation of the data and the application of thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke 2021, p. 13).

7. Conclusions

The ideological, cultural, and structural characteristics of the Bulgarian context described in the text create conditions for the sustainability of violence against women and could explain the slow and difficult limitation of its existence in Bulgaria. To increase the efficiency of combatting violence against women in the country, it is vital to consider not only women’s career potential, but also the cultural aspects that determine their place in the home and their role as viewed by society.

Over the previous two years, there has been an upsurge in civil society activity and sharp public reactions sparked by specific acts of abuse, resulting in improvements in legislation. Discussions have also increased about the preparedness of Bulgarian law enforcement agencies and their representatives to recognize such cases and the opportunities that the state provides to assist victims. Despite this encouraging trend, the Bulgarian state and society as a whole must focus on preventing violence by minimizing the influence of cultural and ideological norms that normalize violence in Bulgarian society. A shift in the system for financing measures in this area is also required, from a project-based approach to a long-term policy to minimize the prevalence of violence against women in Bulgaria and ensure victim protection. Both the media and social sciences have an important role in this long and difficult process, which, through publicity, critical analysis, and research, can contribute to the creation of knowledge-based policies.

While processing the rich dataset that the research team collected, a number of other significant questions arose that require in-depth analysis. It is critical to continue investigating other elements that impact this issue in Bulgaria, as well as the effects of this violence, the efficiency of public measures, and the potential for lowering the prevalence of violence against women.