architecture and

recovery: design strategies for the wellbeing of women in domestic violence shelters in paraguay

registration number: 200202277 word count: 4363

The University of Sheffield

August 2021

Gender-based violence is considered a public health and human rights issue by the UN and World Health Organization, among others. It is “gender-based” because it is heavily rooted in the inequality between men and women across the world.

Latin America reports an alarming rate of gender-based violence and one of the highest incidences of partner violence in the world, second only to Africa. This ranges from emotional to physical and sexual violence.

Up to 35% of Latin-American women have experienced violence from their intimate partners. Source: PAHO, UN Women. Image by Author.

Domestic Violence (DV) in Paraguay is relatively frequent in the region. Currently, there are two government-managed shelters for DV victims in Paraguay.

These women often develop physical and mental health problems, including anxiety, depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder.

Pan American Health Organization. 2012. Violence against women in Latin America and the Caribbean.

2 World Health Organization. 2013. Global and regional estimates of violence against women: prevalence and health effects of intimate partner violence and non-partner sexual violence

3 PAHO, 2012; UN Women. 2020. Hechos y cifras: Poner fin a la violencia contra las mujeres. UN Women

Environmental psychology is a discipline which studies how the surrounding context impacts behavior and influences the perception we have of ourselves and the world.

This discipline can inform strategies on how to deal with issues mentioned before in a passive way through design, to create better, healthier spaces for survivors in their journey to recovery.