The power and control diagram below is a particularly helpful tool in “understanding the overall pattern
of abusive and violent behaviors, which are used by a perpetrator to establish and maintain control over
his partner in any given relationship”.3 Case studies will be analysed later in this Report to identify
elements of the power and control wheel to establish any linkage between family violence and power and
control.
Inquiry Info Point 2: The Power and Control Wheel
Adapted from: National Centre on Domestic and Sexual Violence
5.5.3 Gender Based Violence and Gender Inequality
A large proportion of family violence is perpetrated against women and girls and therefore one of the
initial questions for the Report is whether gender inequality is the primary cause of family violence in
Samoa, as it is in most other parts of the world. The Inquiry also considered all other types of family
violence and whether the causes of that are also linked to gender inequality or if there are other roots.
3
Refer to National Centre on Domestic and Sexual Violence. “Power and Control Wheel.” Retrieved from
https://www.med.unc.edu/im/files/patient-education-handouts/power-and-control-wheel. Accessed 29 May 2018.