Introduction

Domestic violence against women, also called gender-based violence, is the result of the imbalance of power in relationships, where men assume the role of dominator and women assume the role of the victim. However, for power relations to exist, the possibility of resistance and the desire to fight must coexist, even if it is only in the mind of the woman being victim of violence. In this regard, the trend of scientific studies on power relations present in domestic violence against women was explored.

Materials and methods

A qualitative descriptive exploratory research was carried out through a systematic literature review. Online texts published between 2013 and November 2017 using the terms "domestic violence against women" and "power relations" were searched.

Results

Seven scientific articles were found and completely read, which were subjected to content analysis. The following three analytical categories were created: "social markers contributing to the emergence of DVAW", "identity construction of women suffering from domestic violence", "consequences of domestic violence on women's health and professional practice".

Discussion

The frequency of the topics addressed in the publications was adopted as a criterion for the analysis. A category was developed for each topic.

Conclusions

Knowledge about power relations in domestic violence against women is minimal, which reveals that power in relationships is little studied and that more studies are needed for this purpose.

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