‘Why are you getting separated? You cannot live without him!’: Disabled Tamil women’s struggle to access protection from domestic violence in rural Sri Lanka

Tamil women with physical disabilities in rural Sri Lanka face severe barriers when seeking protection under the Prevention of Domestic Violence Act. However, current literature has hardly captured their pathways to protection through an intersectional lens. The article attempts to tackle this gap through a threefold approach: it unpacks how gender, disability, religio-cultural norms, ethnicity, poverty, and rurality intersect and hinder access to legal protection; second, it exposes the impact of absent or under-resourced gender- and disability-sensitive support systems; and third, it analyzes the failures of poorly equipped public bodies and weak legal and policy enforcement. The study concludes with recommendations for future research.