The Ninth Circuit has recognized that a woman who was repeatedly abused because she believed women are equal to men was persecuted on account of her political opinion. “That an unprotected ground, such as a personal dispute, also constitutes a central reason for persecution does not bar asylum.” “That some incidents of abuse may also have reflected a dysfunctional relationship is beside the point. Petitioner need not show that her political opinion—rather than interpersonal dynamics—played the sole or predominant role in her abuse.”
“Petitioner was persecuted because of that political opinion. The record contains episode after episode of men stating, quite plainly, that they were beating, burning, raping, and strangling her because she sought an equal perch in the social hierarchy. Hernandez left bite and strangulation marks on Petitioner after she took a job against his wishes, to show other men that she ‘had an owner.’ Petitioner’s husband, Baron, burned a cigarette into her face because she refused to leave her job and, according to her husband, acknowledge ‘that he’ and [Petitioner] were not equals.’ Petitioner was doing something wrong, Baron said, by ‘providing money’ when, ‘as a man, it was his duty to do [that].’ When he said that Petitioner ‘didn’t have th[e] right to have that job,’ Petitioner countered that she did. Baron responded by hitting her.”
The full text of Rodriguez Tornes v. Garland can be found here:
https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2021/04/05/19-71104.pdf