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Women and domestic violence
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Its enough
Social observer
Domestic violence is the crime of physical and sexual abuse perpetrated against one family member by another family member. It is a broad term encompassing spouse abuse, child abuse, sibling abuse and an abuse of a parent by a child, abuse of an elderly or handicapped family member. It is an area that has usually been left out of the ambit of public discussion, because the familial space is considered sacred. The UN has only a declaration against violence, which itself makes the issue seem less important.
It could be theoretically debated whether gender discrimination leads to gender based violence or the reverse. The UN Declaration on Elimination of Violence against Women (1993) is a seminal text, because most of the South Asian countries which have in the decade of 2000 enacted or are in the process of enacting laws on domestic violence are influenced by the definition of domestic violence in DEVAW.
The definition in DEVAW includes physical, sexual and psychological violence occurring in the family, including battering, sexual abuse of female children in the household, dowry-related violence, marital rape, female genital mutilation and other traditional practices harmful to women, non-spousal violence and violence related to exploitation.
Domestic violence as a legal term comes within the legal discourse in the South Asian countries only in the 2000s after a decade of women’s movements pressurizing the state(s) to recognize violence within the domestic sphere and proposing legal solutions to it.
Domestic violence perpetrated by partners and close family members on women has long been a matter of silent suffering within the four walls of the home. Usually, men who batter are seeking a sense of power and control over their partners or their own lives, or because they are tremendously dependent on the woman and are threatened by any moves on her part towards independence.
Some men batter because that's the only way they know how to be close to or relate to a partner. Some men grew up in violent households, where they watched their mothers abused by their fathers and where they themselves were abused. Some men become violent under the influence of drugs or alcohol, although the substances themselves do not cause the violence.
Some common conclusions have been derived regarding the problem of domestic violence: Domestic violence was found to be all-pervasive among all women but varying in volume and frequency across class, age and education level. Further inequalities existing in the household, as represented by education and employment gaps between husbands and wives, were linked to domestic violence. The impact upon the survival of the household economy was found to be significant as well.
Efforts to escape violence can have devastating economic impacts. Leaving a relationship might mean a woman will lose her job, housing, health care, child care, or access to her partner’s income. Often criminal and civil legal remedies are necessary to safely leave a relationship. But women are at highest risk of injury or violence when they are separating from or divorcing a partner. Women can be very intimidated by a partner and the consequences of her leaving. It takes a long time for a woman to give up hope in a relationship and to recognize that the only way she can be safe is to leave him. Also, legislation, policy, services and advocacy often focus on physically separating the battered woman and her children from the abusive partner, but do not guarantee a home, food of health care or an opportunity for long-term financial stability. And anti-poverty schemes focus on increasing economic resources and access to program without addressing the impact of violence on family’s basic human needs and do little to prevent a partner to harm the wife’s job.
Poverty reduces options for battered women. Safety planning strategies require significant life changes like, moving, separation or divorce. Some require extensive use of the civil legal system to obtain orders for custody, child support or protection. Woman must be able to financially support herself and her children after she leaves her abusive partner. In many locations there are programs that provide housing and temporary cash assistance, child care and free legal representation. However, most of these programs have limited funding, offer short-term resources. As a result some low-income battered women simply are without the income, government support, or access to services necessary to fully implement safety plan.
Low-income women also face multiple levels of bias and discrimination that reduce options for safety and financial security.
“Rights” are valuable to individual freedom but does not take into account issues of gender justice within the family and community.
Ill-health is one of the major factors besetting poor women. The most telling statistic is the increase in maternal mortality in the last decades. Gendered differences are reflected in patterns of health and illness around the world.
The culture of some rural communities can make it more difficult for women to seek help.
Rural domestic violence victims are in more isolated locations and may have difficulty accessing health care and other services due to lack of transportation or poor weather and road conditions. Emergency response time is often slower in rural areas.
A shortage of health care providers is a constant challenge, particularly when addressing survivors of domestic violence who may need physical or mental health treatment to recover from the effects of abuse.
Domestic violence survivors may be in need of legal assistance but in rural areas, it can be more difficult to find an affordable lawyer or legal aid.
What is challenging now, is to see how at a time when women’s empowerment, human rights, gender equality have been endorsed by international community, the current economic climate is trying to shrink the national states so that resources required to put in these agendas are withdrawn. What strategies can then be promoted for women’s empowerment and poverty alleviation in today’s market crisis, continued structural adjustment, cuts in welfare state and globalizing market all disrupting the provision of reproductive health, education and medical services for poor communities and especially for poor woman and girls.
Different forms of abuses
- Physical abuse including assaulting, damaging the physical beauty of a spouse by torture, indecently abusing, beating and maltreating the wife by the husband on being drunk, torturing the wife by the husband being influenced by others, maltreatment, misbehavior, torture or assault upon a domestic servant by any member of the family.
- Sexual abuse that abuses, humiliates, degrades or violates the dignity of woman;
- Verbal and emotional abuse including insults, ridicule, humiliation, name calling specially with regard to not having a child or a male child. Repeated threats to cause physical pain also are considered to be emotional abuse.
- Economic abuse includes deprivation of all or any economic or financial resources like household necessities for the aggrieved person and her children, stridhan, property, jointly or separately owned by the aggrieved person, payment of rental related to the shared household and maintenance.
-Psychological abuse: (i) intimidation, harassment, denial of food or drink for adequate sustenance, denial of salary or expenses, threat of physical or psychological abuse by any member of the family to the other or others.
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