In this article, we have published an Essay on Violence Against Women, History, and Its Different forms.
The violence conducted by a person on another person under domestic settings is known as Domestic violence. There are various types of domestic violence, like verbal, emotional, physical, religious, financial, sexual, etc.
The world over the most common victim of domestic violence is women, and they tend to experience domestic violence. They are more prone to domestic violence in a marital setting where their male partner physically and sexually abuses them.
What is Domestic Violence?
There have been researches were it had been statistically proven that the rate of domestic violence is equivalent to gender equality in the country. The countries experiencing high domestic violence have less gender equality. The most underreported violence in a country is the domestic violence for both men and women.
When the abuser starts thinking that he or she is entitled to abuse, and it is a justified and acceptable act, then the domestic violence conducted is unlikely to be reported. Victims also experience severe psychological disorders, such as post-traumatic stress order.
The children of the household where domestic violence is done are more prone to mental disorders such as hyper-vigilant, avoiding public gathering, and traumatization, etc.
Traditionally the term is associated with physical abuse. Terms like wife battering or wife abuse were used, but it has declined since the damage occurs between unmarried partners or same-sex partners also. The controlling behavior of a partner is also termed as abuse.
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History of Domestic Violence on women
The term was first time used in British Parliament in 1973 by Jack Ashley; till then, it was usually considered as civil unrest. Tight from mid-1800, most nation’s legal system viewed wife-beating as a valid entitlement to the husband.
Still, there was an exception of 1641 Body of Liberation of the Massachusetts Bay colonists in which it was declared that married women should be free from bodice alteration.
Around the world, most of the legal system only after 1900, the term domestic violence has been addressed, and there was very little protection in law or practice against domestic violence. In recent times there has been a call to remove the legal impunity for domestic violence based that such acts are conducted in private.
The first legitimately binding instrument in Europe which dealt with the domestic violence against women was the Istanbul Convention. This convention tried to put an end to the acceptance of domestic violence both in law and practice.
Religion aspect of domestic violence
There is controversy over the impact of religion on domestic violence. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have traditionally supported male-dominated homes, and “socially sanctioned violence against women has continued since ancient times.”
The Catholic Church opposes divorce and tortures victims of abusive marriages. Opinions on the impact of religion on domestic violence differ. Some authors, such as Phyllis Chesler, have argued that Islam is associated with violence against women, particularly in the form of honor killings, such as Tahira Shahid Khan, who specializes in women’s issues at Aga Khan University in Pakistan.
Religion is not the dominance of the inferior status of men and women in society. Republicans (through the media) and political discourses discuss the relationship between Islam, immigration, and violence against women has been controversial in many Western countries.
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The Different Forms of Domestic Violence
All domestic violence is not equivalent; each form is of different frequency, purpose, the severity with varying significance output. There is various form of domestic violence which includes physical assault or aggression, sexual abuse, stalking, financial deprivation, and intimidation.
1. Physical Violence
The abuse, which causes physical suffering, pain, or injury, is known as physical abuse. In this particular abuse, the relationship is often in a complex state. The culmination of other types of damage like threatening, intimidation, restriction of the victim, manipulation, sleep deprivation, denying medical help, force alcohol or drugs, and additional limitation of personal freedom leads to physical abuse.
In domestic violence, the most significant way in which the attention is sought through strangulation. In recent times it has been considered as the most lethal form of domestic violence. Still, since there is no external injury and lack of social awareness and medical training, hence the strangulation has often been a hidden problem.
The most extreme form of violence in physical abuse is the acid attack in which the acid is thrown at the victim’s face, which results in radical damage, which includes permanent scarring or long term blindness.
They are the most common revenge attack on the women who reject the marriage proposal or sexual advance of the abuser.
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2. Sexual Violence
Any sexual act or to obtain a sexual act, unwanted sexual advance, or comment is known as Sexual abuse as per the World Health Organization. In many of the communities, a rape victim is considered to have bought disgrace or dishonor to the family’s name, and the victim faces violence like honor killings, especially when the victim becomes pregnant.
The sexual contact between a child and an adult is also considered as one of the most horrendous domestic violence. In some of the communities, this kind of violence is ritualized where child sexual abuse takes place with the full understanding of the family. The child is bartered into the abuse of food or money.
Marital rape is also one form of sexual abuse in which non-consensual penetration perpetrated against the spouse. Since 1960 the feminists have worked to criminalize marital rape. As per the United Nations report, around 104 countries have declared it a prosecutable offence.
3. Emotional Violence
Emotional abuse is also known as psychological abuse; it includes public humiliation, constant personal devaluation, repeated stonewalling, gaslighting, etc. The most common form of emotional abuse is stalking. The victims feel that they are nearly under the total control of their abuser, which affects the power dynamic in the relationship and empowers the perpetrator.
4. Economic Violence
Financial abuse or economic abuse is the form of violence in which the perpetrator has control over the victim’s economic resources. This form of damage the victim’s dependence on the perpetrator as their capacity to support themselves diminishes.
The perpetrator may put the victim in an allowance keeping a close track on the victim’s money spending pattern, preventing the spending without the perpetrator’s consent. In many parts of the world, the wives depending on the husband’s income, are subjected to severe economic abuse and have a lot of consequences.
Effects of Domestic Violence on Women
1. Psychological effects
Of those victims, they are still living with their offenders with high levels of stress, fear, and anxiety, as is commonly reported. Depression is also common because victims feel guilty for ‘harassment’ and are often severely criticized.
It has been reported that 60% of sufferers meet diagnostic criteria for depression at/after the end of the relationship. They are known to have a much higher risk of suicide. People who are often mentally or physically damaged due to feeling useless can also be depressed.
These feelings are frequently chronic, and many people are advised to seek treatment because of suicide and other traumatic symptoms.
2. Effects on Children
Each year, 3.3 million children in the US witness domestic violence. Increased acceptance for a child with domestic abuse in their upbringing is at risk for developmental and psychological damage.
In the mid-1990s, the Advanced Childhood Experience Study (ACE) found that children who were victims of domestic violence and other forms of abuse were at risk for mental and physical health problems.
Some emotional and behavioral problems caused by domestic violence include aggression, anxiety, and aggravation, in which a child mingles with friends, family, and authorities. Depression, mental insecurity, and mental health disorders can lead to traumatic experiences.
Problems with attitude and knowledge begin to develop in schools, as well as a lack of skills in problem-solving. A correlation was found between the experience of abuse and neglect: domestic violence and sexual abuse in childhood and adolescence.
3. Physical effect
Some chronic health conditions associated with domestic violence victims include arthritis, irritable bowel syndrome, chronic pain, pelvic pain, ulcers, and migraines. Pregnant women in a domestic violence relationship are at high risk for miscarriage, preterm birth, and fetal death or death.
New research suggests that there is a secure link between all rates of domestic violence and abuse and many chronic conditions. Persuasive evidence comes from the Advance Childhood Experience Study, which shows an association between excessive abuse or neglect and chronic diseases in adulthood, high-risk health behaviors, and shorter life spans. Evidence for a link between physical health and violence against women has been accumulating since the 1990s.
Statistic of Violence Against Women
1. Around 90000 to 3000000 domestic violence incidents are reported each year in the US, while many other events go unreported. Each year it is estimated more than ten million people experience domestic violence in the US.
2. As per the UN research on 71 countries, it has been found that the domestic violence conducted against women is in Ethiopia.
3. Approximately 325000 pregnant women are affected by domestic violence. The average report frequency during the pregnancy is 30% emotional, 15% physical abuse, and 8% sexual abuse.
4. In 2007 in America, reports were made around 2340 deaths due to intimate partners, of which 70% victim were women. As per the 1970-1980 FBI data for every 100 husbands who killed their wives, 75 wives murdered their husbands.
5. As per the survey of domestic violence data in Australia, it was found that 1 in 3 or 4 women and 1 in 5 or 6 men have undergone at least once incident of violence from a contemporary or former intimate partner.
How to prevent violence against women?
There are many strategies to prevent or reduce domestic violence. It is essential to assess the usefulness of the policy being implemented.
It is essential to reform the law to cover domestic violence law. It can repeal existing laws that discriminate against women: According to the WHO, “when the law allows husbands to be physically disciplined, the intimate partner has little effect on implementing a program to prevent violence.” Large-scale laws are also relevant, “[They] can freely marry or abandon it, obtain a financial loan and own property.” Dowry.
It is also essential to analyze the effect of these transactions on legislative decisions relating to domestic violence and to prohibit or accept the bride price. The UN woman said the law should ensure that the bride price is not used in defence of domestic violence allegations that domestic violence victims, including marital rape, cannot use.
The Bottom Line
Gender norms that promote women’s degradation lead to abuse of women by intimate partners. The WHO writes that “dissolving the hierarchical structures of masculinity and femininity on women’s control, and eliminating the structural factors that support intimacy, is likely to make a significant contribution to the prevention of intimate partner and sexual violence.”
Children raised in violent homes believe that such behavior is a normal part of life, so when they challenge such an attitude, it is crucial for these children to be among them.
Featured Image – Photo by Engin Akyurt from Pexels
