Domestic violence is termed as a form of violence. It is to a person from a person who is biologically related to him/her. But, typically it is the violence to a woman inflicted by the male members of her family or relatives. In accordance with feminism terminologies, it is essentially an act in which the male members mostly show their flawed nature. They depict that their ego is above the respect, consent, wants & expectations of a woman.
Violation of women and her rights is into public discussion because of intimate partner assault and sexual violence. This is a major public problem and a violation of women’s human rights.
There are a few reasons due to which domestic violence takes place in many households. Some of these include:
- Some households still follow an orthodox, rather ancient mindset. According to which it isn’t wrong to beat up a woman and thus, violence happens on a regular basis deemed as a punishment.
- Many households follow a modern lifestyle, but the men still raise their hands to beat women just to establish a sense of dominance and control. Many-a-times, these women don’t even have the courage to complain.
- After the above 2, there comes a type of household that undertakes a modern lifestyle and does not even believe in beating women of the house. But, there are instances when things get out of hand and the man ends up using force against woman. The most recent and trending example of the same is the movie ‘Thappad’.
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Survey’s on the Situation and Results
Such situations exist not only in just a few countries, but globally and this is depressing. According to a National Family and Health Survey in 2005, total lifetime prevalence of domestic violence was 33.5% and 8.5% for sexual violence among women. A survey carried out by the Thomson Reuters Foundation ranked India as the most dangerous country in the world for women.
Global estimates published by WHO indicate that about 1 in 3 (35%) of women worldwide have experienced violence by a sexual intimate partner or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime. Most of this violence is intimate partner violence.
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Worldwide, almost one-third (30%) of women who have been in a relationship report that they have experienced some form of physical and/or sexual violence by their intimate partner in their lifetime. Globally, as many as 38% of murders of women are by a male intimate partner. Violence can negatively & adversely affect women’s physical, mental, sexual, and reproductive health, and may increase the risk of acquiring HIV in some settings.
New Laws to reduce Domestic Violence
To protect the women against domestic violence, there are several laws in India. The earliest law was the Dowry Prohibition Act 1961 which made the act of giving and receiving dowry a crime. In an effort to bolster the 1961 law, two new sections, Section 498A and Section 304B were introduced into the Indian Penal Code in 1983 and 1986. The most recent legislation is the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act (PWDVA) 2005. The PWDVA, a civil law, includes physical, emotional, sexual, verbal, and economic abuse as domestic violence.
Now that laws have arised for the protection of females, many women are coming out in public, openly and letting people & authorities know about the atrocities being faced by them. No matter what the situation, beating women is unacceptable and is a criminal offence. Even before there were laws to protect women, it was considered unlawful and also a sin to raise hand(s) on any woman.
As a society, we all must understand that women are equal and hold a position that is much higher than we can even remotely anticipate. Women were, are and always will be the base of forming a competent, educated and flourished society.
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