Domestic Violence Against Women and Girls - Research Paper Example

 Domestic abuse and 'Sweat' According to West's Encyclopedia of American Law, domestic violence is defined as any act, real or purported, that is committed by a person towards former or current family members or towards a person whom one has had and/or has an intimate relationship with. This also includes violence towards children who are minors of either parties involved. Domestic violence can take the form of sexual, emotional and / or physical abuse, whether intentional or unintentional. it includes a range of actions including battery, rape, assault and murder. Over the years, domestic violence was not recognized by law in the United States but as more cases of violence against women especially in the homes continued to be reported, there was an outrage by women causing the women's liberation movement to begin to draw attention to this vice and thus the birth of the battered women's movement during the 1960's. The enactment of Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) by Congress in 1994 is a clear indication that this is a vice that has been ongoing for a long time and in order to curb the crime and punish perpetrators, the United States government has put in place laws that govern domestic violence against women (West’s Encyclopedia of American Law). Despite the laws, there are still women who experience domestic violence from their spouses and many are not able to stand up for themselves and leave the abusive relationships. Financial dependence on their husbands, fear of being alone, low self esteem and societal expectations are some reasons why women stay in abusive relationships. Women need to be educated about the consequences and effects of domestic violence and empowered to have the strength and courage to overcome abusive relationships and marriages. Zora Neale Hurston engages the reader on the issue of domestic violence against women in her book Sweat. The book focuses on the time when there was no equality between the whites and blacks, and the oppression that was evident during this era. Hurston however puts more emphasis on the oppression that Delia, an African American woman faces and suffers at the hands of her husband Sykes. Apart from showing the inequality in races, the author gives light to another form of inequality that exists in marriages. Her main intention is to depict the hardships, struggles, and suffering that women go through in their marriages and hopes to give courage and strength to other women who are in abusive relationships to master courage, gain self esteem and stand up to their abusive husbands and stop the violence. At the same time, the author ventures in to the reasons and circumstances that lead men to have an abusive nature, but do not in any way condone, make excuses, or justify domestic violence. In the case of Sykes, the circumstances of the deplorable economic and social conditions that the black communities were faced with during the era where the whites and blacks were not considered equal in any way were torturing and tormented Sykes' pride as a man, which resulted in frustration. Because of this lack of male pride, and not being able to take up the 'male' role of being the breadwinner in his family, Sykes is frustrated and takes out all his frustration on his wife Delia who is the sole breadwinner in the home from the work she does of washing clothes for the white people. Cultural, economic, legal, and political factors are the main known reasons and causes of domestic abuse. Different cultures place women differently according to their beliefs, notions and values that men give to their women. In cultures where women are less valued, the rate of domestic violence towards women is high. Some economic reasons that cause violence against women is in a situation where the man is not able to provide for the family and the situation is aggravated when the woman is the breadwinner. The man feels stripped of his male pride in his role as the breadwinner, which causes frustration, and consequently he vents his anger on his wife. This illustration is evident in Zora Neale Hurston's book Sweat where Sykes abused his wife Delia because he was not able to provide for his family whereas Delia was the breadwinner. The laws that govern a society also play an important role in determining whether domestic violence will or will not occur. In a society where the law gives equal rights to women and punishes domestic violence, the rate of abuse may decrease because of the abuser's fear of jail term or detention. In a similar context, the politics in a country also play a role in the cause of domestic violence of women (World Health Organization). If women are underrepresented in power and politics, there will be no significant light shed on legislation regarding domestic violence and thus this vice may not be taken as seriously if there was a significant number of women in power and politics who would ensure strict measures that govern laws that are against domestic violence. Another reason that brings about domestic abuse is when the spouse feels the need for control, power, and domination over their spouse. This need is a result of the abuser having low self esteem, inability to control their anger and different emotions, jealousness, in a situation where the abuser feels inferior to his spouse as a result of socioeconomic or education levels, religious beliefs, traditions and, retrogressive beliefs that women are inferior. This view therefore excuses violence with the argument that people are predisposed to violence because of the kind of environment they were raised in (Goldsmith). Abuse of drugs and alcohol can also be a cause of domestic violence because the abuser is not able to control his actions that are controlled by the alcohol in his system at the time of intoxication, even though there probably may be an underlying factor that brings out the violent nature of the person. The effects of domestic violence range from long term to short term effects. The long term effects have a more dangerous and life changing effect as compared to the short-term effects. While the short-term effects are to do with physical injury, the long-term effects include psychological, sexual, social, and emotional effects. Physical injury can lead to loss of one's job because of constant absenteeism due to sicknesses caused by the physical injuries afflicted on the body and / or constant court appearances that take up time that would have otherwise be used at work. In order to avoid battery, the victim of abuse may have to move constantly and this takes time and money and also interferes with one's employment. More so, the physical effects of domestic violence can lead health complications that are long term like inability to conceive in women who have been sexually abused and molested, the loss of limbs and other body parts like an eye, ears or nose. The abused are not the only persons affected by the violence. Domestic violence also affects the people who witness the abuse, the children involved, family members, co-workers, and the community in general. Children who are constantly exposed to witnessing abuse that takes place at home are put at a very high risk of becoming abusers and / or victims of abuse themselves in the generation after. This is because children emulate their role models and the constant exposure to violence by these same role models makes the children believe that violence is a normal way of life (Heise and Gottemoeller). This causes negative effects because the generation that comes with these children who are then predisposed to violence consequently becomes a generation of abusers and / or victims. The psychological effects that victims of domestic violence suffer from range from depression, low self-esteem, suicidal behavior, and anxiety. When there is severe anxiety and depression, the victims become exposed to high-risk levels of abusing alcohols and / or drugs. When a victim resorts to alcohol and/or drug abuse, there is a risk of the person losing his / her job, family friends and dropping out of school because drug and alcohol abuse can lead to a person being withdrawn, becoming antisocial and lose concentration since they become delusional when under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol. The abused woman may have feelings of shame, self-blame where the victim blames herself for the abuse (Women's web). There is anger, fear, avoidance of social situations, self-regulation, and hyper vigilance. A person becomes self regulated and hyper vigilant by restricting and watching what they say and do in order to avoid a circumstance that may trigger and cause the abuse to happen again. Apart from the psychological and physical effects, there are negative social effects that also come about because of domestic violence. These negative effects are the things that restrict the victim’s ability get away from a domestic violence situation. the social effects are such that the victims becomes withdrawn and isolated from family members, friends and any other person that may be of assistance, the victim usually has strained relationships with figures of authority like employers and health care providers and thus the victim is not able to access the services that are meant to help him / her. The withdrawal and isolation from family members impairs a mother's ability to effectively take care and nurture their children and ensure proper development of her children or take care of the basic needs of the children. The mother may have feelings of hopelessness, become very irritable or emotionally withdrawn and cannot be able to care for their children as effectively. Many abused women do not leave these abusive relationships and stay with their abuses because of several reasons ranging from financial reasons, children, fear of being alone, conditioning, 'love' and low self esteem. Financially, the victim is dependent on the husband who is the abuser and thus the woman is not able to financially support herself (World Health Organization) . The abuser did not allow the victim to have a job because it is the nature of abusers to limit the access of things that may enable the victim to leave, in this case having a job that will ensure financial stability of the woman. In the event that there are children in a marriage where there is domestic violence, the woman may opt to stay on for the sake of the children, rationalizing that there are worse effects that would affect the children in case she decides to get a divorce from their father. These survivors also do not want to raise children on their own and believe that it is better for the children to have a present father than not having one. The victims of abuse are conditioned to accept the kind of treatment they receive after enduring the abuse for a long period. The abusers use threats to ensure that the victims are scared to a point that they cannot leave the relationship by also putting them down by telling the victims that they are worthless and even if they leave the relationship, no other person will accept them. This is where the fear of the abuser comes in because of the threats they have been given like death if they leave the abuser. The victims may have a twisted notion about love and believe that the abuser may be punishing her because he cares for her and because the victim has been conditioned to need or rather depend on the abuser, the victim gets to a point where they confuse this need with love for the abuser. In order to stop domestic violence and the vicious cycle that comes with it, the society at large including governments should engage itself in ensuring the reduction and eventual eradication of domestic violence. Domestic violence is a crime against human rights and measures that the government can take in combating this vice are like enacting strict laws and regulations that do not condone any form of domestic violence. There should be international legal standards in all states worldwide and exercise due diligence in order to prevent, investigate and punish any person found in violation of international laws and ensure that there is just compensation for the victims (Coomaraswamy). The community at large can assist in ensuring there is a reduction in the rate of domestic violence and work towards eradicating the vice completely by reporting any form of domestic violence they witness because there is a high number of domestic violence that is not reported as most victims are too scared to approach the authorities from fear of their abusers. The community may also show their support by setting up shelters or safe houses for victims of abuse and contribute towards the healing of the victims by availing and offering their services for free. The community may organize for a therapist or counselor who resides in that community to offer free services, the doctors in the community can offer to treat the physical injuries of the survivors while other members of the community can offer food, clothing and even be employers for survivors in their community. Intensive and extensive sensitization and education on the negative effects of domestic violence should be carried out in societies that are do not see wife battery as a vice. Some of these societies practice these beliefs because they do not know and have not been exposed to other ways of doing things and do not question the practices that have been there for generations. Educating and giving useful information to such societies will ensure a significant decrease in domestic violence if not eradicate it completely. Apart from arresting and sentencing the abusers in an effort to reduce and eliminate domestic violence, the state should ensure that the abusers are afforded psychological medical help to determine their reasons and causes for the abuse so that they can be helped and made into non-abusers. There is not excuse or room for condoning abuse but at the same time, it is prudent to realize that some abusers are at loss explaining why they became abusers and cannot help themselves and therefore there is a need for these individuals be rehabilitated and because abuse is learned, it can also be unlearned. The different governments should endeavor to make each of their states a domestic violence free society that is without both victims and abusers. The vicious cycle of abuse needs to be broken by sensitizing and educating people and especially women who have the highest number of victims of domestic violence on the different effects and consequences that come about because of domestic violence and empowered in order to have the strength and courage to leave and overcome abusive relationships and marriages. Works cited Coomaraswamy, Radhika. "Domestic Violence Against Women and Girls." Innocenti Digest June 2000: 12-14. Goldsmith, Toby D. "What Causes Domestic Violence?" PsychCentral 19 October 2006: 21-29. Heise, Ellsberg L and M Gottemoeller. Rnding Violence against Women . Ppulation Reports . Baltimore : John Hopkins University School of Public Health, n.d. " Long-Term Effects of Domestic Violence." 2010. Clark County Prosecuting Attoney. 10 December 2010 . Organization, World Health. Violence Against Women. Discussion. Geneva: WHO, 1996. "Women's web." 2010. Domestic Violence. The Effects of Abuse. 10 December 2010 . Read More