Introduction
Domestic violence can be best described as “the power misused by one adult in a relationship to control another. It is the establishment of control and fear in a relationship through violence and other forms of abuse.” In most cases domestic violence takes of the form of physical abuse or battery, psychological abuse, social abuse, financial abuse and sexual abuse. It must also be mentioned that domestic abuse is not just an act but a continued pattern that normally takes the aforementioned forms. However, the frequency of domestic violence varies from occasional to recurrent. To this effect, frequent occurrence of domestic violence is normally referred as a chronic occurrence. Regardless of the frequency of domestic violence, its impacts not only on women but also on the society at large are detrimental and costly. Some of these impacts of domestic violence on women include “psychological trauma, depression, injuries, sexually transmitted diseases, suicide and murder, physical inactivity, poor self-esteem, post-traumatic stress disorder, psychosomatic disorders, smoking, suicidal behavior and self-harm and unsafe sexual behavior.” This is because impacts of domestic violence are not limited to the abused or the abuser; in most cases they tend to spun generations.
Despite the cost incurred by the society as a result of domestic violence, it must be mentioned that this one of the most ignored areas of public health. Though it is morally wrong, domestic violence is widely accepted as the norm in most cultures and societies in the world. It is also important to mention that domestic violence can be perpetuated against both genders however the most common victims are women. Finally, domestic violence is a transnational problem and therefore it is not limited to any country or race. In fact, it is amongst the few human challenges that are prevalent in both the developed and the developing worlds. In the recent past, it has also emerged that domestic violence does not only involve spouses but also members of the extended family. This is especially the case for the Indian subcontinent and this is one of the unique characteristics about domestic violence in the country.
Just like other countries of the world, it wasn’t till the year 2005 that domestic violence against women in India became an issue of national concern henceforth attracting the necessary attention from Indian authorities. In a bid to combat the issue, the Indian government enacted the Protection of Women from Domestic violence Act of 2005. Enactment of this legislation not only played the role of sensitizing the society about the effects of domestic violence but also revealed the pervasive nature of domestic violence against women in India. India can best be described as country of ethnic and cultural diversity. This implies that in some areas of the country, domestic violence against women is the norm to the extent that even local media avoids reporting incidents of chronic cases of the issue.
Statistically, the prevalence of domestic violence against women in India ranges between 18% and 70% depending on the geographical region and research methodology used in obtaining the statistics. By the beginning of the year 2005, it was that estimated 165Indian women were being subjected to domestic violence on a daily basis and this figure was projected to increase exponentially over the years. This thesis shall thus briefly look at some of the causes of domestic violence and some select health impacts experienced by abused Indian women.
Causes of Domestic Violence
Causes of domestic violence in any society the Indian one included can also be described as the justification for subjecting women to this kind of brutal and inhuman treatment. In India especially, domestic violence is a crucial component of power relations between a man and his spouse (the women). Domestic violence against women is also complicated by the fact that the extended family is also involved in this perpetration. This is especially the case when dowry negotiations and disagreements come into the picture. On this note, it is important to note that the Indian culture is unique from the rest in the world in the sense that it is the woman who pays the dowry and not the man. In other societies in the world women are subjected to domestic violence because the man feels he owns his spouse due to the fact that he paid dowry. The situation is different in the Indian culture; women are subjected to domestic violence from their husbands and their husband’s relations due to the fact the latter feel that they did the former a favor by accepting to marry them. Domestic violence is therefore one of the ways of settling dowry disagreements between spouses in most societies in the world.
In the Indian culture, women are traditionally viewed upon as being weak and therefore over the years they have been subjected to inhuman treatment domestic violence being one of the forms. Their vulnerable position in the society has always been exploited by not only their husbands but also those around them including their family members on both sides of the divide. This is implies that in India just like other parts of the world domestic violence perpetrated against women is an attribute of several factors including “cultural mores, religious practices, economic and political conditions.” However, it must be mentioned that despite the compelling nature of these factors that predispose Indian men to be abusive, at the end of the day it is their choice to opt for domestic violence against their spouses as a way of dealing with both imagined and real marital problems. In addition to this, it has emerged that the rigid gender roles that are more often than not assigned to Indian women never equip these women with the skills to not only defend and protect themselves from domestic violence but also with legal channels in which to address this issue. This is the reason why abusive Indian men feel that it is their right to subject their wives to domestic violence.
Empirical data has determined that another cause for domestic violence amongst Indian women is illiteracy. Research has ascertained that the reason why domestic violence against women thrives in the Indian culture is because most of the married women are illiterate. The premise that illiterate Indian women are more subject to domestic violence compared to their learned counterparts thus holds. This is because the relationship between abusive behavior and the literacy levels of the woman is statistically significant. It is important to mention that domestic violence amongst educated Indian women is more severe compared to that experienced by their illiterate counterparts. However, research has established that the more educated Indian men are, the less likely they are to subject their spouses to domestic violence.
Despite the fact that all women are subject to domestic violence, women with an age difference exceeding 10years are more likely to be abused by their spouses. In fact statistics indicate that 72% of the women who are over 10years younger than their spouses are subject to domestic violence. Also, it has been determined that domestic violence worsens as the time passes by. This implies that women who are abused at the beginning of their marriage are more likely to be abused even more in the later stages of the union. In fact unlike other societies in the world, in the Indian culture family structure, presence or absence of children, family income, occupation of the women and their spouse has little bearing on domestic violence. However, similar to other societies in the world, some of the common justifications for domestic violence in the Indian culture include dowry disputes, infidelities especially on the wife’s part, negligence of domestic duties and
responsibilities, disrespect and disobedience. This implies that in the aforementioned circumstances, the Indian culture codons and permits domestic violence.
Finally, one of the leading justifications of domestic violence in the Indian culture against women is dependence on men the most obvious of all being economic. This thus implies that the abused women hence feel trapped in their wrongful assumptions that they don’t have any options open to them but to suffer in silence. This is especially the case for the young and illiterate women. Elderly women on the other often feel too powerless to escape and are weighed down by the fact they are too old to have fresh-start to life. In addition to this, abusive spouses usually elicit the feeling of guilt and worthlessness amongst the abused women. Therefore the abused women feel it is their fault that the relationship is not working out as expected and stick in it hoping that the situation will improve. In most cases, the situation of abused women only worsens rather than getting better.
Health Impacts of Domestic Violence
Studies have indicated the fact that abused women are more prevalent to mental health disorders compared to the women who are not subject to domestic violence. Statistics indicate that abused women are three times more likely to suffer from mental health disorders in India compared to their counterparts who are not subject to domestic violence. In fact, the more severe the abuse the more chronic the effects are on a woman’s mental and physical health. Therefore women who have been exposed to abuse from their spouses or their spouses’ families are more likely to suffer from the following mental disorders: depression and stress, suicidal behaviors and psychosomatic disorders to mention but a few. Research has also determined that women who are abused are tormented more by the psychological, emotional and mental impacts of the domestic violence compared to the physical abuse. To this effect, the more common cause of mental health and emotional disorders amongst Indian women is low self-esteem. The situation is further worsened by the fact that mental and emotional disorders amongst abused women have devastating long-term impacts that are not immediately evident. This is the reason why some Indian women are of the opinion that “the incessant insults and tyrannies which constitute emotional abuse may be more painful than the physical attacks because they effectively undermine women's security and self-confidence.”
However, it must be mentioned that the impacts of domestic violence on the mental health of the Indian women varies depending on societal position. To this effect, poor and illiterate women are less likely to be affected by the mental impacts of domestic violence compared to their well-off and educated counterparts. Some of the burdens that poor women are subject that predispose them to mental and emotional health disorders include great amounts of social, physical and economic stresses. This is the reason why women living in poverty are “disproportionately affected” by the mental effects of domestic violence. This is because the poor and illiterate Indian women are faced with other weightier burdens that domestic violence seems as a slap on the wrist as far as their mental health is concerned. To this effect, poverty is one of the factors that predispose Indian women to domestic violence.
However, it must be mentioned that educated women who have better jobs and employment opportunities compared to their husbands are at a higher risk of being affected by mental disorders that emanate from domestic violence. This is not limited to India only; in every part of the world learned and employed women who command higher incomes than their spouses are abused psychologically by their spouses because they are deemed as having enough muscle to change the power relations in the society at the family level. On the other hand, high educational achievement on the part of both spouses buffers Indian women from the mental impacts of domestic violence. This is because higher education not only imparts both Indian men and women with the knowledge and technical know-how to access better opportunities but also equips them with more advanced coping mechanisms for dealing with the day to day challenges of life. This implies that educated women cope better with mental impacts of abuse compared to their illiterate counterparts because education empowers them. To this effect, empirical studies have determined that education can be a useful tool in mitigating the adverse mental impacts of domestic violence against women in India.
It is also significant to mention that domestic violence has traumatic effect especially on female children who witness it. As result, Indian children who witness domestic violence normally suffer from “emotional, behavioral, developmental or academic problems.” To this effect, research has determined that children who grow up in households whereby domestic violence is the order of the day often resort to violence as a means of dealing with any perceived threat or challenges. It is this children especially the male ones that feed the cycle of domestic violence when they grow older, get married and have families of their own. Their female counterparts on the other hand are more likely to accept domestic violence as the norm due to the fact they grew up in homes whereby their mothers were abused. In addition to violence, children brought up in abusive homes abuse drug, develop suicidal tendencies, become sexual abusive (especially male children), and finally tend to have low self-esteem.
Women who are subject to domestic violent also experience higher rates of reproductive morbidity. In fact research studies conducted in northern India have revealed that abused women have an elevated “odd's ratio of gynecological symptoms, while comparing women with husbands reporting no domestic violence and women who experienced physical and sexual violence.” This is the case because abusive men are more likely to have extramarital sexual relations that consequently predispose their spouses to acquiring STDS. In fact, abused women are more at risk of acquiring HIV/AIDS from their abusive spouses and thus for fear further reprisals are afraid of being tested and getting the appropriate treatment. This is further exuberated by the fact that abusive men are also less likely to use any form of protection. This is the reason why unplanned pregnancies are the order of the day amongst the wives of abusive men. In addition to this, studies have determined that abused women are twice more likely to have miscarriages and to give birth to underweight children. Finally, research conducted in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh in India have revealed that domestic violence results to a significant percentage of maternal as well as infant mortalities. This is the case because; India’s public health sector does not have a program that is specifically tasked with the responsibility of meeting the needs of pregnant women subject to domestic violence.
References
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