The Issue of Violence Against Women - Essay Example

Mills Paper in the context of violence against women Introduction There has been trouble brewing in the context of burning social issues, which threaten to shake the base of the social structure. Some of these issues are personal while some others assume public importance. One of the most burning issues in the present day is the violence against women. The issue has achieved much social importance in the wake of the reports regarding the treatment received by women in the society. Violence against women is of various forms. It is “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering to women.” (WHO). The subject has widespread causes, which may range from sexual abuse and trafficking to deprivation of basic rights like education. The condition of women in most of the countries worldwide is pathetic and the surveys conducted worldwide supports the view. Their own family members, referring to honor killings, murder Five thousand women every year. Trafficking of women and even girls below the age of maturity is widespread in all countries of the world. The girl children are susceptible to sexual abuse. Violence against women results in serious health concerns and consequences leading to injuries and death. In the less developed countries, women do not have access to basic rights of education and health. The violence may be at a personal level or at a social level. In the social level, the women are at risk in countries where the women do not have respect in the society and there is general autonomy of the male community. (WHO). The malpractices harm the dignity and pride of the women, which may have serious consequences in the social life. Though the women have made tremendous progress in the economic fields in the developed countries, their condition in the developing and the underdeveloped countries is poor. They still lie at the bottom of the social structure and their importance in the society is much lesser than that of the men. This paper deals in this socially relevant issue and tries to find out the personal and public issues of the violence. The paper also points out the solutions to the problem and underlines the methods of addressing the situation depending on the nature of the issues. Violence against women- personal problem or public issues The personal and public matters of trouble depend on the outlook. For example, if we take the institution of marriage, there may be certain amount of indifferences between the husband and wife. This is the personal view of the trouble. However, if the amount of divorces and separations increase to a certain extent, then it has to be believed that there is a certain problem in the society. If we take the example of war, then the personal agenda may be to survive the disadvantages of war. However, the economic and social impacts the war has may be taken as the public outcome. Therefore, every social issue has a personal trouble agenda and a public problem. The issue of the violence against women is widespread in the world and the issue has certain personal and public issues. (Mills, 9) Most of the violence that affects the women rises from the biasness of the gender. The women are affected by acts of physical and sexual violence by men because of their gender. In most of the times, women are affected by the acts of their family members. Some of these acts are marital rape, physical violence from husbands, sexual abuse of girl child, violence regarding dowry etc. In such type of acts, the consequences are not public affairs but they remain behind the closed doors. Majority of the women are affected by the violence, which has their origin in the family. (what is violence against women). This type of troubles brews from “the character of the individual and within the range of his immediate relations with others.” (Mills, P8). As seen from the above statements that this type of violence is the result of trouble within the family or among individuals with different mental set up. The scope of the trouble is engulfed within a limited sphere of immediate acquaintances and is entirely a private matter. According to Mills, a problem gains a social outlook when it affects a large group of the population. The domestic violence may be generally construed as a form of personal violence. However, the recent trends across the world show that this form of violence has increased. The trend is particularly disturbing in India. With its large rural population, the Indian women generally are ill-treated by their husbands. 33% of the women are engulfed in physical violence while 10% reports to be sexually exploited. The trend is more disturbing in the married women with 37% of the women reported to be tortured by their husbands physically or sexually. Women who are not married experience violence in the hands of their immediate family members like parents, siblings etc. (Domestic violence). The trend is not only visible in backward countries like India. The trend is similar in the more developed areas of the world. North America, which is considered to be the cradle of the modern civilization and offers equal opportunities for women in the workplace and the society, is also subject to domestic violence. It is interesting to note that about 40% to 51% of the women in this region have gone through traumatic experiences in their life in the context of domestic violence. The women are affected by the current or the previous partners in general. South America is another region hugely affected by the violence against women. The social structure of most of the countries in the continent is patriarchal which degrades the women to the lower ranks in the social structure. In addition to this, the continent has been ravaged by civil wars, which made the life of the women that more degrading. The African situation is worsened by the widespread poverty levels. There is a high expectation rate of infant mortality and most of the women reported violence by their partners during the time of pregnancy. The continent of Europe is considered as one of the most developed areas in terms of economy and social bonhomie. However, findings about the domestic violence present a grim picture. The physical violence against women in the continent lies between the ranges of 38-66%. In the case of sexual abuse 17-33% of the women suffered. The trend of domestic violence has reached a peak scale in the Middle East and the Arab countries. The domestic violence in these countries is justified by the male in the societies. The countries in the South Asia are affected by the domestic violence because of the patriarchal society in these countries. (Violence against women- around the world) The above paragraphs show that the domestic violence is not a private matter nowadays. The problem is affecting large parts of the society all over the world. According to Miller, the problem has assumed the importance of public issue. Another type of violence against the women is the trafficking and sexual abuse of the women and the female children. This problem has assumed great importance in the modern world as more and more children are used for sexual exploitation. This results in the increase of transmission of diseases like HIV and the consequent deaths of women. There has been a rise in the number of sexual workers across the world. This trade has continuously been on the rise globally. The main reason for this is the business is a low risk activity rewarding high profits. The practice has influenced the lives of millions of women and children worldwide. A general notion in the world is associating the sexual activities with countries of Asia and the Eastern Europe. However, a recent trend has been noted with the increase in trafficking activities in the America- considered the cradle of the modern civilization. The practice of human trafficking is the violation of general human rights. The demand for the sex workers is continuously on the rise, which underlines the fact that the desire for sex in men has increased manifold. The men want to have sex without any social commitment. In addition to this, the supply of the sex workers is easy and is from the regions of poverty. The women in these areas are affected by the violence at home and do not have free access to basic amenities of life. They are lured to this trade with the prospect of a better life and better payment. The situation is further eased by conditions where the women and children flee from their homes. They are easy victims for the traffickers. The laws regarding trafficking and prostitution around the world are weak and the traffickers take advantage of the situations. The combination of these three factors has spurred the growth of trafficking and prostitution in the whole world. Europe still is the cradle of prostitution with large number of women from around the world plying their trade there. It has been reported that 50,000 Dominican Republic Women and 75,000 Brazilian women find jobs as prostitutes in Europe. The countries of Colombia, Guatemala are safe havens for trade and about 35,000 Colombian women are trafficked every year. (Phinney) The situation is grim in the countries of the South East Asian countries and in Africa. The women of Thailand, Philippines, India and other low-income countries are increasingly used in the sex of trade. In Africa, countries are torn by the civil wars. The women in these regions are the most affected as they are used in the sex trade and trafficking business around the world. Therefore, it can be inferred that trafficking and prostitution is a major problem worldwide and a major portion of the women population in the economically backward countries are affected by it. Thus, it has assumed the situation of public problem and have to be tackled accordingly. Another major source of problem in the women society is the virtual abolition of the basic amenities. In various countries, the women are not even allowed to have the basic education and are maltreated. They are not allowed to work and have to depend financially on the male members of the family. This trend is generally seen in countries like Afghanistan and the society there justifies the act as a part of religious activities. The Taliban regime restricted the freedom of the women in the country and they could not move freely without being accompanied by male counterparts. The situation was the same for the women in general in the whole of Afghanistan. The problem took the turn of public issue as it involved the major percentage of women in the country. (The situation of women in Afghanistan) Part 2 Social Policy solutions From the above paragraphs, it can be seen that the violence against women has increased in the recent times. The phenomenon is a common sight nowadays in most parts of the world. The developing and the underdeveloped nations are plagued by the problem. In addition to this, it is interesting to note that the developed nations of the world like USA and various countries of Europe have also observed growth of the violence. It has been high on the agenda of the Government and the International bodies to stop the violence against women. The different aspects of the violence have become public affairs with majority of the women affected by it. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the Government and the International bodies to stop the growth of this public problem and eradicate it from the society. The violence against women is a violation of the human rights and it is the responsibility of the authority to act against all forms of discrimination against the women and help to regain the status in the society. It has to be noted that to be successful in this measure, the Government must access the data on the violence against women. Most of the women do not come out with complaints against the violence as the act involves close associates and the immediate family members. Therefore, it is the job of the Government to develop methods to collect accurate data. The Government and the International bodies have developed legislation and acts which look to punish the persons involved in the violence. The formation of the laws has been quickened by international treaties. The major international body “The United Nations” has been working hard to establish a set of laws and protocols which look to decrease the violence against women. Individual countries have been working with tandem with the bodies to ensure that the violence against women is decreased. Many countries have given special importance to the remedies of the victims. They have ensured that the victims get quick justice against the violence they suffered. For this, the countries have set up special courts dealing with the matters of violence. (Indicators to measure violence against women, 2-7) However, the problem arises when women do not come out and give information of any violence against them. In that case, the problem assumes the position of “personal violence”. To eradicate the personal problems is a challenge for the Government or the International bodies. The data of the actual violence is not available. In this case, it is the responsibility of the family members or close associates to assure that the incidents of violence do not take place. The social bodies or the Government on their part can start an informative campaign stating the importance of women in the society. Most of the personal problems start from the fact that they are considered inferior to men. Therefore, the society has to be educated about the importance of women. Various cases of personal problems exist in the society. One of the examples of personal problems is sexual abuse of the girl child. In most of the cases, close family members do this and the parents are unaware of the situation. The Government or social organizations can organize seminars or inform about the consequences of the events. The parents will be able to know about the situation and they will make every effort to protect their children. Thus, the Government and social organizations can make a difference to the personal problems. Data collection is an important method, which can stop the practice of discrimination against women. Data collection and representation gives us a clear picture about the situation of the women in the country. In some of the cases the picture is not exclusive as women do not give information of the violence conducted against them and in some cases, the nature of the violence cannot be measures quantitatively. As the women do not report the violence against them, the method of surveys has assumed great importance. The national bodies dealing with statistical measurements are usually commended with the responsibility of conducting surveys. The surveys face may challenges as a high percentage of women remain outside the boundaries of the surveys. They do not report the violence conducted by their partners. Moreover, there is a problem of language in bigger countries and the socially and economically backward classes usually remain outside the surveys. Apart from the national initiative, there have been continent wise initiatives by the international bodies to look after the subject of the violence against women. The violence is widespread in all the continents over the world, and there has been a recent stride in the bodies of the continents to look after the matter. The problem in Africa is mainly of the sexual abuse of the partners and the Economic Commission of Africa is working extensively towards it. In the area of Latin America and the Caribbean, the Economic Commission there is working against the violence against women. In Asia and the Pacific, the major problem is the trafficking of the women and the domestic violence. The “Economic and the Social Commission of Asia” and the Pacific is working against the issues. A special commission has been set up in the regions of Western Asia where the Arab countries are situated. There is a commonness of domestic violence and sexual violence in this region, which has assumed great importance. The Commission there is working towards it. The “Council of Europe” is working against the prevalent practice of prostitution and trafficking in the continent. A global body “United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees” is working against the malpractices of the refugees. The refugees of the war are sexually abused in the camps all over the world. The body is working against these malpractices. In addition to these bodies, there are other initiatives, which are taking care of the violence against women. (Indicators to measure violence against women, 7-17) The crisis of violence of women has assumed a social issue with major percentage of the women population effected by the violence by women. The social problem generally rises from the aspect of being threatened in the women population. The problem is widespread all over the world. It has to be noted that the problems of private life cannot be solved by international bodies. It is only when that the problem assume public importance that the bodies take major initiatives. Therefore, the main problem nowadays lies in the practices prevalent in the society. The problem of violence has assumed great public significance and the social bodies are involved in fighting against it. (Mills, 11-14) Conclusions The violence of women has assumed worldwide significance and the volume of the crime has seen an increasing trend. Therefore, according to Mills, it is a problem of public significance and the methods to deal with the problem has been based according to its nature. The violence against women is biased according to the gender and in some parts of the world, the women are not allowed the basic amenities. The problem of trafficking and prostitution has also increased significantly. Therefore, it is a public problem and the social bodies all around the world are fighting against the violation of these human rights. Works Cited 1. Indications to measure violence against women, United Nations.10th October, 2007. Available at: http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:4iZ4hzeP0YAJ:www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/egm/IndicatorsVAW/IndicatorsVAW_EGM_report.pdf+measures+taken+against+violence+of+women&hl=en&gl=in&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShTZErlHcRgSRZoVT5MQQMHxfoZNkTioGodqiKM9Zl9kgunQosKno_pAT7Eki5nJqnVNXpBXSKd2SgIfdQXFGfh2Ztlja32kF4mZ--mR3oVo4VDGvWYNILb61aperoCP7Y_BPZ1&sig=AHIEtbRyB76W87TITCnOnQbuWRsiBqx0NQ (Accessed on 8th March, 2010). 2. WHO. Violence against women. Available at: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs239/en/ (Accessed on 8th March, 2010) 3. What is violence against women? Population reports. Available at: http://info.k4health.org/pr/l11/l11chap1_1.shtml (Accessed on 8th March, 2010). 4. Domestic violence. NFH India Available at: http://www.nfhsindia.org/NFHS-3%20Data/Press%20Briefing%20Kit/Domestic%20Violence.pdf (Accessed on 8th March, 2010) 5. Violence against women-around the world.18th November, 2003 Available at: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/463969#top (Accessed on 8th March, 2010) 6. Phinney, Alison. Trafficking of women and children for sexual exploitation in the Americas. PAHO, Available at: http://www.paho.org/english/hdp/hdw/TraffickingPaper.pdf (Accessed on 8th March, 2010) 7. The situation of women in Afghanistan. UN, Available at: http://www.un.org/events/women/2002/sit.htm (Accessed on 8th March, 2010). 8. Mills, Charles Wright. The sociological imagination. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1959 Read More