An opinion essay by Nithiya S.
Although it may happen behind closed doors, violence against women is a public issue with heavy social, physical and psychological consequences. Violence against women is grounded and perpetuated through relations to power and wealth, class, race, and gender, social policies, dominant ideologies, socialization of gender, patriarchy, social inequalities and war. These are all issues individual women have no control over, but whose lives are highly affected by them, and thus, violence against women is not a battle faced by a single women, but a large proportion of women making it a public issue more than a private issue.
The perspective in which the world is set up to favour is the dominant ideology; that is the view of the highly powerful, upper-class, male. Dominant ideologies are so cleverly intertwined in our culture that we fail to realize that what we believe in is the belief of the elitist, and it is this naiveté that allows dominant ideologies of gender constructions of what it means to be a man and women to be thrive. Abuse is legitimatised through dominant ideologies. Dominant ideologies are reinforced in many ways, especially through early childhood socialization through rhymes and chants in which boys are taught to be aggressive and girls are taught to be nice. (Marchbank & Letherby, 2007, 4) Boys are allowed to be beasts, and women just have to overlook their beastly characteristics and find the hidden beauty within them.
Nothing is ever solely private; the private lives women face is highly affected by public issues and political issues surrounding them. In a world where decision making power equates to large sums of money, women have little power, especially working class coloured women. They do not have the luxury of being able to walk away from an abusive relationship because of their lack of wealth, power, and access to financial and social resources. (Davidson, 2008).
Violence has been reported to be five times greater in households that are below the poverty line. Severe spouse abuse is also more likely to be carried out by unemployed men than by working men full time. (Marchbank & Letherby, 2007, 275) Unemployment and poverty are public issues that have large private consequences, especially for women. If many women suffer from violence, and if violence correlates with poverty and unemployment, then public social change and policy change would help reduce rates of violence. Women who stay in abusive relationships set examples for their kids that violence is normal – therefore creating another generation that accepts the violence against women.
Violence against women, particularly rape has been used as a war tactic where men rape to prove their masculinity and superiority. The social costs of rapes are heavy, and the costs are paid by women: women are left infected with HIV/AIDS, suffer from psychological harm sometimes leading to suicide and results in unexpected pregnancies – all without adequate support from families or government. (Marchbank & Letherby, 2007, 279) A pregnancy may have occurred privately, but is visible in the public domain, (Rothman, 2007, 396) and likewise, unwanted pregnancies and physical abuse is visible in the public domain. The consequences of sexual violence (rape) are paid for by women regardless of them not causing the rape to occur.
It becomes evident that the public factors that affect women’s private lives are beyond their control. By reinforcing the dominant ideologies of patriarchy and gender stereotypes through institutions, social policies and culture, social inequalities are created among men and women. Because of these social inequalities, men have been allowed to be violent towards women. These social inequalities and consequences of violence are largely paid for at the expense of women’s employment prospects, psychological damage, bodily harm and social relations. Violence will continue as long women silently endure it, and as it is tolerated. Until the public issues contributing to violence are resolved, many women will fight the silent war of violence and will continue to try to find the beauty within the beasts they encounter.
Tags: News
