Commentary

Domestic Violence: Social Change

46(4) 602–610
Causes, Impact and © 2016 CSD
SAGE Publications
sagepub.in/home.nav
Remedial Measures DOI: 10.1177/0049085716666636
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Susmitha B.1

Abstract
It is apparent, that over the past few decades, a host of issues related to women
are discussed and vigorously debated on various platforms. One of the most
important aspects of this discourse has been that of violence against women
and within that area close attention is being paid to domestic violence, that is,
violence that occurs within the victim’s house or by members of her family. In
this paper, issues related to the growing spread of domestic violence have been
discussed citing some international references for a clearer understanding of the
problem prevalent at the global level. The paper hopes to draw the attention
of readers to the causative factors of domestic violence and its impact on the
victim, her family and on society as a whole. Further, the paper deliberates on
some measures to curb the presence of domestic violence which clearly becoming
a growing menace.

Keywords
Violence, culture, quality of life, attitudes

Introduction
The issues related to women are being raised and discussed on various fronts, in
the recent times. Of these, ‘violence against women’ is gaining more and more
recognition, the world over. The issue is important for two basic reasons. One is
the protection of the right of the sufferers and the other being to reduce the nega-
tive impact of such acts on the social development. Efforts have been made both
at the national and international levels to address the issue. The third millennium
development goal (MDGs) emphasises on the importance of gender equality and
women empowerment (UNO, 2002). At the national level many legislations

1
DOS in Social Work, JSS College of Arts, Commerce and Science, Ooty Road, Mysore, Karnataka,
India.

Corresponding author:
Susmitha B., DOS in Social Work, JSS College of Arts, Commerce and Science, Ooty Road, Mysore,
Karnataka, India.
E-mail: susmithab81@gmail.com
Susmitha B. 603

and policies have been formulated and implemented. One such major effort is the
enactment of Domestic Violence Prohibition Act 2005 to curb the menace. Despite
the enactment of laws, formulation of reformative legal processes, provision of
legal aid to the needy, extensive use of the provision of Public Interest Litigation,
conduct of Family Courts, Women/Family counselling centres etc., women in
India have a long way to go in concretising their Constitutional goals into reality
as the problem is embodied in socially and culturally. Domestic violence is not
unique to India. It occurs around the world, but what sets it apart in India from
many other countries is the culture of silence that still surrounds it.

Domestic Violence
Domestic violence can be described as the power misused by one adult in a rela-
tionship to control another. It is the establishment of control and fear in a relation-
ship through violence and other forms of abuse. This violence can take the form
of physical assault, psychological abuse, social abuse, financial abuse or sexual
assault. The frequency of the violence can be on and off, occasional or chronic.
‘Domestic violence is not simply an argument. It is a pattern of coercive controls
that one person exercises over another. Abusers use physical and sexual violence,
threats, emotional insults and economic deprivation as a way to dominate their
victims and get their way’ (WHO, 2007).
Domestic violence is one of the major problems faced by women in develop-
ing nations.

Domestic violence is a burden on numerous sectors of the social system and quietly, yet
dramatically, affects the development of a nation … batterers cost nations fortunes in
terms of law enforcement, health care, lost labor and general progress in development.
These costs do not only affect the present generation; what begins as an assault by one
person on another reverberates through the family and the community into the future.
(Zimmerman, 1994)

In broad terms, domestic violence occurs when one person in an intimate relation-
ship behaves in a way that causes fear or harm to another person. Within the
general community this is the most common term.
Domestic violence is a global issue reaching across national boundaries as
well as socio-economic, cultural, racial and class distinctions. This problem is not
only widely dispersed geographically, but its incidence is also extensive, making
it a typical and accepted behaviour. Domestic violence is wide spread, deeply
ingrained and has serious impacts on women’s health and wellbeing. Its contin-
ued existence is morally indefensible. Its cost to individuals, health systems and
society is enormous. Yet no other major problem of public health has been so
widely ignored and so little understood.
The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 says that any
act, conduct, omission or commission that harms or injures or has the potential to
harm or injure will be considered domestic violence by the law. Even a single act of
omission or commission may constitute domestic violence—in other words, women
do not have to suffer a prolonged period of abuse before taking recourse to law.
604 Social Change 46(4)

The law covers children also. Domestic violence is perpetrated by, and on, both
men and women. However, most commonly, the victims are women, especially
in our country. Even in the United States, it has been reported that 85 per cent
of all violent crimes experienced by women are cases of intimate partner
violence, compared to 3 per cent of violent crimes experienced by men. Thus,
domestic violence in Indian context mostly refers to domestic violence against
women.
Although physical violence is often identified by the community as the main
form of domestic violence, there are equally damaging non-physical behaviours
that must be categorised as abusive and be identified. The categories of violence
are:

(1) Physical abuse: This includes directly assaulting a person like pushing,
slapping, punching, kicking, choking, biting, shaking, inflicting burns, hair
pulling, using a weapon, for example, belting, stoning, flogging with a
stick, spearing etc.
(2) Sexual abuse: Trying to force someone to have sex or take part in sexual
acts against their will, or using an object or body part to penetrate the
vagina, mouth or anus without permission or consent, injuring sexual
organs, intentionally hurting someone during sex, forcing someone to
have unsafe sex, without protection against pregnancy or sexually trans-
mitted diseases, forcing someone to take their clothes off or remain naked
against their will, being made to pose for pornography or being made to
look at pornography against their will, being forced to watch, observe or
take part in sexual activities, voyeurism or exhibitionism, criticising sexu-
ally or making sexually degrading comments or names and any other type
of sexual harassment.
(3) Verbal and emotional abuse: Verbal abuse includes the intent to humiliate,
degrade, demean, threaten, coerce or intimidate, and includes the use of
derogatory language or continual ‘put-downs’ to highlight a particular part
of a person’s being or their societal role. Consequently, the person may
experience this abuse as an attack on their identity resulting in psychologi-
cal harm. As a result, verbal abuse is closely related to emotional abuse.
Emotional or psychological abuse can leave a person feeling that they are
to blame for the problems in the family or in a relationship.
(4) Spiritual or cultural abuse: It is when power and control is used to deny
a partner or family member their human, cultural or spiritual rights and
needs. It can also include using religion or culture as an excuse to commit
particular abuses to justify the behaviour.
(5) Social abuse: Social abuse and isolation is commonly used by perpetra-
tors to separate the victim from supportive friends, family and community
agencies. This has particular relevance for women in rural and remote areas
where there is limited access to cheap transportation, where firearms are
more common, there is increased isolation from neighbours and support
services, and communities are small. This abuse may also be more preva-
lent for women from culturally and linguistically diverse communities.
Susmitha B. 605

(6) Economic or financial abuse: Involves the unequal control of finances in a

relationship or family and the deprivation of basic necessities.

Causes for Domestic Violence

Domestic violence against women is an age-old phenomenon. Women were
always considered weak, vulnerable and in a position to be exploited. Violence
has long been accepted as something that happens to women. Cultural mores,
religious practices, economic and political conditions may set the precedence for
initiating and perpetuating domestic violence, but ultimately committing an act of
violence is a choice that the individual makes out of a range of options. Although
one cannot underestimate the importance of macro system-level forces (such as
cultural and social norms) in the aetiology of gender-based violence within any
country, including India, individual-level variables (such as observing violence
between one’s parents while growing up, absent or rejecting father, delinquent
peer associations) also play important roles in the development of such violence.
The gender imbalance in domestic violence is partly related to differences in
physical strength and size. Moreover, women are socialised into their gender roles
in different societies throughout the world. In societies with a patriarchal power
structure and with rigid gender roles, women are often poorly equipped to protect
themselves if their partners become violent. However, much of the disparity
relates to how men dependence and fearfulness amount to a cultural disarmament.
Husbands who batter wives typically feel that they are exercising a right, main-
taining good order in the family and punishing their wives’ delinquency—
especially the wives’ failure to keep their proper place (WHO, 2001).
Women’s Task Force Report, 2000, reveals that ‘work related stresses, gambling
and financial debt, the use of drugs/alcohol, and access to firearms have also been
identified as additional causal factors for domestic violence, though they may
also be linked to poor impulse control’. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Women’s Task Force Report on violence indicated that alcohol often facilitated
violence by providing a socially acceptable excuse for the negative behaviour.
Jejeebhoy (1998) is of the view that not only wife beating is deeply entrenched,
but also people justify it. Thus, domestic violence is simply not a personal abnor-
mality but rather it roots in the cultural norms of the family and the society. Again,
looking from another angle, it is found that many of the victims of domestic
violence has either refused to name the perpetrator of the assault or attributed the
injuries to other reasons (Daga et al., 1999).
Murthy et al. (2004) are of the view that numbers of family members, type of
marriage and husband’s education besides menstrual problems have significant
influence on domestic violence.

Extent and Implications of the Problem

Domestic violence in India is the interplay between sociocultural factors, such
as the widespread acceptance of violence as part of marital life, and of male
606 Social Change 46(4)

entitlement, the equation of masculinity with dominance and control over women,
and individual factors such as low self-esteem, suspicion and negativism amongst
the women. As it is not only individual men who are involved in acts of domestic
violence but also female kin such as mothers-in-law, it gives credence to the
power and control and the implicit mandate of the socio-economic context of
power relations rather than to male violence.
Dr Nata Duvvury, Mr Patricia Carney and Dr Nguyen Huu (2013) have con-
ducted a study to assess the economic effects of the enormous cost of violence
against women, UN Women estimated the economic costs of domestic violence
considering out-of-pocket expenditures that women incur to access medical
treatment, police support, legal support, counselling and judicial support, and
the additional lost school fees if children miss school due to domestic violence
experienced by their mothers. The research provides a reliable estimate of the
economic costs of domestic violence considering two elements:

• The actual out-of-pocket expenditures that women incur to access medical

treatment, police support, legal support, counselling and judicial support,
and
• An additional out-of-pocket expenditure which is the lost school fees if
children miss school due to domestic violence experienced by their mothers.

The conclusions suggest that both out-of-pocket expenditures and lost earnings
represented nearly 1.41 per cent of the GDP in Vietnam in 2010. More impor-
tantly, estimated productivity loss due to violence indicates that women experi-
encing violence earn 35 per cent less than those not abused; representing another
significant drain on the economy. An estimate of overall productivity loss comes
to 1.78 per cent of GDP. These cost estimates underscore the urgent need to
comprehensively address domestic violence.
According to WHO (2013) global review of available data, 35 per cent of
women worldwide have experienced either physical and/or sexual intimate
partner violence or non-partner sexual violence. However, some national studies
show that up to 70 per cent of women have experienced physical and/or sexual
violence in their lifetime from an intimate partner. The report also provides some
shocking statistics:

• More than 64 million girls worldwide are child brides, with 46 per cent of
women aged 20–24 years in South Asia and 41 per cent in West and Central
Africa reporting that they married before the age of 18 years.
• Women and girls represent 55 per cent of the estimated 20.9 million victims
of forced labour.

Worldwide and 98 per cent of the estimated 4.5 million forced into sexual
exploitation.

• An estimated 125 million women and girls living today have undergone
female genital mutilation/cutting in the 29 countries where data exist.
Susmitha B. 607

The high cost of violence:

• Annual costs of intimate partner violence have been calculated at USD 5.8
billion in the United States in 2003 and GBP 22.9 billion in England and
Wales in 2004.

Impact of Domestic Violence

Violence not only causes physical injury, it also undermines the social, economic,
psychological, spiritual and emotional well-being of the victim, the perpetrator
and the society as a whole. Domestic violence is a major contributor to the ill
health of women. It has serious consequences on women’s mental and physical
health, including their reproductive and sexual health. These include injuries,
gynaecological problems, temporary or permanent disabilities, depression and
suicide, amongst others.

Many forms of verbal and psychological abuse appear relatively harmless at first,
but expand and grow more menacing over time, sometimes gradually and subtly.
As victims adapt to abusive behavior, the verbal or psychological tactics can gain
a strong ‘foothold’ in victims’ minds, making it difficult for them to recognize the
severity of the abuse over time. (National Centre for Elderly Abuse, 2005)

These physical and mental health outcomes have social and emotional sequelae
for the individual, the family, the community and the society at large. Over both
the short term and long term, women’s physical injuries and mental trouble either
interrupts, or ends, their educational and career paths leading to poverty and eco-
nomic dependence. Family life gets disrupted which has a significant effect on
children, including poverty (if divorce or separation occurs) and a loss of faith and
trust in the institution of the family. These sequelae not only affect the quality of
life of individuals and communities, but also have long-term effects on social
order and cohesion (WHO, 2001). The physical health consequences of domestic
violence are often obscure, indirect and emerge over the long term. For example,
women who were subject to violent attacks during childhood are bothered by
menstrual problems and irritable bowel syndrome in later life (WHO, 2001).
Domestic violence is the most common form of violence against women.
It affects women across the life span from sex selective abortion of female
foetuses to forced suicide and abuse, and is evident, to some degree, in every
society in the world. The WHO (2007) reports that the proportion of women who
had ever experienced physical or sexual violence or both by an intimate partner
ranged from 15 to 71 per cent, with the majority between 29 and 62 per cent.
India’s National Family Health Survey-III, carried out in 29 states during
2005–2006, has found that a substantial proportion of married women have been
physically or sexually abused by their husbands at some time in their lives. The
survey indicated that nationwide, 37.2 per cent of women ‘experienced violence’
after marriage. Bihar was found to be the most violent, with the abuse rate against
married women being as high as 59 per cent. Strangely, 63 per cent of these
608 Social Change 46(4)

incidents were reported from urban families rather than the state’s most backward
villages. It was followed by Madhya Pradesh (45.8 per cent), Rajasthan (46.3
per cent), Manipur (43.9 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (42.4 per cent), Tamil Nadu
(41.9 per cent) and West Bengal (40.3 per cent). Even these alarming figures
are likely to be significantly under estimated given that violence within families
continues to be a taboo subject in both industrialised and industrialising countries
(Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, 2006).
Mouzos and Makkai (2004) conducted an extensive survey in Australia during
2002–2003 (IVAWS) on 6,677 women aged between 18 and 69 years. The infor-
mation provided by them about experiences of physical and sexual violence
indicated:

• Forty-eight per cent of women reported experiencing some form of physical

violence by an intimate partner over their lifetime.
• The majority of these women experienced more than one type of viol-
ence. The co-existence of different forms of violence highlights that violence
is often not an isolated incident—with more than one type of violence
experienced either in the same incident or as part of a pattern of repeat
victimisation.

Twenty-five per cent of women experienced both physical and sexual violence,
either in the same incident, or on separate occasions.
Gender-based violence imposes obstacles to the full participation of women in
social, economic and political life. Illustrating the importance of this issue is the
call of the UN Millennium Project Task Force on Education and Gender Equality
for a global campaign on violence against women under the leadership of the
UN Secretary-General. The UN Millennium Project affirms that ‘freedom from
violence, especially for girls and women’ is a core right and essential to the ability
to lead a productive life (UNO, n.d.). Gender-based violence directly jeopardises
the achievement of the MDGs related to gender equality and the empowerment
of women, infant and maternal health and mortality. It is in this context studies
needs to be conducted regarding the perspectives of women towards gender-based
violence. A clear understanding of this will help in tackling the problem effec-
tively. For decades, women’s rights advocates and international agencies such as
the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) have worked to
promote a culture of zero tolerance for violence against women. An increasing
number of communities, coalitions and countries are mobilising around the cause.
Still the problem persists. It is the time to change the strategies to address the
issue (UNICEF, n.d.).

Suggestions
Several efforts are made to address the issue. To important measures are legal
measures and awareness campaigns targetting women asking them to develop
zero tolerance? Gender-based violence is entrenched in the culture of developing
nations; hence it is the time to change that culture. There is lot of awareness
Susmitha B. 609

programmes conducted regarding the issue. In almost all the awareness pro-
grammes the contents are legal issues, counselling facilities and measures to take
the support of the police. In large majority of the cases the audience is women.
There is a need for change in this way of thinking and believing. In fact, the men
and women are integral part of the society. I propose the change of attitude in
three ways.

Attitude of men towards women: Again most of the men are made to believe
their masculinity is established only when they are able to achieve supremacy
over the women in their lives. Again here also we need a change. It is expected
that the men must treat the women in their lives with dignity considering them as
a separate individual having their own aspirations and choices in life.

Attitude of women towards men: In the process of socialisation itself women are
made to accept the superiority of their male counterparts. She is always made to
believe that the ‘male members in her life will take major decisions regarding her
life’, not necessarily. Women are actually responsible for their lives. It is here the
change in the attitude is required.

Attitude of women towards women: Women are generally made to think that they
are week, they have to accept whatever their male counterparts decide. In many
cases, the mothers, mothers-in-law will try to pass on such thinking’s to their
daughter/daughters-in-law. However, now it is the responsibility of all the matured
women to alter such attitudes and make the women to take responsibility for her
life. More and more efforts must be made to bring changes in the said areas which
will in turn reduce the rate of domestic violence.
Another most important measure is to enhance the quality of family life. While
discussing about the causes we have understood that individuals at times become
violent due to some other stressors in life and in large majority of the cases work
life stress or economic factors. The most important things that are required in their
life are proper life skills and right attitude towards life. It is in this area the people
are in need of training. Hence efforts in this direction must be increased. Such
changes will lay a strong foundation for healthy society where men and women
treat each other with love, affection, respect and dignity. This is what is required
for a healthy society. Not merely the absence of violence but the presences of
positive emotions towards their female counter parts.

Conclusion
Women and men for an inseparable whole whether it is a family, a society or a
nation as a whole. Both need to work together to have a healthy family, healthy
society and healthy nation. Hence efforts must be made to enhance the quality of
life of the individuals which will in turn bring changes in many ways. Any other
effort without doing the base work will address the issue at the surface level and
the problem always persists underneath.
610 Social Change 46(4)

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