Intimate Partner Violence

Megan Culkins

GWS Paper 2

Intimate Partner Violence

            Women all over the world experience both physical and verbal abuse from their partners.  It is a major issue in countries throughout the world but it is still rarely talked about.  Throughout Africa, Europe and Asia, women suffer from abuse and are sometimes at higher risk due to the region they live in and their social standing.  Many women end up keeping their abuse to themselves instead of getting help but in recent years there are more advocates for domestic abuse to help women deal with their situations.  The World Health Organization has played an important role in raising awareness about intimate partner violence.  By becoming more vocal about intimate partner violence it can help encourage other women to talk about their abuse and leave the unhealthy situations that they are in.  It is an issue that should not be so common in today’s society but it is hard to help people when the violence is happening in private situations.   

            Domestic violence is not limited to one race, class, country or age group.  It happens to women all over the world for many different reasons.  Joni Seager describes domestic violence as “a means of keeping women in their place” (2008).  By this quote, Seager means that abuse is a way to keep women in a role they are expected to be in, usually a stereotypical one like a woman could be beaten if she doesn’t have dinner ready when her husband gets home from work.  As a result of violence, women become confined to their homes, their relationship or their family.  With so many women hiding their abuse, the statistics are hard to determine. 

            Through surveys and increased advocacy, it is becoming easier to learn how many women are actually abused in their relationships.  The recent laws that many countries have started to pass are also making it easier for women to open up about their abuse but it is not an immediate change.  An increasing amount of shelters opening in countries is helping women cope with their abuse, if they are able to separate themselves from the situation (Seager 2008).  Hopefully in years to come, awareness and advocacy will continue to increase to that more, if not all, women around the world can feel safe.

            Globally, intimate partner violence is a major issue and the Sub-Saharan region of Africa, ranks high among other developing regions (McCloskey 2005).  Some of the high ranking countries are Zambia, Sierra Leone, Uganda, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Tanzania.  A study done in Moshi, Tanzania interviewed 1,444 women that were in a current relationship.  Twenty-one percent of women in the study reported experiencing partner violence within the last year; twenty-six reported experiencing abuse throughout their life.  Some of the common traits of victims are if they’ve received less than an 8^th grade education, having five or more children or if the woman was sexually abused as a child (McCloskey 2005).  Husbands or partners were also more likely to become violent if they have more than one partner.  Fifteen percent of the women who have been victimized were threatened physically and sixteen percent had been hit, slapped or kicked.  Additionally, a little more than one percent of the women had been forced to have intercourse (McCloskey 2005).  The violence in their culture is sometimes accepted because of the use of physical punishment to control children, usually more serious than a spanking which some parents in the United States choose as a means of discipline.  Sometimes a child who has experienced violence, have a more violent future and have a higher risk of becoming abusive.  There are not many opportunities for the women in Tanzania to get help because there are very few counselors or social workers available to them and even fewer are trained in domestic violence (McCloskey 2005).

            Kathryn Yount surveyed married women in Minya, Egypt about the abuse they have experienced during their adulthood.  Of the 2,522 women that responded to Yount’s survey, twenty-seven percent reported that they had been beaten during their adulthood.  This means that approximately 680 married women in Minya had experienced intimate partner violence and four percent of these women had been a victim of a severe beating.  Some claims have been made that women stay in abusive relationships because of family or financial obligations which makes them more tolerant of the abuse or less willing to leave (Yount 2005).  While this can be true, almost thirty-eight women in Minya sought help after being abused, which may seem low but it is actually much more than in past decades.  In addition to seeking help, forty-four percent of abused women have had a place to go after a beating but this doesn’t mean they are always able to stay there.  Even if they are able to leave for short time after a beating, they often have to return to the harmful situation (Yount 2005).  Some say men abuse women because force is a way for men to compensate for a lack of other resources, economic for example, and through abuse they can force a desired behavior out of their wife.  The majority of husbands that beat their wives in Minya justify the beating.  Over half of them ‘sometimes’ have an excuse for the beating and a little more than twenty percent justify their actions for most of the abuse they invoke (Yount 2005).  Hopefully with more advocacy and awareness, the rates throughout all of Egypt can decrease and even more women can have a safe place to go if they are a victim of domestic violence. 

            Europe and Eurasia are greatly affected by intimate partner violence and perspectives throughout each country vary by region.  Some of the countries that have a larger problem with domestic violence are Macedonia, Romania, Azerbaijan and Russia.  The rates within these countries range from ten percent to thirty-three percent (Rosenberg 2006).  This region varies from Africa in ways that the reasons a man is justified for beating a woman are different.  In Eurasia, men are defended for beating women for reasons such as “preparation of food, housework, childcare, fidelity and respect” (Rosenberg 2006).  Other factors can include poverty, patriarchal values, substance abuse, witnessing parental violence and being abused as a child.  Women in these countries were also asked if a husband beating his wife could be justified and there are some alarming results.  In Belgrade, only six percent feel that abuse can be reasoned but in Uzbekistan, seventy percent of women felt that beatings could be justified.  Russia was in between these two ends of the spectrum with thirty-two to forty-seven percent believed in a husband’s justification (Rosenberg 2006). 

            Women in the more developed countries of Europe and Eurasia had many more resources to help them than the women in Africa. Some of their resources for help included the police, social workers, family and friends.  About one fifth of the women who experienced abuse in Romania, sought help by contacting the police according to data from 2005 (Rosenberg 2006).  Russia had the highest rates of reporting intimate partner violence with twenty0two percent reporting an incident to the police.  Nine percent sought council from a social worker with fifty-nine and sixty-nine percent told family and friends respectively.  A small portion, only fifteen percent, told no one at all.  It is encouraging to see though that so many people have found comfort or safety in telling other people about their abuse (Rosenberg 2006). 

            Since intimate partner violence is a major issue around the entire world, many different organizations are taking steps to help raise awareness and stop domestic abuse.  The World Health Organization is trying to make a difference globally.  The first steps they have taken are towards prevention is intimate partner and sexual violence.  The World Health Organization (WHO) is raising awareness of short and long term health consequences of abuse and support countries to increase the number of shelters and establish prevention programs and policies in order to reduce violence against women (Prevention 2012).  The WHO has also tried to “prioritize the prevention of intimate partner and sexual violence in global and national health and development agendas” and they want to help more lower and middle income families by expanding the global evidence base.  Their advocacy work also helps the WHO work towards intimate partner violence prevention.  WHO publishes evidence on sexual violence and intimate partner prevention and campaign materials in order to raise awareness as well as acting as the “Secretariat of the Violence Prevention Alliance which has a significant focus on intimate partner and sexual violence prevention” (Prevention 2012).

            With so many women being victims of domestic abuse, one third of women worldwide, it is hard not to wonder why so many women stay in their situations (Domestic 2012).  The affects can also depend on the type of the type of abuse a woman is exposed to.  Physical, sexual, psychological/emotional and destruction are all different forms of battering (Women’s 2012).  While some claim that alcohol or drugs can be the cause of abuse, in reality it runs much deeper than that.  The cause of violence is typically based of learned behaviors or a response to stress, frustration and anger (Women’s 2012).  While an abuser’s personality and social surroundings can be a reason why they abuse, it can also be related to their geographical location and the culture they are living in. 

            The reason women stay in abusive relationships range from situational and emotional factors to a woman’s personal beliefs.  Situational reasons range from economic dependence, fear of more abuse, social isolation, negative reactions from family or friends, ties to their community and the belief that what they are going through is “acceptable violence” (Women’s 2012).  Emotional factors include insecurities, loyalty and wanting to help their partner, denial, love, guilt, shame and humiliation, and the false hope that things will improve.  A woman’s stance on parenting, religion, responsibility, and their own identity are typically their personal reasons for being unable to leave their partner (Women’s 2012).  These reasons face women throughout the world because while one woman in Africa can’t leave an abusive relationship because of her children, another woman in Europe can’t escape because of her religion.  No matter the reason for a women staying in an abusive relationship or where they are in the world, it is important that at some point the reach out for help for either their self or for their children. 

            The amount of women throughout the world that have been subjected to intimate partner violence are astounding.  While many changes have been made to improve to resources for battered women, it is still hard for victims to open up about their abuse and get the help that they need.  An increasing amount of awareness and advocacy is helping to provide women with more courage to leave their situations, no matter how difficult.  With domestic violence being the leading cause of injury women it is an important global issue that needs to be address in developed and under-developed countries (Domestic 2012).  Hopefully in years to come the amount if intimate partner violence can continue can decrease and more support will be brought to women that are in unhealthy situations.

"Domestic Violence Statistics." Domestic Violence Statistics. Web. 30 Mar. 2012. <http://domesticviolencestatistics.org/domestic-violence-statistics/>

McCloskey, Laura Ann, Corrine Williams, and Ulla Larsen. "Gender Inequality and Intimate Partner Violence among Women in Moshi, Tanzania." Guttmacher Institute 31.3 (2005): 124-30. Http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.mnsu.edu/stable/pdfplus/3649516.pdf. Web. 29 Mar. 2012.

"Prevention of Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence (domestic Violence)." WHO. World Health Organization, 2012. Web. 30 Mar. 2012. <http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/sexual/en/index.html>.

Rosenberg, Ruth. "Domestic Violence in Europe and Eurasia." US AID (2006): 18. Social Transition Team. Web. 29 Mar. 2012. <http://www.usaid.gov/locations/europe_eurasia/dem_gov/docs/domestic_violence_study_final.pdf>.

Seager, Joni. The Penguin Atlas of Women in the World: Fourth Edition. Penguin, 2008. Print.

"Women's Rural Advocacy Program." Web. 29 Mar. 2012. <http://www.letswrap.com/content/Domestic_Abuse_Information.pdf>.

Yount, Kathryn M. "Resources, Family Organization, and Domestic Violence Against Married Women in Minya, Egypt." Journal of Marriage and Family 67.3 (2005): 587-88. National Council on Family Relations. Web. 29 Mar. 2011. http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.mnsu.edu/stable/pdfplus/3600190.pdf?acceptTC=true.