Modest Proposal To Reduce Violence Against Women

Family violence in Indigenous communities is linked with the Domestic violence policy (Parliament of Australia, 2011). The Current definition used by the Australia government to guide domestic violence policies. Is that domestic violence “refers to acts of violence that occur between people who have, or have had, an intimate relationship” (Chung & Wendt, 2015, p.202). In addition the policy states that violence in a family relationship to be between two people related by blood or marriage. (Department of communities Child Safety and Disability Services, 2012). Thus family violence must have a separate policy to be able to address the accurate impacts of the problem in Indigenous Communities (Larsen & Peterson, 2010).

In the article “Domestic violence against indigenous women is everybody’s problem” domestic violence is depicted as a serious social problem that involves “unspeakable acts of violence” that leaves victims experiencing fear and despair (Taylor 2014). More specifically, the social construction of domestic violence will be discussed with an emphasis on Aboriginal women and a typology of intimate partner violence. The social construction of domestic violence has serious implications for victims of domestic abuse because there is a failure to address the processes that perpetuate the violence. Instead, domestic violence is addressed through the illusion of social support. What is evident is that domestic violence is a social problem that requires comprehensive services, particularly for indigenous women, to address the complexity of the interaction between the individual’s social location and the causes that lead to the violence.

Australian aboriginal communities have been reported to experience a series of episodes involving an abnormal number of their members being particularly violent. "Indigenous people experience violence (as offenders and victims) at rates that are typically two to five times those experienced by non-Indigenous people and this can be much higher in some remote communities." (Willis) This is certainly disturbing, taking into account that it is obvious that these communities are predisposed to experiencing more violence than non-Aboriginal communities. Indigenous women are apparently even more likely

Even though there are more services and awareness about domestic violence in Australia, it is still an epidemic with 1 in 3 people affected. Those affected usually do not seek support from outside sources due to being scared of the reactions of the perpetrator, fear of not being believed or even fear of what the police or other services may do to their family. This leaves the victim in a vulnerable situation feeling helpless and subjected to more and more violence overtime, increasing risk of suicidality or worse, murder.

Australian studies have thrown that partner abuse within Australia ranged vastly from 2.1% to 28%. This is because results were largely dependent on the definition of domestic violence used in each study. The lack of precise definition of the term results in a number of various definitions. It is therefore essential that all forms of abuse, whether they are physical, sexual or verbal, truly are categorised under the term domestic violence (Hegarty and Roberts, 1998). Hence, it is evident that perceptions of domestic violence would vary from one individual to another.

A government based program is ‘The Koori Family Violence Court Support Program’, it was developed in 2008 by the Department of Justice and works with representatives from the court, the Aboriginal Justice Forum and the Indigenous Family Violence Partnership Forum. This program aims to provide support to Aboriginal Australians suffering from family violence in a culturally appropriate way. It was developed due to the alarming differences in family violence statistics between Aboriginal Australian women and non-indigenous Australians. Figure 25 identifies that Aboriginal Australian women are 10 times more likely to die from violent assault within the home compared to other non-indigenous women.

Domestic violence is a universal phenomenon with millions of people as victims and perpetrators. It destroys homes and families. Victimization occurs regardless of race, gender, religion, class, and sexual orientation. The term is often used to refer to violence that occurs between two people in an intimate relationship, but extend to violence against children and the elderly. I use the term domestic violence in this literature to refer to intimate partner violence. Globally, 35% of women have endured either physical or sexual abuse in the hands of their partner. Unfortunately I was not able to find a reputable global statistics on the victimization of men.

Violence against women is pervasive amongst all classes and groups, however evidence has been shown that various socioeconomic variables may contribute towards violence against women, with numerous Australian studies linking higher risks of violence to economic and social disadvantage (People, 2005). Data assembled by reported domestic violence incidents by New South Wales Police concluded that there was stronger correlation between violent incidents in an area and the level of economic and social disadvantage, particularly higher in areas with sole parents under 25 years of age, a higher percentage

The primary aim of this research article was to examine demographic characteristics and compare the injury circumstances, repeat admission and hospital stay between male and female Indigenous Australians hospitalized due to interpersonal violence in Western Australia from 1990-2004. This population-based, retrospective study utilized records from Western Australia mortality database and the Hospital Morbidity Data System. Records that had the primary diagnosis as an ‘injury’ and external cause as an’ injury inflicted by another’, were not included in the study. The results showed that the demographic information of both genders were the same however, there were higher rates of hospitalization of females at nearly 1.3 times the rate of males. Also, the rate of readmission for interpersonal violence was similarly higher among Indigenous females. The hospital admission rate of Indigenous persons was also higher than that of non-Indigenous persons throughout the 15 years study period with the rate for Indigenous females to non-Indigenous females significantly higher than in males.

The World Health Organization defines violence against women as “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life” (2014). Aboriginal women are three times more likely to experience physical abuse than non-Aboriginal women, and this was found to be true regardless of whether the offense was spousal or non-spousal violence (Brownridge, 2003).

Domestic violence is a subject that is known about, but most often left behind. At times victims of domestic violence are not even aware that they indeed are victims. It is also common that when one does know about domestic violence, most often it is a woman that is the victim. That is not the case; there are other populations that are effected as well. When people are victims of such acts, they are more likely to develop some type of disorder as well as other issues. Although victims are getting abused, these cases are not often reported but as time goes by there are more people and victims speaking up and making reports.

Domestic Violence against women is not only physical and sexual but leads to a path of psychological abuse. Women of all backgrounds including; race, age, religion, ethnicity, and class can be victims of domestic violence. Even though domestic violence is looked down upon in societies, it can be a difficult crime to punish. Men typically have the upper hand in a society; although, women have started to make their voices heard by standing up to their abusers and becoming more of a force in government policy making.

On television (whether it be the news or in newspapers), video games that our children play, sporting clubs that our youth are growing up in and influenced by, nightclubs that our teenagers and young adults are attending, and on the streets where other dangers are nearby. Its not fair to say that because of our constant encounters with these events that domestic violence should be “accepted,” but to some degree it is these social and environmental factors that make people seen them as “bad things happening to good people”. But this does not mean that violence against women is inevitable, it just means we need to find out what drives this issue and what works in order to prevent it. I know most of you are probably thinking, what about the male victims of domestic abuse? Yes, our male Australian’s should and are considered when debating this increasing matter, but females are our main priority and this is why. 95% of victims are both females and our younger society, and these 95% of victims experience violence from male perpetrators, this is a statistic that we cannot ignore, and this is why we need to educate our children of the importance of gender equality, and why succumbing to violence is not the answer. Focussing on violence itself is not the answer to riding the problem. We must look at all aspects surrounding violence such as the inequality, behaviours and attitudes that support violent actions. To do this

Gender-based violence is only one of the many inequality problems that women face within our society. In the midst of this problem something that becomes more infuriating is the fact that it most often happens at the hands of friends, loved ones, and family members who find a way to justify the abuse and/or put the blame back on the victim. Gender-based violence against women is commonly seen as both a consequence and a cause of gender inequality (mainstream domestic, 194). In this paper, gender-based violence will be discussed in three forms, intimate partner abuse, harassment, and sexual assault.

How to stop violence being committed on pretext of alleged witchcraft practice: This sort of violence is visible only in tribal belts of eastern India. There is a need for stringent action against the culprits. Action need to be taken in all the cases. Science has made so much advancement and still people believe in such nonsense things like witchcraft. Illiteracy and blind following of religion are the main root causes of problem. Police always becomes mute spectator in such cases and does not take action for fear of local disturbances and people protest. Politics also plays its role and government representatives never raise voice against such incidences for the fear of losing its vote bank.