Domestic Violence in Bangladesh
It is very ironic how women and children suffer so much danger where
they should be safest, inside their home. The people that should be protecting
them from any harm are those who inflict harm to them. The word ‘home’
became estranged to them because it is the place where terror and pain dwells.
Domestic violence, or the abuse that happens inside the home by an
intimate partner or other family members, continues to be a global epidemic
maiming women and children the capacity to themselves as a whole human
being. Violence does not confine with the physical battering, it also dwarfs the
psychological, sexual and economic aspects of one’s life. Unfortunately, many
cases had been left unreported because tolerance and forgiveness of the family
members always takes place.
Domestic abuse is a severe act of human rights violation. The victims’
lives are stolen by threat, fear and trauma. It is a challenge to all the countries
worldwide to end impunity for the perpetrators by legislating law that will enact
strong protection for the women and children and punish severely for those
abusers.
According to the United Nations Population Fund, Bangladesh ranks
fourth among nations worldwide in terms of most cases of violence against
women. 65 percent of Bangladeshi males think that it is justifiable to beat up their
wives while 38 percent have no clear idea what constitutes physical violence.
Another 40 percent supports on keeping the female gender socially dormant. It is
clear how the women are treated by their male counterparts and how they play
role into the society. They are not just socially inactive, they are very well abused
as well.
Moreover, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) observes that
despite the 1997 statement issued by the United Nations Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) that the
Bangladesh government is questionable on legislating effective laws protecting
women from violence, the current situation remains awful and the abuse
continues.
However, the status of autonomy of a woman is linked to risk of
experiencing domestic violence. In some rural areas that are culturally
conservative, a married woman who had been a member of a credit group may
likely to be beaten by her husband with the odds ratio of 1:3. Whereas in the less
conservative places, the risk of odds would be 1:6. Credit group membership
strengthen women’s solidarity and independence. This sense of empowerment
discourages husband to beat their wives, however, some men take this as an
insult to their egos.
Multilevel analysis identifies that a husband was more likely to abuse his
wife if his father abuses his mother. Also, the risk of violence increases if the wife
is much younger and if the husband is educated beyond tenth grade. In rural
areas, income-earning woman is likely to be beaten while in urban areas,
husbands educated beyond the sixth grade were less likely to beat their wives.
On the other hand, the domestic violence against women does not only
limit itself in physical abuse. Despite the remarkable success of the government
in the health and family program in terms of immunization, contraceptive
endorsements and reducing mortality rate among children under five years old,
the life expectancy of female is much lower than the make and more than 14
percent of pregnancy deaths are associated with injuries regarding violence.
Moreover, 70 percent of pregnant women suffer from nutritional deficiency while
67 percent do not receive prenatal care due to gender discrimination.
Most women in Bangladesh do not experience their reproductive rights
like the concerns of fertility and sexuality. Sexual intercourse is usually with
coercion and violence. Early marriage often forces women to keep unwanted
pregnancy or to have unsafe abortion. Women’s health is in great jeopardy
because the basic right of health is not granted to them.
Domestic violence should be recognized as an impediment to the social,
cultural, political and economic growth of every country. It is not just a gender
discrimination issue, it is a crucial problem on how the people is culturally-
oriented on treating their counterparts. It should be taken for granted as if having
a blind eye or a deaf ear. Women play an important part of society. And
remember that women are not weaklings. In fact, they are very strong to survive
in the plague of domestic violence for so many decades.
References:
http://www.unhcr.org
http://centre.icddrb.org
http://www.hurights.or.jp
Domestic Violence Against Women and Girls, June 2000
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
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