3 years ago a study of 379 married women in Tiswadi taluka inGoa on revealed that 26.6% of the women suffered abuse. The figures havedoubled today. Factors predisposing the women to victimisation included earlyyears of marriage, poor educational status for men and women, working women,unemployed men and alcohol consumption by the husband. Majority of the victimised women preferred tobe silent suffers. It is an irony that while we keep celebrating woman’s rightsin all spheres, we show little or no concern for her honour and dignity.
Violence against women, often referred to as gender-biasedviolence, evolves largely from the women’s subordinate status in society. Contrary to the violence against men, whichis often caused by strangers, women are usually victimized in their own houseby their husbands. Intimate partnerviolence (IPV) challenges the usual belief of home being the safe haven; as formany women it is a place of humiliation, pain and unending suffering. More recently, many women face violence andsevere abuse also from their grown-up sons.
After the passing of the Domestic Violence Act (DVA) in 2005,several women have been able to get specific reliefs from the court. For women who are mentally and physicallystrong, a residence order ensures them that they have a roof over theirhead. This is applicable even in thecase of live-in relationships. Thebattle for the custody of children and maintenance for the wife has becomeeasier to get under the DVA.
What does a victim of abuse do? If she stands up to her husband’s violence hemay get more aggressive. If she saysstop he may get more furious. The onlychoice she is often left with is to be submissive and silent so that she doesnot suffer more abuse. Community supportand counseling centers could have helped women cope better in such situations.
Education and economic independence are two things that couldhelp women have a voice in their relationship with the spouse. Most women allow themselves to be abusedsimply because they have nowhere to go. This brings us to an important point where the state could be a pillarof support. In Goa it is high time wehave a proper shelter home for women in difficult circumstances. Maybe this would also prevent many suicideswhere women have burnt themselves along with their children in cases of unbearabledomestic violence.
The author, an ex-lecturer from People’s Higher Secondary, is themanager of a school in Goa. She assistedin the drafting of the Children’s Act and is also the convenor for CampaignAgainst Child Labour in Goa (CACL)
