Are Women Responsible for Domestic Violence?

ARE WOMEN RESPONSIBLE FOR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE Submitted by: Julie Zothanpuii Khawlhring Ph. D Research Scholar (Full Time) Presidency College (Autonomous) Chennai 600005 Domestic Violence is a serious problem that occurs in every culture and social group. It has devastating physical, emotional, financial and social effects on women, children, families and communities around the world. Domestic Violence is defined as violence or mistreatment an individual may experience at the hands of a marital, common-law, former or same sex partner. The abuse may happen during a relationship or after it has ended. Women in most cases are seen to allow the domestic violence to happen. This can happen due to various reasons, fear of loss of relationship with husband and others, fear of society, fear of being isolated etc. While we talk about equality of gender it is very important that both men and women understand their human rights. The lack of awareness of human rights and the challenges in the political and legal systems are a big reason for the promotion of domestic violence. Human are known as social animals and therefore it is important that while they have close bonding between their family members, they also have a good social circle. This is possible only when both men and women are treated equally. While men understand the important role of women in the evolution of this world and women parallely stand tall against such cases of domestic violence and become a role model for others. It is always said that prevention is better than cure. It is therefore very important that the government is taking enough steps to educate the masses and become more approachable for women so that they can easily take necessary actions.