Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Domestic Violence
Even though the world comes with various cultural traditions, it seems that domestic violence is one of the few aspects that can be noticed in almost every single culture around the world.
On top of that, there are enough societies that maintain rigid gender roles that define male honor of masculinity as dominant. Naturally, these societies are usually associated with violence against women – domestic violence, in short.
Of course, not all of those who are victims of domestic violence can rely on or contact domestic violence defense lawyers, mainly because of their traditions.
Therefore, in today’s article, we’ll look at some cross-cultural perspectives on domestic violence, to further understand how culture and tradition affect this global issue.
photo via Pixabay user Succo
It is More than Just an Issue
Statistics show that more than 33% of women suffer physical abuse from a family or intimate member. It goes without saying that men are not abused as much as women – and this is mainly due to culture/ tradition.
Of course, it would also be wrong to assume that men are not abused at all and that they are privileged by every society on earth.
However, the most affected people, when it comes to domestic violence, are women!
- 40 to 70% of female victims of homicide were killed by a former or current intimate partner.
- Women who are aged 15 to 44 are known to lose more Discounted Health Years of Life to domestic violence and rape than to cervical cancer, breast cancer, heart diseases, etc.
Domestic Violence Around the World
Even though the United Nations General Assembly described domestic violence, in 1993, as most of us know it today, local definitions of violence and abuse vary.
Because of this, it is rather challenging to determine the actual prevalence of such violence within certain cultures. For example:
- Many patriarchal societies imply that the man has the right to discipline his wife, even using physical means.
- Villagers from Ghana said that it was allowed for men to physically chastise their wives – in fact, such thing is labeled as appropriate.
- Japanese men, for example, have the right to batter their wives, no matter their class or education level.
- Institutionalized social norms, as well as religious texts, allow men from Islamic countries to inflict violence on their wives or female relatives.
The examples could go on and on. It has been shown that ongoing – and severe – domestic violence has been documented in almost every culture. The only exceptions are the isolated, non-patriarchal, and preindustrial societies.
The Reasons
Most women who have suffered domestic violence or have witnessed it claim that such things happen mainly due to poverty.
Loss of resources, land, as well as self-determination caused by colonization – in some cases – are believed to be some of the main causes of domestic violence.
However, most cultures do report such cases in communities with severe hardship and poverty.
The Bottom Line
In the end, one thing is certain – domestic violence is present everywhere in the world. The serious aspect is that most cultures allow domestic violence as part of their tradition or religion.
While people actively work to stop tradition and religion from being some of the main causes of domestic violence, they cannot quite solve poverty or hardship. This is the main reason why everybody should have a domestic violence defense lawyer who they can contact.
Author: Tech Social
