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Women suffer silent abuse
 |
by Nancy Li |
Columns
Your View |
| Home | News | Viewpoint | Sports |
Get To Know Us |
Time Out and Columns |
Help Wanted / Careers |
Back Issues |
|
by Nancy Li |
Columns
Your View |
Looking at international statistics on violence against women I found two underlying issues: silence about the problem and unequal gender power.
Women who suffer abuse and violence in almost every culture don't or can't talk about the problem since it often happens at home.
Readings also tell us that reaching out to women is not enough to stop domestic violence; men have to be involved since it is men who need to stop being violent or abusive.
Now those men who are abusive will probably feel uncomfortable when they read this. Generalizing people or issues can lead to stereotyping, and every situation needs to be looked at individually.
In fact I know of cases where the woman manipulated the system for her own financial gain. I sympathize with these men who often feel that our system is tilted to favor the women. But the fact remains that violence against women by men makes up the majority of such cases.
I can't help but notice in the news the amount of domestic violence and violence against women on the streets that continues to happen - from the infamous killing of the eleven women in Montreal to the recent incidences of purse snatching in many of our own shopping malls.
Often, it is easy to identify physical abuse. Other kinds of abuse - psychological, economic and sexual abuse - are less blatant, and therefore harder for a woman to recognize as abuse.
One example of psychological abuse would be the woman's experience of daily put-down and ridicule by their partner or husband. Our society in general condones violence against women. After all, it is shown in newspapers, on television and movie screens.
Physical abuse of women is often vividly depicted in the so-called action movies and in pornographic magazines readily available in our neighborhood grocery stores. The many "adult" video stores and "massage parlors" do not help either.
When government regulations seem to be able to seep into every little corner of our life, they can't seem to do anything about the sex trade.
On International Women's Day, do one thing to help eliminate violence against women.
