Partiarchy and domestic violence against women in Madhesh

Abstract

Background: Violence jeopardizes human life, health and happiness. It includes threat, coercion and the arbitrary exploitation of resources. Violence against women is rampant where many women are behaved ruthlessly by their male partners. The forms of violence against woman are physical, mental/emotional, sexual and economical. Domestic violence against women is the most pervasive form of human right violation. The aim of the study is to describe the forms of domestic violence against women and to analyze the circumstances that have induced violence against women in Madhesh. Methodology: The research design applied in this study is descriptive and explanatory. Since this research is qualitative the in-depth interview technique was used to collect the information, and a purposive sampling method using the snowball technique was applied to collect the data from the four village of Mahottary and Dhanusha district of Madhesh. Results: Total 28 cases interviewed in this study. The 26 cases have experiences physical violence where the perpetrators of 19 and 4 cases are husband, and in laws respectively. Whereas 3 women were beaten by both, husband and in law of the family. All most all the 28 respondents were suffering from emotional violence like harassment and disrespect, threat for divorce and killing, reproaching and criticizing, and mistrust and damaging the social/public image. Similarly, the victim of domestic violence, woman had experienced sexual violence like marital rape, sexual harassment, indifferent of sex, and rape culture. In terms of economic violence, the woman are facing either direct violence (their personal income is forcefully seized by family members), or indirect violence (they are not given money for their nominal needs) or abandoned and neglected. Conclusion: Violence against women has evolved as a part of a system of unequal gender relation. Male supremacy or dominance over female are often reflected in diverse societies. The patriarchal oppression, which manifests in a wide variety of forms has survived well in the family, has contributed a lot to damage the manhood, and has promoted the gendered socialization that only promotes false consciousness of women as inferior beings. Keywords: Violence against Women, Family, Gender, Feminism, Patriarchy.