 The intimate enemy For tens of millions of women today, home is a locus of terror. It is not the assault of strangers that women need fear the most, but everyday brutality at the hands of relatives, friends and lovers. Battering at home constitutes by far the most universal form of violence against women and is a significant cause of injury for women of reproductive age. Yet it is not the sort of act that commands headlines because it happens behind closed doors and because victims fear speaking out. Even in a comparatively open society like the US, research shows that only 1 in 100 battered women ever reports the abuse she suffers. Crime statistics reveal that most women who are raped know their attackers, as do 40 per cent of female murder victims. Indeed, domestic violence is tragically commonplace. It occurs across education, class, income and ethnic boundaries. A World Bank analysis of 35 recent studies from industrialized and developing countries shows that one quarter to one half of all women have suffered physical abuse by an intimate partner. And while there are not yet enough data to make accurate country-by-country comparisons, the prevalence and pattern of domestic violence are remarkably consistent from one culture to the next. Statistics on rape from industrialized and developing countries show strikingly similar patterns: Between one in five and one in seven women will be victims of rape in their lifetime. One might assume that the spreading emancipation of women would have
diminished the reach of violence. Yet violence in the home has been stubbornly
resistant to advances in women's rights. In many Western countries, domestic
violence is targeted by law and the media, but it has not summoned the
sort of insistent public campaigns as have issues such as driving while
intoxicated or smoking.
Further, in most countries today, domestic abuse is officially regarded as a private family matter. While sexual and physical assault are broadly accepted as crimes outside the home, the law in most countries is mute when it comes to attacks within the family nest. Laws that stop at the doorstep of the family are a form of moral hypocrisy. And there are other equally compelling reasons why the issue cries out for urgent and fervent public attention. First, domestic violence reaches menacingly into the next generation. Children of violent fathers are often physically abused alongside their mothers. In addition, studies show that children of violent parents are more apt not only to repeat that behaviour with their own offspring but to commit violent acts in the larger society. This dangerous cycle must be broken. Second, there are clear parallels between behaviour within and outside the home. If the systematic oppression of women and girls is tolerated widely at the family level, society at large will be shaped accordingly. Studies strongly indicate that domestic violence is a key component of social problems, including street children, child labour and prostitution. Third, it is a matter of public health. Violence debilitates women and girls physically, psychologically and socially, sometimes with lifelong results. Fourth, family violence affects the healthy development and productivity of all societies. Women are now widely accepted as the cornerstone of sustainable development; protecting their rights and raising their status is essential to endeavours ranging from family planning to food production. Women's aspirations and achievements are powerfully inhibited, not just by the injuries of physical attacks but by the implicit threat of male violence. This is a lesson learned early, when the shadow of violence begins to
restrain a girl's imagination of what she can do and be. The lesson is
never forgotten. Where is the woman who has not felt a whisper of fear
in the face of male aggression—and limited her activities accordingly?
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