Ethnic Affairs Minister Judith Collins has rightly emphasised the need to quell family violence and make our homes safer.
Speaking at a conference of the Women’s Committee of the New Zealand Indian Central Association in Rotorua last fortnight (read related report under Homelink), she said that family violence was a menace that was prevalent in many New Zealand homes, regardless of ethnicity, financial status, education or place of residence.
“We have the power to speak up, break the cycle and ensure that victims are able to get the help that they need and provide a safe environment for their families. We must stamp out family violence,” she said.
It was a wake-up call for women of the community, for many have since long endured violence inflicted by their relatives at home, including husbands, in-laws, and in some cases even their children.
The uncharacteristic rise in domestic violence, with the larger participation of the Indian segment of the population should not only be treated with shame but with utmost contempt; for after all, Indians pride themselves of rising from a land that exalts women.
And for all the ‘over representation,’ in official statistics, family violence, involving women who are verbally, physically and sexually abused by their male counterparts, the unreported numbers may be much more.
The cause and effect of family violence, a majority of which is perpetrated against women, is not a matter to be condoned.
What causes such violence? Is it conjugal discord, precipitated by infidelity perhaps? Or is it because some men are such chauvinistic pigs that they would want their women to be domestic servants during the day and sex slaves at night?
Some have cited gambling, alcohol and narcotic drugs as reasons for rising violence against women.
From a global standpoint, there is cause for concern too.
“The world is an awfully violent place and not just in its war zones,” says the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of the Armed Forces (DCAF).
“Men still fill most of the bodybags in wartime, including in civil wars, but their sisters, mothers, wives and daughters, face nothing short of a hidden gendercide.”
Violence against women is nothing new. Everything from infanticide to rape, dowry deaths, sex trafficking and domestic violence in richer countries as well as poorer ones, is perpetrated against women.
Women must stand up for their rights and complain to the authorities if they are abused and assaulted. New Zealand has laws that do not tolerate domestic violence.
Perpetrators of domestic violence should be considered on a par with antisocial elements and brought to justice.
Women between the ages of 15 and 44 are more likely to be maimed or die from violence inflicted one way or another by their menfolk than through cancer, malaria, traffic accidents or war combined.
