For countless women, entering married life often means the beginning of a stressful, violent existence. Beating one’s wife seems to be ingrained in many men’s mindsets as the appropriate behaviour for a strong male, but the consequences are misery for the wife and children, and often a broken, unhappy home. The concept of domestic violence is based on the notion of patriarchy, which needs to be converted into equality.
Much is said about the safety of women in public places, but the discourse is not as loud or as widespread about the safety of women in their own homes. This is mainly because domestic violence is often seen as a personal matter, to be resolved by the family.
For countless women, entering married life often means the beginning of a stressful, violent existence. Beating one’s wife seems to be ingrained in many men’s mindsets as the appropriate behaviour for a strong male, but the consequences are misery
Dr Seema Malik is the Chief Medical Superintendent of Mumbai’s Bhabha Hospital, and is also the project director of Dilaasa, a women’s crisis centre based out of the hospital.
If one section of society were to start physically beating up and assaulting another section of society, the police would declare it a riot, the Rapid Action Force would be brought in, and the state machinery would swing into action to take appropriate steps to bring an end to the violence and protect those who need help.
