Domestic Violence
Symptom of a Malfunctioning Societyby Lalitha Chelliah
From Green Left Weekly, July 14, 2004
The Coalition government is touting its new media campaign -- which includes TV ads and a glossy brochure delivered to all households -- as a major response to the problem of domestic violence. The comments by Rodenberry (GLW #587) address some of the issues raised by this launch, but many remain untold and unrecognised.
According to a report commissioned by the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (Vic Health), launched on June 16, domestic violence contributes 9% to the total disease burden in Victoria for women aged 15-44 years.
Domestic violence is responsible for more disease than many well-known risk factors such as high blood pressure, smoking and obesity. Women are overwhelmingly more likely to be victims of domestic violence and to suffer associated health problems.
According to the 1996 Australian Women's Safety Survey, more than 1 million women or 17.1% of women have experienced physical or sexual violence. Less than 20% of women report this violence to the police. Women affected are more likely to have alcohol problems as well as to smoke and use non-prescription drugs, amphetamines and solvents. For young victims, the likelihood of unplanned pregnancies, terminations and miscarriages increases.
In 2000-01, Victorian police attended 21,618 incidents of domestic violence and 19,933 children were present during these incidents. In the same year, 10,200 people sought assistance for housing due to family violence and 95% of these were female.
Children are major victims of domestic violence, and according to the Vic Health report, an estimated one in four children and young people have witnessed domestic violence. This exposure increases their risk of mental health, behavioural and learning difficulties in the short term, and of developing mental health problems later in life.
According to research by Henderson and Associates in 2000, businesses are losing at least $500 million per year due to domestic violence. Victims take $30 million per year in sick leave. Associated staff turnover costs a further $6 million annually.
The federal government's media campaign is an insult to all those children and women affected by this crime. The Coalition has manipulated a serious issue that affects society as a whole -- and especially women and children -- to its advantage prior to an election.
As Rodenberry states (GLW #587), it is an attempt by PM John Howard and the Coalition government to impose their values on society -- of holding together families at all costs. Women often care for the breadwinner in the family and therefore perform many of the tasks the system would otherwise have to take into account if it was to pay a fair wage. Women (often in addition to working a paid job) cook, clean, wash, bear and care for children and perform many other domestic tasks to enable the primary wage-earner to attend work free of these pressures. This is the hidden cost that the government wants to contain.
The other economic factor is the unjust and unequal distribution of wealth. Poverty is the single biggest contributor to domestic violence. Today, 21% of Australian families live on less than $400 per week, which is below the minimum wage. This includes households where one or more adults work.
Howard's campaign also refuses to recognise and address emotional abuse. Physical abuse is the only means by which a woman or partner can obtain a restraining order against their partner. Victims have no means of taking any sort of legal action against emotional abuse.
The system does not work for people who most need help. Not only are many victims made homeless when they escape violence, but perpetrators are often allowed access to their children (and are therefore able to further physically and emotionally abuse them).
To prevent this, women must attend court and face their perpetrators. This can sometimes lead to lawyers, who do not wish to fight on behalf of the victims, encouraging the victims to allow the perpetrators access to their children. In one such case that I attended, the perpetrator stabbed a 20-year-old woman within a few minutes of the police leaving the scene. Today, this mother of two children walks around with a paralysed arm, unable to even push the pram.
The legal system treats victims with contempt. Often the perpetrators have the economic capacity to engage lawyers to take their case to any level, while the victims are at the mercy of the inadequate, under-funded legal aid program.
Children are frequently overlooked in the process. While children also have a right to counselling under current victim of violence regulations, few victims know of it and even fewer benefit, as the testing for eligibility is rigorous. This contributes to the cycle of violence, as children who witness domestic violence are more likely to become perpetrators or victims in the future.
The advertising campaign also fails to address why so few victims report the violence to the police. It ignores the need to fund services adequately to enable victims to access support without being subject to intimidation. The Coalition government has dramatically cut funding to women's emergency services -- further exposing the new advertising campaign as a cynical vote-buying exercise.
The campaign also neglects why so many victims, especially women, return to the perpetrator at the end of the day. The alienation in today's society means that women who are subjected to violence often feel ashamed of admitting it. Many women do not have any other support and suffer from loneliness and depression, so choose to return to the perpetrator for emotional and financial support (however limited this may be in a violent relationship).
Domestic violence has sometimes been identified as an issue that affects specific cultures, such as the Islamic community or the Asian community. This has led to racism among many workers in support services, who are taught to stereotype communities. The reality, however, is that the culture of violence is universal. One only has to look at the violent behaviour demonstrated by kids shooting other kids at schools in the US.
The World Health Organisation argues that although the causes of domestic violence are complex, factors in our social, economic and cultural environments play a significant part. The WHO argues that the solutions lie in collaboration between governments and communities, across a range of sectors and disciplines.
One major factor that the WHO leaves out is political change -- unless such change takes place, any hope of addressing this very serious issue in society will not be possible.
Many political parties and political leaders around the world demonstrate that differences must be solved by violence. The most recent example is the US-led intervention in Iraq. Such wars reinforce the lesson that it is okay to kill, beat up and violate other people's partners and children, while it is not acceptable -- at least in words -- at home.
Australia spends $43 million per day on war and defence. Globally, US$900 billion is spent each year on violence and destruction while a pitiful US$50 billion is spent on development.
Domestic violence is a powerful and real symptom of the malfunctioning system we live in. If the problem is to be fixed we need a political system that treats all peoples of all nations as human beings and respects their views. We need a system that distributes wealth according to need rather than greed. We need a system that respects women and values their contribution to society. In the end only men and women who live in peace can create a peaceful society.
[Lalitha Chelliah works as a nurse in Melbourne and is a national co-convenor of the Socialist Alliance. She is standing as an alliance candidate the Senate in Victoria.]
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