The Impact Of Domestic Violence Against Women In Tanzania

The Impact Of Domestic Violence Against Women In Tanzania Women's violence is a main problem in Tanzania and this paper will describe, possible impact brought by domestic violence to women of Tanzania. Women experience the violation such as raping, beating, threats and involuntary prostitution. Few years ago woman violation was not a major issue in the society, and this is because of the social approach towards women, where by men were given more priorities in the system of education and labor force in the society than women, and this led to the undermined of the women in a society. But this issue has become an international matter of valuable or concern, now the internationals are focused on gender base and violent against women has been given the first priority in the whole world and this has helped to improve the situation not only in Tanzania but the whole Africa. Violence against women it is not a major problem only in Tanzania, but it is worldwide problem, "violence against women," said then-UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 1999, "knows no boundaries of geography, culture or wealth. It is perhaps the most shameful human rights violation." And, he added, it is "perhaps the most pervasive" In Tanzania women have been subjected to domestic violence in different situations and ways many women found them self doing things that they never wished to do such as, forced prostitution, this is when a women is engage in sexy activities un willingly in exchange of basic needs such a food cloth or shelter, men use their bodies to satisfy their needs in exchange of the basic needs. In Tanzania women have been subjected in domestic violence difference situations in many situations, According to LaShawn R. Jefferson, "The absence of an appropriate policy guiding on staff on how to respond to domestic violence against women in remains a serious problem that has far reaching consequences beyond Tanzania," At present, the simply suggestion that is given by the UNHCR's is the guiding principle suggested to its workers not to disregard issues of domestic violence. The government has also been criticized several times by the Human rights, for its slow reaction and infective. The government of Tanzania has the obligation to protect its nation against domestic violence and sexual violence. For those who have been trapped in families where domestic violence abounds there is a lasting memory on both the spouse and the children. If a question was to be put across to all children who have seen their fathers physically abusing theirs mother it leaves a lasting impression that's walks with them to the grave. Domestic violence has turned out to be a major crisis especial in developing countries. This projects will evaluates the impact of domestic violence against women and its implication. We highlight the situation in Tanzania where there has been a rise in domestic violence against women folk It also deals with the ability of affected women to fight for their rights, such behaviors also brought about permanent psychological problem among girls and women in the society of Tanzania that's includes the children The domestic Violence starts from the family level. This is where by the other partner of the family (in this case the father) dominates the other partner (wife ), therefore the one who is the most intimate person in one's life causes domestic violence, which includes isolation of the victim, economic abuse, intimidation, and threats. There are differences types of domestic violence, raping, emotional, physical and sexual abuse are types of domestic violence. Physical assault is among the most common violation in Tanzania. This is where by men beats their wives, and this is due to the beliefs that, once a men gets married to a wife and he has paid the dowry, the women becomes his property and he can do anything he wishes to do. No matter what form the domestic violence comes in, it still a criminal act this includes the physical assault, or sexual abuse. Domestic violence has wide ranging and sometimes leads to permanent impact to the whole society in general and not to women alone. The impacts are both physical and psychological; nevertheless it has taken too long for the Government of Tanzania to recognize this. Women who are the majority victims, they go through a critical condition sometimes to a hidden social problem as most of them are not willing to reveal what is happening / or what had happen before. They die silently with their own problem believing it happens only to them, this belief is a far cry from the ground reality, where more than two thirds of married women affected in under developed and developing countries; where Tanzania is no exception. In Tanzania women have been subjected to domestic violence in different situations and ways many women found them self doing things that they never wished to do such as engaging in forced prostitution (this is where a woman engages in sexual activities against her own will) in exchange of basic needs such a food cloth or shelter. According to a survey which was done by WHO (World Health Organization), several women who contribute in the study they believed that a man have a right to beat his wife in certain situation, for instance when a wife refuse to have sex with the husband, when she becomes disloyal, or when she misbehave. From the survey by WHO, they also found that "violence affects millions of women in Africa. In a 2005 study on women's health and domestic violence, the WHO found that 50 per cent of women in Tanzania and 71 per cent of women in Ethiopia's rural areas reported beatings or other forms of violence by husbands or other intimate partners" http://www.un.org/ecosocdev/geninfo/afrec/vol21no2/212-violence-aganist- women.html Forced sex is common in Tanzania and this is a typical example of domestic violence due to this, the number of people with (STD) has increased this includes HIV, AIDS. Children under age of 6 yrs are being tested positive. And this puts young women into a risk of HIV and sexual transmitted diseases than men. Social and traditions factors in Tanzania, kept women mainly in danger with the violence directed to them, and this is because there is no gender equality between men and woman. Gender equality includes economical and social forces. And also in the family where by power belongs to a husband only, and not to both partners there for the traditional factors in Tanzania denies women and children and indirectly has supported the domestic violation of women in the country. Statement of the problem When a person is doing research on this topic, it's not easy to get the complete information, and get correct statistics about violence against women. The victims are not willing to give the information they have for the fear of revealing their identity in the society, so this becomes a problematic. It is important that more education should be given to women in Tanzania about their rights against violation, and more research should be conducted in order to get enough information, which will be usefully when one comes to give recommendation or opinion to the problem. However the problem is that, 1) domestic violence against women needs more and extensive research in depth, 2) Victims needs to be educated about the situation they are in, and how to prevent the same situation in the future time. The government should also work hand in hand to stop the violation of women in the society. Research questions As any research starts with a question, this research paper also had started with the questions that are leads though out the research and to come up with the answers and the questions are as follows: 1). Are the women getting the help they need and When they need? 2).What effects do women face due to domestic violence? 3). Does the government play major rule in providing assistance to those sufferers? Significance of the study The violence against women in Tanzania is the commonly unreported crime, despite of it's highly occurrence. Women rarely report about such violence, it can be due to embarrassment, or fear towards their family members or the society. Nevertheless, figures that are based on police and hospital, surveys, and studies, indicates that the problem is wide spread. It should be recognized by the whole society the impact brought by the violation are the destroyer of women in the society. There is a need of educating the society about the domestic violation and the right measurement should be taken to the victims. And the violators should be punished; in short laws should be made to protect the women against the domestic violence. Research design and methodology In this study the method which was used is the secondary source of information includes internet resources, school library and various existing literature. This provides broad prospective of violation amongst women, according to the existences resources, or the previous researches about violation of women, the reports indicates that 70% of women will be battered during their life time. Organization of the study This chapter talks about domestic violence and the consequences that are faced by women in the society, it's not only for the benefits of the women, but also for the children who are the nation of tomorrow. When a women become a victims of violence it affects the people who surrounds her, and mostly are the children. This chapter also explains the behaviors brought by domestic violence and are emotional, physical and economical abuse and also the domestic violence as the obstacle that is preventing women's in achieving their goals. The next chapter, chapter two, will define what it means by domestic violence is what are the factors of domestic violence, the effects, the causes of domestic violence and also talks about women as the popular victims. This chapter will also describe in deep of how women are being pulled back in the abusive relations with their partners. How does the government of Tanzania help and protect women who are affected by the violation. The chapter will also explain the possibilities to prevents violation from the victims and the help they should get from the government. Violence as a major problem in Tanzania it has contributed to percentage of sexual transmitted diseases and aids. And therefor the government should work hand in hand with the women as the major victims to stop the violation in the society of Tanzania. Chapter II review of the literature Definition of domestic violence "Domestic violence, also called "intimate partner abuse" "battering" or "wife beating" refers to physical, sexual, psychological and economic abuse that takes place in the context of an intimate relationship, including marriage. Domestic violence is the one of the most common forms of gender based violence and often characterized by long term patterns abusive behaviors and control" (http://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/nepal0903/3.htm) Definition of domestic violence is when one party uses abusive or violent behavior towards the other spouse. The factors which may contribute towards domestic violence abuse may include: physical, verbal and sexual abuse, damage to property, Intimidation or harassment, financial abuse, threatening to do any of the above. Domestic relationships includes; Spousal relationship, Either married or living together, Intimate personal relationship, this is when two people are in an established relationship, Family relationship when two people related either by blood or marriage or people who consider themselves to be relatives, Informal care relationship, a person dependent on another with help for day to day activities. Magnitude of problem Domestic violence is more prevalent among HIV positive women than their HIV negative thus some studies have seemed to suggest that the odds of a woman below the age of 30 who is HIV positive being abused by a partner is about 95%. Most ever time unless in circumstances where physical violence has been matted out that is too much that it's reported. Domestic violence does not affect the victim alone; children experience domestic violence as third parties. Three major points to be aware of with domestics and family violence. Domestic violence does not discriminate; it is not limited to a specific age, income, and race or HIV status. It is destroying homes and creates hatred among the family members. Kids who are being abused by their parents, they grow up hates their parents (fathers), and might end up being abusers. Parents should know that they are responsible to protects their children and no one deserve to be abused Domestic violence is complex it includes Physical abuse, Sexual abuse, financial deprivation, social isolation among many other vices. Due to its complicated nature the impact of domestic violence cannot be measured. "The term violence against women has been used to describes a wider range of act, including murderer, rape and sexual assault, physical assault, emotional abuse, battering stalking, prostitution genital mutilation, sexual harassment and pornography" By Nancy A. Crowell, Ann Wolbert Burgess From the quotation above, violation made up of many factors and sexual harassment is one of the factors, this is where by women are being harassed at the pace of work. It is usually practiced by males who are at the top position. A times there are threatens when the victims attempts to take complains forward, threatens such as being fired or being suspended from the work. Causes of domestic violence Losing control Its not that true that, the abuser is out of control when abusing, he knows what he is about to do but he does it any way he is in control, and he chooses who to abuse, and what time to perform the act . Failure to manage anger This leads to the domestic violation, not because the abuser cannot control the anger but because he decided not to. Example a husband can control his anger when he is at work or when he with his friends, he just cant decide to beat them u when they have mis understanding , but when it comes at home with his wife since she is a women he decedes to beat his partner. This results into domestic violence. Stress management Every one is going through the stress of life but what matters is how one manage the stresses, the batters, so in order to avoid this men's should not lay their stresses to their wives or children. Poor communication skills According to this, the abuser cannot abuse if he gets what is he wishes or his wants, but if the abuser has poor communication skills and he cannot deliver his message correct he may end up battering or abusing the other part. To avoid this abuser should improve their communication skills and make their intent clear rather than abusing. Effects of domestic violence to children Domestic violence leads to may problems both immediate and future problems and that it affects both the spouse and the children. The immediate problems arising from domestic violence include: Injury, Trauma, Miscarriage (in pregnant women) and Death etc. Domestic violence also has an effect on the children due to the fact that they happen to be third parties victims, and they may be severely affected all through their lives walking around with a burden that seemingly won't go away for life. It's a ghost from the past that never seems to go away according to research conducted in may parts of the world not only Tanzanian children. The effects of the violence on the children take many forms; which may includes; permanent mental problems and the repeating of the behavior by abusing others. They become victims of abuse. Many people who grew up to become abusers were abused when they were children. a lot of them were physically abused, ill-treated but they as they grew up they chose not to be abusers . According to the statistics many children who have witnessed their parents (abused) their mothers are grew without them being abusers. The children who have experienced the violation and abusive life and who have been physically abused there is high percentage that they grow up and become the abusers. There fore children who are brought up in abusive surroundings, they may grow up with the feeling that in a relation abusive cannot be avoided, and the abusive becomes part of their life believing that its good to abuse someone you love if they do something wrong. Physical and emotional abuse Physical and emotional abuse is also part of domestic violence. Physical abuse results into visible results such as injuries, wounds and damages. Unlikely emotion abuse it cannot be seen but the felt by the victims. Examples of emotional abuse are negative language to the victims, (children /women), abusive language, treating language, etc. Effects of emotional abuse can results into death where by the victims can decide to commit suicidal "Women saw more behaviors as abusive than are typically identified by the Conflict Tactics Scale and abused women identified more abusive behaviors than non abused women. Significant health status differences were found between women who reported emotional abuse with no concurrent physical or sexual abuse" Peggy J. Wagner, PhD; Patrick F. Mongan, MD Lots of women thinks of emotional (abuse) mistreatment as something that that cant talk about, and this is because to its unclear results, opposite to the physical abuse that one can see the clear out results such as broken arms, wounds or injury, but its one of the common type of violence. Many women who live in condition where there is domestic violence, they live with panic and fright, they are stressed up with their life and most of them are isolated and they don't enjoy their social life this is because they don't want to reveal their fear. This will lead to low self esteem and they end up in being helpless as discussed above this can lead to death where by a victim may commit suicide. Most of the victims they don't have control in their life, they can't decide to take step forward and this is the reason why most of women who are being abused by their partner they cant leave the abusive relation. They don't have self control over themselves. Verbal abuse Together with physical and emotional abuse, there are different types of violence abuse and this is one of them, though it can be hard to identify unlikely physical where one can see the unusual marks, wounds, or bruises. Verbal abuse is the use of spoken words to undermine other people, make them feel they are worthless. A times the abuser can abuse the victim in form a joke/humor though the act is indirect form but the effects will be the same to make the abuser feel worthless. Once a harmful statement is made to someone can create un healthy outcome response. This can affect children's personality as they grow up, as a parent who is a abuser frequently addresses his children's as they are unintelligent/useless their mind will be set up to believe they are stupid. And this is verbal abuse not only to children but to women to. It's the responsibility of the abuser to know when she is being abuse and to work to avoid the abuser from going further. Verbal abuse can destroy peoples abilities and make them feel worthless. The barriers to leave the abusive relationships It is necessary to recognize that there are barriers to leave an abusive relationship. Leaving from an abusive relation it is not easy, a time it can be risky and many women do not quit to an abusive relations for different reasons. This section will describe what barriers are preventing the victims from leaving an abusive relationship. "It can be very hard to admit when you are a victim in an abusive relationship, but now you are gotten that far, you need to know how to get out. Whether you need to escape an abusive marriage or a dotting relationship with an abusive boyfriend or girlfriend, your safety is the utmost importance" by Christina Gleason The first barrier that avoids women from leaving an abusive relationship is the economic necessity. This is because many women are not independence they depend on their husband for economic needs, so when it comes to a point a women is being abused, it is hard to leave the relationship because she has no place to go to. Also In some cases women who still hold on to the abusive relationships, are the ones who were abused as they were children. They have a background of the similar situation, being abused with their parents as they were children, for this case It becomes hard for such women to exit from abusive relationship because they learnt to believe that it is hard to maintain a relationship by avoiding abusive. Another obstacle is fear. The fear of being lonely, victims who are still in an abusive relationship they don't want to leave the relation because they think by leaving or quitting they might end up being lonely, or not getting to be to a new relationship. And also the fear that their abusers might become more aggressive and they end up being depressed and hard to leave from the abusive relationship. Another fear is that the family and friends may not support them with their decision of leaving the relation so they become afraid of being isolated from the close relatives or friends. Traditional and religion factors, according to traditional believes in Tanzania, once one gets married they should do anything to make their marriages work, and many women don't go for divorce as a solution of running from abusive relationship, they believe that all that happen might change one day and even if they don't, it is not right for them to leave. Add on to this point many women don't want to raise their children as single mother parents they want their husbands to be there for their children so even if the relationship they are in is abusive , they are still going to keep it on. Domestic violence is something that takes place daily in Tanzania and worldwide. Whereas only some barriers are being discussed, all of which makes this topic (violence to women) to be more complicated in the society of Tanzania. With understanding of the barriers that prevents victims from exiting the abusive relationship, people will understand the complexity of this matter. Prevention and avoidance of domestic violence Victims of domestic violence become fearfully to report or asking for help because they are afraid for their spouses to find out what they are trying to do. The abuser spouse may turn out to be more aggressive. Nevertheless the victims should not give up protecting themselves whenever possible. Victims should understand that its not their faults to be abused, usually the victims blames their selves for what is occurring. The abuse is not brought by stresses, drugs or alcohol, or any factor relate to that, when the abuser decide to abuse he knows what he is doing and he plans for it so it is based upon his choice, as discussed above the abuser can control himself if he choose to abuse, therefore victims should understand that being in abusive relationship is not their fault. The victims of domestic violence should be able the signs of the abuser when they are about to abuse them so they can avoid themselves from the violence. example when the abuser comes home when he is drunk and start abusing the wife, girlfriend here the victim should leave and comeback when the man is sober, also the arguments which may lead to losing control and cause the violence should be avoided. The victims should plans for the places to run to when the abuser starts abusing . this area must be safe until the abuser calms down, example is the guest room where there is a phone that the victims can use to call for help, or windows and doors that the victims can use to escape and save herself from the abuser. Talk over with the abuser, victims should discuss how they feel with their spouses, and finds the solution together. As discussed above there are different reasons as to why women can't leave the abusive relations some is due to the wellness of their children, and some id because of the love they have for their spouses, no matter what the reason is, if the victims are willing to stay then they should be willing to make it work. Communication skills; this can be one of the causes of domestic violence, when there is a poor communication the abuser doesn't get what he wants and it becomes easier for him to lift his hand and abuse the wife, but when he gets what he wants the chances of him abusing are reducing. The above measures can be work if one puts an efforts to it, but most of the abusers don't change from their nature women should be able to take a step forward and leave the abusive relationship because its not worth their life. When the abusive relationships gets worse the abuser may come to a point of murder the victim or the victims may commit suicide. Preventing from these situations to occur should be kept in consideration before the relationships gets to a point of no turning back. The response of the community towards violence People in the society hold different opinion about domestic violence for women and this makes the matter more complicated to deal with. Some people believes that domestic violence is something that only those who are involve should deal with. A family issue and outsider are not supposed to involve. This makes its harder because you may find a woman in a situation where she cannot exist because no one is there to support her, not the community she is in, because community does not want to interfere family matters. Community should understand that domestic violence is not a family 'thing' only, but something that should be treated as a community matter. It is time that the community should open the eyes to such matters and help make the better community for everyone. Another thing that moves the community responsibility far as of domestic matter as a family matter, the abuser is believed to be a person who is cannot manage his anger or a drunker, a persons who uses drugs, or a person who is having too much stress, but being abuser doesn't caused by anything of that. Abusing has nothing to do stress or drugs or anger. It is something that has to be controlled by the abuser himself he allows himself to abuse. And therefore the community should be able to deal with such people, and they should be punished for their attitude. What should the government of Tanzania do to prevent domestic violence? The government should be able to protect the victims, by formulating the laws that will protect women against the violation. Government should participate women since they are the majority victim to work against domestic violation. Laws should be made that will punish those who violates it, by raping and abuse women in any way. Women should be placed in local areas to monitor the violation ac, and to report wherever possible when placing men in such position they can also become abusers e.g. when a women has been abused and goes to report to a male police a times those officers abuses them and don't take the matter any further. The government should provide quality education to children, girls and women, and educate them about their right. And also the government should hive women position especial in security matters, this will help women to fight against the violation, and put a stop to sexual cruelty, government should also formulate special training centers to educate women to examine crimes of sexual and domestic violence. Government should provide health support for the victims of violence, i.e.by giving free counseling, free education about violence, and inexpensive or free treatment. Many people don't like to discus about domestic violence especial the victims. They will never be a change of behavior, behavior such as emotional and physical abuse, if people are not open up to this matter. Government should provide counseling and educate the community about domestic violence against women; this will help women to fight for their rights where possible. When they face such circumstances they can report wherever possible. The obligation of the society should be to eliminate the violence amongst the society. People should work together hand in hand and the abuser should be punished. This will be a lesson to all the people with the same ambitions. When the abusers are left without being punished this will encourage other people to involve in violence of women in the society. Society should also eliminate the thinking that domestic violation is the family matters, and they can not involve in it. This is the matter that affect everyone in the society even if it is not directly. When children are being raped and women are being beaten with their husband it is something that everyone should be touched and work against it. ,

Read Full Essay