Essay On Impact Of Family Domestic Violence On Women And Children

Domestic Violence is not exact a gender issue but it is a human issue but if it is being seen than it is particularly a women issue. In this type of violence women are engaged with abusive acts. It is also considered as a public health issue as it have negative effects on sexual, physical and mental health of people. In Australia, many people are affected by domestic violence as it is a societal issue. If it is being seen from the gender side than women’s are the ones who are always affected by domestic violence. It is basically a complex set of behaviour as women’s and children’s are the ones who are the main victims of domestic violence. Domestic Violence is spreading drastically in Australia and is continuously affecting many people lives from all aspects (Mathews, & et.al, 2021).This essay will further shed light on the impact of domestic violence on women’s and children and young people. 

 

The article by Flynn & Graham stated that 70% of women and children’s are experiencing abuse from their family, friends and relatives. The emerging literature on the societal issue i.e.; domestic violence is being focusing on the overlapping relation between the family violence and the domestic violence (Flynn, & Graham, 2010). The Cognitive Behavioural theories and Gendered Resource theory focuses on the investigations that shows how domestic violence is affecting children’s and women’s of the society. Young people and children who face family and domestic violence and family violence can be examined with a conceptual framework. According to Marwick’s article, it has been clearly observed that overall 2 million of women’s in American Society are affected by domestic violence and family violence (Kourti, & et.al, 2021). It is an emerging issue and a problem with international concern. Domestic Violence is the basic the violence of all basic rights that women’s are facing in their house by their own family members. The author Flynn and Graham has also argued that violence must be addressed as it is the current issue in the society were women are abused over the financial needs and he has also stated that women’s are considered to be the weaker person of the society. Different conceptual model has distinguished the different level of influences on the intimate violence over women’s and the children & young people. 

 

According to the current research it has been observed that women’s and children’s are the most targeted person who witness domestic and family violence. The research also shows that in Australia 80% of women’s have witnessed domestic and family violence and 10% of males have suffered domestic abuse or family violence in some parts of their lives. Misuse of drug has also lead to domestic violence which has affected a large area or proportion of Australian population (Ghafournia, & et.al, 2022). The reason behind family violence is the financial struggle, lack of social and family support to children and women’s. The incidents of domestic violence in Australia have resulted in the victims suffering depression, sadness and anxiety. It has been also observed that around 80000 domestic violence incidents has led to rise in homicides and also has resulted in people specially women’s suffering anxiety, depression and silence in sadness. Gillespie (2016) has revealed the fact that gender inequality is mostly faced by the women’s in every corner of the society (Gillespie, 2016). Men and women are always treated unequally in every context by the societal people. The author also stated that in the workplace male and female employees are treated unequally. Life of women’s and children are affected by several additional gender based factors. Domestic Violence stands as a barrier towards the freedom of women and children in the society. The attitudes of the community towards the sexuality, gender roles, sexual assault and domestic violence can strongly influences the prevalence’s of violence and its current reporting rates. It has been seen through surveys that in Australia, demographic factors such as birth country, age and other socio-economic factors have limited influences on community attitudes towards equality and a minimum level of support for the gender equality. The incidents of domestic violence can lead to psychological and social fear that can hamper a person physical and mental well-being. There are varieties of strategies that are adopted in Australia to tackle domestic violence. According to M Lloyd (2018) there are several cases of neglect and child abuse that has impacted the lives of young children. There was a case in Australia where a 4 year old child named Daniel Pelka who has died in the year 2012 as he has experienced domestic violence and there is almost half of the domestic violence situations that has directly lead to child abuse (Lloyd, 2018). Maximum of the time children’s are influenced by seeing violence in their home and surrounding itself. The author has also stated that children mental well-being is impacted due to the domestic violence. The children can even experience physical and emotional trauma by hearing or seeing domestic violence incidents in their surrounding or in their families. Overall it has been clearly observed that the women’s and the children or young people are the ones who are the victims of domestic violence as they suffer or go through it most of the time. At last it impacts their overall confidence level and hurt their emotions and disturbs their mental well-being as well. 

 

There are many incidents of family, sexual and domestic violence that is even not reported so the current or emerging issue i.e; Domestic violence is not measureable and it becomes difficult to find relevant strategies to stop the effects of domestic violence on young people and specially women’s. In 2012, the Australian Bureau of Statistics has conducted personal safety survey where it has been observed that women are more likely experiencing physical assault in comparison to that of men. It has been seen that 62% of women have experienced physical and sexual assault and on the other side 8% of men have experienced the incidents of physical assault. The survey has also highlighted that 1 out of 6 women’s have experienced sexual or physical assault from their current partner (Fiolet, & et.al, 2021). Domestic abuse also leads to serious health concerns which must be addressed in an urgent basis. According to World Health organization the women and children’s are the suspected victim of domestic and family violence. They also faces physical and sexual assault and abuse that lead to disturbance in the mental and physical well-being of the person. There are certain measures adopted by WHO to assist the worldwide problem. The government of Australia has found that in the year 2002-2003 they have lost all around 8 million dollar due to domestic violence in the country (Kean, & et.al, 2022). It is also seen that no actions has been taken to reduce the effects of domestic violence in the country. There were maximum family breakups due to domestic violence in the country and it has mostly impacted children’s and women’s. Domestic violence on women and children maltreatment can results in emotional and psychological breakdown. Still, there is some positive sign reflected in the country as the government has adopted number of laws since the 1990’s to curb the adverse effect of domestic violence in the country.  

 

There were majority of family issue in Australia due to family and domestic violence itself. It has been observed from WHO poll that 35% of women has suffered sexual assault from their intimate partners. Domestic violence and child abuse is the emerging issue that should be tackled so as to reduce its negative effect on society. According to recent Australian survey, it was found that 39% of women population have suffered sexual and domestic abuse in their family as well as in their workplace (Gartland, & et.al, 2021). Women’s have also gone through several mental and physical health problems in non-abusive relationships with their intimate partners. The effects of domestic violence in children and women have prominent impact on their mental and physical well-being. Children and women’s are more likely to be the victims of domestic violence. It has been observed through Australian statistics surveys, 87% of women are the victims of domestic and sexual abuse while 98% of men are the offenders. In the country, domestic violence has become a rising concern as it has been increasing at a vast rate. In the country, 30% of women have experienced domestic and sexual abuse in their marital relationship. Around 1.6 million women in Australia has been affected by domestic and sexual abuse and it has impacted their lives from every corner as well as it has disturbed their mental and physical well-being too (Mathews, & et.al, n.d).  

 

Domestic violence is biting and kicking people live and hampering their mental health that is resulting in increase in people suffering from anxiety, depression etc. It is essential to address the risk factors of domestic violence as early as possible. Domestic abuse or violence has long term effect on women’s physical and mental health. Women’s and children from underprivileged places including Australia are the victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. Australian government should take harsh measures to curb the negative effects of domestic violence. If any immediate actions or measures not taken upon this issue then it can hamper many people lives from every corner. This current issue should be addressed immediately in order to save many people lives from domestic violence and sexual abuse. Many children’s suffers from emotional and behavioural problems specially the one who grows up in the family where domestic violence is a problem. It is essential to spread awareness about the impact of domestic violence on women and children and ultimately the government must take relevant actions to curb the negative effects of family and domestic violence. 

 

Flynn, A., & Graham, K. (2010). “Why did it happen?” A review and conceptual framework for research on perpetrators' and victims' explanations for intimate partner violence. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 15(3), 239-251.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2010.01.002 

 

 

Gillespie, A. (2016). Domestic Violence and Gender Inequality. Submission to the Senate Finance and Public Administration Inquiry. https://www.safesteps.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/safe-steps-submission-Senate-Inquiry-into-Domestic-Violence-and-Gender-Inequality-FINAL.pdf

 

 

Lloyd, M. (2018). Domestic violence and education: Examining the impact of domestic violence on young children, children, and young people and the potential role of schools. Frontiers in psychology, 9, 20-94. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02094/full

 

 

Mathews, B., Pacella, R., Dunne, M., Scott, J., Finkelhor, D., Meinck, F., & Lawrence, D. (2021). The Australian Child Maltreatment Study (ACMS): protocol for a national survey of the prevalence of child abuse and neglect, associated mental disorders and physical health problems, and burden of disease. BMJ open, 11(5), 47-74. https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/11/5/e047074.abstract

 

 

Kourti, A., Stavridou, A., Panagouli, E., Psaltopoulou, T., Spiliopoulou, C., Tsolia, M., & Tsitsika, A. (2021). Domestic violence during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review. Trauma, violence, & abuse. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/15248380211038690

 

 

Ghafournia, N., & Healey, S. J. R. (2022). Identifying domestic violence and sexual assault presentations at a regional Australian hospital emergency department: Comparative analysis of domestic violence and sexual assault cases. Women's Health, 18. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/17455057221103992

 

 

Fiolet, R., Brown, C., Wellington, M., Bentley, K., & Hegarty, K. (2021). Exploring the impact of technology-facilitated abuse and its relationship with domestic violence: a qualitative study on experts’ perceptions. Global qualitative nursing research, 8. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/23333936211028176

 

 

Kean, J., & Kazuo Steains, T. (2022). Growing violence: the image of the boy in Australian domestic violence prevention campaigns. Continuum, 36(1), 22-36. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10304312.2021.1947984

 

 

Gartland, D., Conway, L. J., Giallo, R., Mensah, F. K., Cook, F., Hegarty, K., & Brown, S. J. (2021). Intimate partner violence and child outcomes at age 10: a pregnancy cohort. Archives of disease in childhood, 106(11), 1066-1074. https://adc.bmj.com/content/106/11/1066.abstract

 

 

Mathews, B., Pacella, R., Dunne, M., Scott, J., Finkelhor, D., Meinck, F., & Thomas, H. J., (n.d). The Australian Child Maltreatment Study (ACMS). https://www.pure.ed.ac.uk/ws/files/209304624/MathewsEtalBMJOpen2021TheAustralianChildMaltreatmentStudy.pdf