Murray chapter six, domestic violence against women: What is domestic abuse against women?
If a man takes a wife and, after lying with her, dislikes her and slanders her and gives her a bad name, saying, “I married this woman, but when I approached her, I did not find proof of her virginity,” then the girl’s father and mother…shall display the cloth [that the couple slept on] before the elders of the town…If, however, the charge is true and no proof of the girl’s virginity can be found, she shall be brought to the door of her father’s house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death. –Deuteronomy 22: 13—21. In the name of God, men have convinced themselves to use domestic violence against women to keep them terrorized in their belief system of inferiority and weakness.
Chapter five and six, Half of the Sky, China, a neo Confucian saying from the Song Dynasty declares: “For a woman to starve to death is a small matter, but for her to lose her chastity is a calamity.” We have been as a culture directed by the dysfunctional belief systems that it is okay for men to punish women and girls in death, terrorize and torture to validate their killings and practices against women. Men aggressions against women have been part of global history. In Liberia during the civil war, 90 percent of girls and women over the age of three were sexually abused. In Pakistan have honor rapes arise from an obsession with virginity and from the authorities’ indifference to injustices suffered by the poor and uneducated. (pp. 84) The list goes on in the domestic violence practice against women by the systems of men in their behavior. (Murray, pp. 127)
Women have to testify against these men in the fear that no one will assist them in their safety. They have sacrificed their lives to change the practices and behaviors of men against women. “Women are often violated and lack necessities such as food, adequate healthcare, and even water. Over the years, the Forum has built a shelter and offered counseling for survivors of violence.” (Murray, pp. 129)
So, do we as a culture do anything? Do we just ignore the women that are struggling for safety? In the global affairs, do we as women who are not struggling with poverty or violence continue to progress for our own self-identity? Do we ignore the other women who are facing crisis of violence against their life?
In the end, women must face poverty, violence and lack of education in a society that pressure the issues of capitalism and acceptance of abuse against women unless we all begin to stand up against this cruelty, one by one …country after country, non-governmental groups, particularly groups led , women, are emerging to address violence and other health and human issues affecting women. Some of them are highlighted throughout this chapter. These groups subscribe to the statement in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that: "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights Everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security of person No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment." (Murray, pp. 131)
(Ziegler ,2008) Kenyan women confront violence by Kenya’s new Sexual Offences Act, passed in 2006, and despite pre-election
promises to strengthen the rights of women,
there has been a deafening official silence on
the experiences of women during the chaos.
Calls for an end to looting, arson and murder did
not mention rape and gender-based violence.
It will end one day, and women will feel safe. Their daughters will run and play without the sleepless nights of nightmares of men chasing them in their dreams.
Ziegler, Maggie, KENYAN WOMEN CONFRONT VIOLENCE,V. 22, NO. 2, FALL, 2008; pp. 13-14-14, 2p
Murray, Anne Firth, From Outrage to Courage, Monroe Maine, 2008.
Kristof, Nicholas, Wudunn, Sheryl,Half the Sky, New York, 2009.
