VIOLENCE IN THE FAMILY

        The term “violence in the family” refers to male violence against females. It means that men are generally rude to women both physically and psychologically. Concerning this issue, a study has been conducted by Family Research Institute in five different geographic regions of Turkey on married women about husband violence against wives. The results of this survey indicate that two independent variables seem to be related to approval of violence.

One of the variables is the number of children, which affects the women’s approval of male violence in the family. Data on this relationship show a complex link between the two: the number of children influences the intensity with which a woman approves male violence. They increase parallel to each other: while the number of children rises from 1 to 6, the approval percentage rises from 10 to more than 40. The second variable shows the linkage between the age of women and their approval of male violence. As age rises, the degree of approval rises too. However, there is a sharp increase between the ages 35-40 and from 40 onward it continues to rise.

The women’s approval of male violence stems from different factors such as education level of both genders. If men had enough awareness to respect women, violence would be decreased. In the same way, if women were educated, they would have financial independence or at least they would know their rights and would act accordingly. Financial independence gives women the right to divorce. Therefore, a woman who has enough money to support herself and her children does not have to tolerate an unhappy life with her husband who resorts to violence.

Another factor that determines the degree of violence approval is modernization. In other words, traditional values that are observed among women and certain segments of the society are the cause of approval. For example, years ago women could not do anything without asking their husbands first. Although such conservative beliefs seem too old-fashioned to be accepted today, they still apply.

The wicked belief against women who are divorced or widowed is the other factor that has an effect on approval of violence. Women are afraid of becoming a widow because of this common attitude. Lots of men are very merciless in their treatment of women; they treat them as if divorced women are strange creatures or as if they are guilty of some immoral crime. Therefore, women cannot venture a divorce fearing persecution.

As a result, being a woman in Turkey is difficult but being a divorced woman is more difficult than this, so lots of women have to accept and live with their husbands’ violent acts. Something must be done for women but a lot of people think that there are more important issues in the country that need handling. For this problem to be solved, people -without any discrimination- must be educated on women’s rights. It must be accepted in the wider society that women have to be seen as humans not as slaves. Only after people understand this, women will gain the status that they really deserve in the society.