The Hindu : Kerala News : Kerala homes: theatres of violence

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Sunday, Jan 02, 2005

Kerala

Kerala

Kerala homes: theatres of violence

By C. Gouridasan Nair

Despite all the claims about Kerala's sterling achievements in human development and women's empowerment and all the debate over violence against women in public space, homes in Kerala are increasingly becoming venues of violence against women. An explosive situation is fast taking shape in the domestic scene and that calls for urgent intervention by policy planners and administrators.

Children are as much the victims of domestic violence as women. Photo: K.K. Mustafah

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Till the tsunami disaster hit the State's coastal stretch, fully literate Kerala was deeply engrossed in a discussion about sexual harassment of women by the big and the powerful. It is a discussion that shows no sign of abating, the tsunami havoc notwithstanding. As everybody from the street smart politician to the street corner petty shop owner waxes eloquent on the depravity of a society in which women are sexually exploited for money with the support or involvement of public persons of one hue or the other, not many seem to be aware that thousands of homes across Kerala are becoming theatres of violence, mostly directed at women.

Startling though it might seem, studies have revealed that over 40 per cent of women in Kerala are victims of physical or emotional violence at home and many are putting up with it as they do not wish break up families and throw their children into a world of uncertainties. To the uncritical eyes, women in Kerala have got the best deal. With a Human Development Index (HDI) that is comparable to the developed West and all social and healthcare indicators relating to women showing robust figures, Kerala is often touted as the model State insofar as women's development goes. At 84.61, Kerala's reproductive health index is the highest in India. It has the lowest maternal mortality rate of 87 per 1,00,000 live births (all India: 580/1,00,000) and the lowest infant mortality rate of 15 (all India: 74). The State has already reached the replacement level in birth rate. The sex ratio is also weighted in favour of women at 1,058 girl children for every 1,000 boys. Indeed a model for others to emulate.

The malaise

But all this does not seem to tell the whole story. A composite set of factors appears to be working against women in Kerala resulting in their becoming victims of violence that has no public face. The malaise was first brought out into stark relief by a study conducted by the Washington-based International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) in 2000, covering seven cities in India, including Thiruvananthapuram. The study had revealed a very high incidence of domestic violence. The study revealed that physical violence is prevalent in 64 per cent households in urban non-slum sites in the Kerala capital, with 62 per cent households reporting psychological violence and violence in some form or the other being reported from 43 per cent households. In rural areas, incidence of physical violence was as high as 71 per cent and psychological violence 69 per cent and overall violence 46 per cent. Most worrisome, comparable figures pertaining to the six other cities (Bhopal, Chennai, Delhi, Nagpur, Lucknow and Vellore) were quite low. Other studies also have revealed that around 40-45 per cent of women in Kerala experience at least one incident of physical violence during their lifetime.

A 2000 study by researchers at the Centre for Development Studies (CDS), Thiruvananthapuram, had shown that though the overall rate of crime against women in Kerala is lower as compared to the rest of India, rates of molestation and cruelty at home are higher than that for the rest of India.

Study findings

Preliminary findings of an ongoing study on gender-based violence, commissioned by the United Nations Populations Fund (UNFPA) through the State Department of Health and conducted by the Thiruvananthapuram-based Sakhi Resource Centre for Women more or less bears out these figures. "I do not wish to go into exact figures, but we have found gender-based violence to be startlingly high in Kerala. A large number of women are opting to remain silent because they have no financial freedom and do not wish to risk the future of their children," says Aleyamma Vijayan, director of Sakhi, whose study covered Ernakulam, Palakkad and Kozhikode districts. Violence, according to this and other studies, has its roots in a clutch of factors, including power relations within the family, economic factors, change in the aspiration levels of the emerging middle class, personality disorders, alcoholism, break-up of joint families, absence of social life and absence of adequate social support systems.

"Domestic violence should be treated as a psycho-social problem," says S. D. Singh, a clinical psychiatrist in Ernakulam, and adds, "It's both a culture-based syndrome and a mental health issue." Gender-based violence within households is certainly not directed entirely at women or children. An increasing number of husband-victims are also approaching counsellors for help. According to one counsellor in the State capital engaged in managing marital crises, the trigger of violence in several non-alcoholic families is the female partner. The reason she attributes to the emerging situation, which goes against the general trend, is that while in the past, women looked for security and were ready to put with slights and even physical abuses, today she is looking for `happiness' and `self-gratification'. Young husbands, struggling to make foothold in life, often find it hard to satisfy all their aspirations and that leads to violence. Since the male children are taught to express their disaffection and unhappiness through anger, such situations result in further violence, she says.

However, researchers counsel caution against arriving at what they term simplistic conclusions about such a trend. J. Devika of the Centre for Development Studies feels that it has got to do with the power relations and gender as a cultural construct where women are expected to be non-violent and custodians of the domestic space. Womanliness as it emerged in modern Kerala could get expressed only through persuasion in best of times and nagging and other overtly non-coercive strategies when things do not work properly.

Private issue

In her opinion, the worst hit when women turn perpetrators of violence are children. According to her, a study done in Kottayam in 1999 had brought out several strange and cruel ways in which women punish children for poor performance in examinations. The retired District Judge, V. K. Bhaskaran, who is currently the Administrative Officer and Conciliation Officer at the People's Council for Social Justice (PCSJ), Kochi, says that a survey conducted by the PCSJ among 10,000 students of schools within the Kochi Corporation limits in 2001 had revealed that 46 per cent of the boys and 38 per cent of the girls were facing torture, mostly from within their homes. Dr. Singh concurs with him. Many of the children arriving at his clinic with complaints of poor scholastic record actually suffer from violent atmosphere at home, the psychiatrist says.

Studies clearly show that women at large are yet to come to grips with the situation in which they find themselves, patriarchal family structure is still intact in most Kerala homes. Thus, the UNFPA study covering Ernakulam, Palakkad and Kozhikode has shown that almost one-third of the 900 women interviewed think that husbands have the right to beat their wives. Similarly, although 74 per cent of those interviewed as part of the study believe that women have every right to react or not to put up with gender-based violence, more than two-thirds think that that the law cannot intervene in domestic violence as it is `a private issue'. While 80 per cent of the women covered by the study knew about the Kerala State Women's Commission, only 12 per cent knew about other organisations and individuals who could help women experiencing gender-based violence.

Humiliation

Although majority of women are not aware of avenues for relief and redressal, studies show that, on an average, one out of every 10 women know someone within their family/friends' circle who is experiencing domestic violence, in the form of physical, sexual or psychological violence or psychological abuse or economic neglect/abuse. The most common form of psychological violence, according to these studies, is humiliation in front of family members or in public. Often, different forms of violence are perpetrated simultaneously leaving the victim totally shattered or emotionally unstable.

Forced sexual intercourse is the most common form of sexual violence. Economic abuse takes the form of reckless spending by the male partner, accumulation of financial debt and refusal to take responsibility for the maintenance of the family and upbringing of children. It is clearly a complex situation calling for complex remedies. The Government's decision to go in for a study into prevalence of gender-based violence is in itself a noteworthy response to the psychosocial malady. But that is perhaps only a work well begun.

As the various studies reveal, a complex web of response systems, involving health professionals, counsellors, NGOs, law-enforcement agencies and the legal fraternity must be put in place if the victims of domestic violence are to get relief and to ensure that crises arising from domestic incompatibilities do not infringe into the rights of children to grow into well-rounded individuals with appropriate educational entitlements and a healthy attitude towards life. Unseen and unheard by many, including the perpetrators and victims of violence, homes in Kerala are ticking away towards a cataclysmic upheaval. The alarm bells are best listened to now. Else it might be too late to put the clock back.

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