by Jyoti Pandey

Created on: June 29, 2008

There's something called Indian way of thinking. Every country has its own particular way of thinking based on which we develop the way we look at things and treat them in that respect. What we have seen and gathered through the scriptures and ancient literatures about Indian way of thinking is that, for ages Indian women have been thought to be a form of goddess, a form of power, and courage, and love, and respect. They are supposed to work silently behind the scenes and put their own interests after everybody else. In fact having any kind of interest of their own would earn them a bad name. It's the men folk of the family who were supposed to go out fetch for the family and indulge in their own volitions and live the life they desired to live. What emerged because of that kind of thinking was, they became a subject of domestic violence every time they decided to break away from the convention. They were considered infallible, an epitome of perfection, pious and chaste. On the other hand, men thought that they were some kind of species who had an excuse for their bad behavior just on account of being a male. It's ok for them make mistakes, it's a pardonable for them to indulge in immoral activities because they were just "men"!

This complete misrepresentation and misinterpretation by the society about the role of women gave birth to a mindset where men started believing that they were more powerful than women and gave them the reason to perpetrate violence against women.

It is however wrong to assume that domestic violence happens only in India. Awareness and documentation of domestic violence differs from country to country. Estimates are that only about a third of cases of domestic violence are actually reported in the United States and the United Kingdom. In other places with less attention and less support, reported cases would be still lower.

What needs to be understood, that in Indian context, the reason it happens, because they still believe in that age old theory that somehow the women have to adopt a more subdued role in the society and they justify their perpetration of violence against them based on the similar theory. If an Indian male would marry somebody from the western culture, he apparently does not have the similar expectations out of her. Because he knows and believes that the similar theory does not exist in their country and their setup and mindsets are very different than them. Hence, he would very gladly treat their counterparts as equal and walk hand in hand with them.

What I am trying to emphasize is the fact that the domestic violence is a serious issue in India because for ages they were considered weak and powerless and men wrongfully assumed that they own them, that they are not an independent human being, and that their existence did not have any meaning.

However, recently that mindset has gone through a huge transformation forcing to change the reality of the situation. Indian woman have come forward in every respect and proved their mettle. Today that line of demarcation is getting diminished and there is no way they are ready to be treated in any subdued role with no power and dignity. Current socio economic situations have also attributed a great deal to it. From being a prime minister, to being the face of the media, to being in the armed forces, they are trying to demolish that boundary with a thundering push.

With a plethora of opportunities being available to them in the current socio economic scenario, I wouldn't say its' gone from every section of the society, but it would definitely be imprudent to say that it is limited only to the Indian society in today's world.

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