Domestic violence

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  • Created by: Lucy
  • Created on: 25-03-15 09:04

Facts and figures

  • Domestic violence accounts for almost a sixth of all violent crime.
  • 99% of all incidents against women are commited by men.
  • Mirrless-Black's survey of 16000 people stimates there are about 6.6 million domestic assults a year.
  • Nearly 1 in 4 women has been assulted by a partner at some time in her life.
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Dobash and Dobash

  • Dobash and Dobash found that one of the major factor of assaults was the husband’s perception that the wife was not performing her domestic duties to his satisfaction. 
  • The study also showed that many women are economically dependent on men, since many women are in poorly paid employment. 
  • These findings have been interpreted by radical feminists to suggest that widespread domestic violence is an inevitable feature of patriarchal society and serves to preserve the power that all men have over women.

However...

  • However, Elliot rejects the radical feminist claim that all men benefit from domestic violence. Not all men are aggressive and most are opposed to domestic violence.  Similarly, radical feminists fail to explain female violence, including child abuse by women and violence against male partners.
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Wilkinson

  • Wilkinson sees domestic violence as the result of stress on family members caused by social inequality.
  • He argues that families on low incomes or living in overcrowded housing are likely to experience higher levels of stress.  This reduces their chances of maintaining stable and caring relationships and increases the risk of conflict and violence.

However...

Unlike the radical feminists, Wilkinson does not explain why it is women, rather than men, who are at greatest risk of domestic violence.

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