Violence Against Women

Violence Against Women

Introduction

Gender based violence and sexual assault is an epidemic which has taken the world over and ruined the life of many women. The rate of rape and violence in the United States of America has increased over time in spite of the efforts being made to halt and fight it. This increase in sexual assault, rape and violence against women have drawn the attention of policymaker and other public and private organization working for the cause. Domestic violence alone has increased by an alarmingly high rate of 42 percent while there is a 25 percent increase in reported cases of sexual assault and rape (Weisman, 2012). In this context, it is imperative to state that many of the sexual assault and rape cases committed against women remain unreported due to several reasons.

The paper discusses the problem and its root causes, as well as the efforts that are being made to address the issue that can best be described as moral deterioration of the US society. It also sheds light on the changes that ought to be made in the form of policy recommendations.

Some facts on Violence against women in US

The following facts on the prevalence of violence against women were reported by the Bureau of Justice: Crime and Victim Statistics (Wulczyn, 2010):

About 18 percent of women in US have survived an attempted rape. About 12 percent of these were aged less than 12 years.

About 22 million women in the US have been raped at least once in their lifetime.

Majority of domestic violence cases remain unreported.

As concern violence against women in terms of ethnic backgrounds, it has been found that black women suffer more than white women.

2 women in every 5 has been a victim of violence.

Types of violence against women

In order to assess the policy framework and the changes that need to be made, it is first imperative to understand the problem in detail. Violence against women may be divided into three broad categories - rape, sexual assault and domestic violence. These are discussed hereunder.

Rape

Rape refers to the sexual exploitation of a woman without her consent and by force which entails intercourse or penetration. The element of consent matters a lot when considering rape as a means of violence. Unfortunately, the rape of women is US is very common. This is common among women of all ages. Rape is committed inside the houses and they are committed in the social settings as well. Most common reason for rape is sexual frustration of the abuser or substance use. These hamper the ability to behave rationally (White & Smith, 2000).

The most unreported of sex cases are marital rape and rape of children. Marital rape is sex without the consent of a person whereby the perpetrator is one's own spouse. Most women are subjected to this form of violence in combination with physical and emotional abuse but remain silent. This is so because some of the women do not have the concept of ...