Social Construction Of Gender And Domestic Violence In Canada

Social construction of genders in Canada

Discuss about the Domestic Violence and Politics.

Domestic violence occurs when a person willfully intimidates or causes sexual, physical assault or even battery or abusive behavior in order to establish his or her power and control over the other intimate partner (Benoit et al 2015). In Canada the act relating to domestic violence is mainly committed by men towards the women and children (Alaggia et al. 2015).

Domestic violence against women in Canada is increasing at a very rapid rate. The main reason for such increase is the social construction of men in the society along with drug and alcohol addiction. Out of all violence reported to the police in Canada 25% involves violence within family and 70% out of such crimes are reported against women or girls (Devries et al. 2013). 

This paper discusses the social construction of genders and its relation with domestic violence in the country.

Men are often regarded as the key providers for the family in the society. They are expected to earn and provided for the family and hold a dominant position with respect to all the important decisions the family is subjected to. On the other hand women are often dependant on the men for all their basic needs and often accept a subordinate position to men in society (Kaukinen and Powers 2015). None of the genders are more violent than the other from the time of birth and their behavior is based on the kind of society in which they grow up. Boys are generally trained to accomplish and do whereas girls are thought to forfeit possibilities and choices in order to look after the family and keep away the unwanted dirt so that they are respect in the society. They are brought up to become natural nurturers and are though not to step out of their role in the society. They are always considered physically and mentally weaker than a man and this concept is made even more significant as a result of their social construction. They are treated as service providers in the society and this directly results in reduction of the value of their work and worth (Devries et al. 2014).  The male dominant society always regarded women and children as the properties of men. In the modern society the toys which are provided for girls are barbies and dolls where as boys are provided with action figures of Superman and Batman. This concept evidently results in the girls have a more boy conscious image whereas boys develop a sense of aggression. The phrase of doing something like a girl is often regarded as an insult for boys where as comparing a girl’s physical activity with that of a boy is praise in the society. Since ancient time men have used products which cause intoxicate more as compared to that of women. In modern times also men are subjected to increased use of drug and alcohol as the consumption of these products is considered to be a trait of masculinity in the society. The increased use of such products destroys their thinking and reasoning capabilities and automatically causes increased aggression (Daoud et al.2016).

Social position of genders at work

The division of labor at work plays a major role in the existence of gender inequalities in the society. A split labor market prevails in Canada where women hold jobs having a lower income and status (Wathen, MacGregor and MacQuarrie 2015). The major work contributed by the women workforce is towards the household activities and only when there is economic crisis in the family do the women engage in outside work. Women in Canada only earns 61% of the total income earned by men in respected positions and when it comes to lower status jobs women earn 73% of that of the men (Gerber 2014). When it comes to full time and high wages jobs women occupy only 20% of the positions. The wages received by women as compared to that of men. However in the recent time due to increased education and increased effort to bring in equality between genders the participation of women work force has increased. The wages of women as compared to that of men is increasing by a penny every year since the last decade and women are gradually gaining a stronger social position at work from what they had been subjected to previously. Whereas men who have a higher rate of alcohol and drug addiction are not able to meet the expectation of their role towards their families in the society (Gerber 2014).

As men are regarded as the main providers of the family in the society they have an increased pressure to meet the family demands and in case they fail to do so they often believe that they would lose the dominance they have over the family. In order to reestablish their position they use this aggression to cause harm to the family members specially the women in form of domestic violence. As they have always been the dominant gender in the society they cannot accept the situation when the other gender looks down upon them which results in extreme jealousy, anger and emotional outburst eventually causing domestic violence (Daoud et al. 2016).

The traditional belief that women are not equal to men makes them think that men have the right to control women. Men also inherit this thinking and behavior from the way they are brought up. These dominant behaviors are so common that mostly all households face it and the boys learn to be aggressive and the girls learn not to oppose such situations as a normal part of living (Kaukinen and Powers 2015).

Relation of social construction and perception of society towards domestic violence

Domestic violence can take from of sexual, emotional as well as physical abuse. When there is economic crisis men are not able to provide properly for their family and may be subjected to an inferior feeling and order to re establish their supremacy they take the help of aggression and cause domestic violence.

Social norms of the society play an important role towards the perception of women in the low income group of society towards domestic violence.  Women are regarded as nurturers in the society therefore they abstain from opposing to the violent behavior they face. They accept the norms of the society that men are aggressive and it is their nature to show aggression (Senn et al. 2014). Most of the cases of domestic violence in the country are not reported to the police. Women who are not able to provide for themselves are dependent on their male partners for necessities do not have the scope of reporting the cases of domestic violence as they are afraid to end the relationship and to cause harm to their intimate partners (Evetts 2014).

The male dominant society treats the cases of domestic violence as normal course of living and women are often baled for the violent act committed by their partners. The society also is accustomed to male aggression as a result of drug and alcohol use and their acts during intoxication are often ignored by the society when it comes to domestic violence (Kuokkanen  2015).

Conclusions 

Domestic violence in the society is not just a factor of great concern but in the recent times has become a factor of grave concern. Although crime rates are decreasing gradually in Canada the cases of domestic violence are still on the rise. The most significant factor about domestic violence cases in the country is that they are not reported to the proper authority and therefore proper action is not taking against such cases. For the proper development of women and children in the society the issue of rising domestic violence has to be addressed with utmost importance.

A proper framework is needed so that the cases of domestic violence can be reported to the concerned authorities

The women must be made aware of the fact that domestic violence is not a normal course of living and they have the legal right to oppose it.

Society must have the responsibility to introduce equality among the gender by providing equally opportunities to both men and women in education and work.

References

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Daoud, N., Matheson, F.I., Pedersen, C., Hamilton-Wright, S., Minh, A., Zhang, J. and O’Campo, P., 2016. Pathways and trajectories linking housing instability and poor health among low-income women experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV): Toward a conceptual framework. Women & Health, 56(2), pp.208-225.

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Gerber, L.M., 2014. Education, employment, and income polarization among Aboriginal men and women in Canada. Canadian Ethnic Studies, 46(1), pp.121-144.

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Kuokkanen, R., 2015. Gendered Violence and Politics in Indigenous Communities: The Cases of Aboriginal People in Canada and the Sami in Scandinavia. International Feminist Journal of Politics, 17(2), pp.271-288.

Senn, C.Y., Eliasziw, M., Barata, P.C., Thurston, W.E., Newby-Clark, I.R., Radtke, H.L. and Hobden, K.L., 2014. Sexual violence in the lives of first-year university women in Canada: no improvements in the 21st century. BMC women’s health, 14(1), p.135.

Wathen, C.N., MacGregor, J.C. and MacQuarrie, B.J., 2015. The impact of domestic violence in the workplace: results from a pan-Canadian survey. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 57(7), pp.e65-e71.