REASON EXPOSED PART 2

Intermediary causes of violence

Dowry: Despite the Dowry Prohibition Act (1980) dowry transactions continue to become a socially legitimate part of marriage negotiations. Maleka Begum in her book Dowry says that dowry is a major factor in violence, starting from verbal abuse, battering, torture and ending in death.

Lack of Education: Lack of education makes women more vulnerable. Statistics shows that a year of schooling is associated with prevalence of violence; no statement could be made how and why education has a role in reducing violence . Greater years of schooling may provide women with an opportunity to gain knowledge and information which they lack and as a result, they become less vulnerable. When Khan [14] was trying to assess the impact of education, he found that although education did not give them power to change the traditional division of labor within household, the most educated women had more equal power relationship with their husbands, who were less dependent upon husband’s approval for self esteem. Though education does have a role on women’s power and autonomy, education cannot overcome the power of the patriarchy.

Lack of security: There is a lack of security for women’s travelling from workplace, no transport facilities are provided for them travelling at night, no housing facilities for migrant workers from rural areas and no institutionalized codes of conduct to enable the workplace to overcome some of the negative cultural perceptions of women.