The Root Causes Of Domestic Violence In Africa

Faith O Anekwe –

In Africa, an average of 10 people suffer physical abuse at the hands of a spouses or an intimate partners everyday. This amounts to 5 million men and women each year.

According to the National Coalition Against Domestic violence, both genders suffer abuse while the most affected were women. In every 10 minutes, a woman is assaulted or severely beaten globally.

Domestic violence involves more than physical abuse. The U.S. Department of Justice Office on violence against women describes Domestic Violence as “a pattern of abuse behaviour in any relationship to gain or maintain power over another intimate partner.

Domestic violence can be physical s*xual, emotional, economic or psychological actions or threats that intimidate, manipulate, humiliate, isolate, frighten, terrorize, to coerce, threaten, blame, hurt, injure or wound someone.

What causes someone to inflict this kind of pain on the people they are supposed to love most?

The following are some of the root causes:

(1) A LEARNED BEHAVIOUR
Children who are frequently exposed to violence in their homes see it as a normal way of life. That early exposure increases their risk of becoming an abuser or a victim of abuse.

Some experts in domestic violence believe that “learned behaviour ” is more of an excuse used by abusers for their behaviour and not a real root cause.

Another instance is when people become adults they make choices about how they act, they can choose to repeat a behaviour that they’ve learned (abusing a partner ) or choose to behave in a new or different way because they recognize that the old behaviour that they observed is wrong.

(2 ) THE NEED TO CONTROL

Domestic violence may start because abusers want to control their spouses. The abusers may be jealous, have low self esteem or feel inferior to their partner in some way. For example, the abuser may have come from a family with less money than his partner or may have only SSCE certificate while the abused has BSc or HND certificate.

The abuser may never inflict a blow on their partner, but may degrade them in other ways, by telling them that they are unattractive, disgusting or stupid.

For example; The abuser may assert control by constantly checking up on their partner, calling or texting or going through their personal belongings.

Controlling the other partner through abusive behaviour make the abuser feel superior to his victim.

(3)CULTURAL INFLUENCES
Different Cultural and social norms support different types of violence. For instance, traditional beliefs that men have a right to control or discipline women through physical means makes women vulnerable to violence by intimate partners and places girls at risk of s*xual abuse.

These cultures see women as inferior to men and /or as their property, men can treatchoose women as they are. In these situations, women may come to see abuse as simply their lot in life.

(4) SITUATIONAL FACTORS

Incidents of domestic violence increase exponentially during economic downturns. Some men who lose their jobs or see bills mounting up may take out their frustration on their partner (and on their children as well).

(5) SUBSTANCE
Most people overreact to certain incidents or events while acting under the influence of drugs or substances. It is a drug that made some of the abusers act without recourse to conscience.
A substances such as alcohol, Indian Hemp, Liquid Codeine, and Refinol, among others.

Abusers’ attitudes may be the biggest factor in whether or not substance abuse causes problems. The abuser usually believes that violence is acceptable especially as alcohol causes aggressive behavior.

This explains the root cause of domestic violence even as many people wonder why an abused spouse or partner remains with the abuser.