Domestic Violence and Policy Measures

Running head: DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND POLICY MEASURES
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND POLICY MEASURES
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DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND POLICY MEASURES
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Introduction
The aim of the report is to present the social issue of domestic violence within the global
context and highlight the underlying nuances of the issue form the sociological and theoretical
perspectives. It has been observed that the issue of domestic and sexual harassment against
women is one of the public issues that are impacting the society in general and women’s rights in
particular. This has been estimated that 1 in every 3 women have faced some form of physical
violence from their partners and it is glaring to note that 1 in every 5 women undergo some
form of emotional tortures form their intimate partners in their lifetime(Browne, 2016). It has
also been argued that women as the only social group is not subjected to violence, it is equally
true situation for men however the total percentage of women being subjected to such violence is
far more higher in comparison to men. Hence this can be argued form the above statistics that
domestic violence has been one of the most prevalent incidents of the society which requires the
detailed understanding from the sociological and theoretical perspectives (Douglas et al., 2015).
This essay will be looking into the issue of domestic violence form the two perspectives in order
to understand the what here the policy structure can adequately address the issue or there are
other underlying issues of the intimate partner violence.
Discussion
The unique perspective of sociology discusses the issue of domestic violence as part of
the social structure and not from the individual pathology. According to the strain theory of
sociology, it has been argued that social structure and relationship are the foundation of growing
sense of frustration which leads to the process of people reacting in violent ways (Hearn, 2013).

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However according to the benefit theory, violence is triggered by the process of social low cost
where the act of violence outweighs the lower cost. However the dominant understanding on the
issue of domestic violence comes from the feminist perspective which explains the phenomenon
as the “gendered issue”. According to this theory, the issue of violence is predominantly related
to the patriarchal domination of men over women (Hearn, 2013). The issue of family violence is
the extension of the same cause. What is important to point out here is that the violence of
women is not an isolated issue of physical torture, it is equally negative for the mental, sexual
and health issues of the women who are subjected to such incidents. In considering the issue of
the domestic violence, the impact of education has been one of the key issues in determining the
impact of familial pressure (Walby, 2013). However it has also been argued that the intimate
partner violence has a greater impact of the family structure of the individual. What is important
here to understand the background of the issue along with the policy structure to abdicate the
issue the same. There are number policy practices all both at the national and international level
that is aimed at targeting the sources of the problem in order to understand severity of the same.
Policy structures in place
Within the context of Australia, the issue of domestic violence is defined as part of the
Family Act of 1975 which explains that any form of unacceptable behavior from the family
member of the intimate partner is subjected to punishment and if it is likely to occur between the
members of the domestic structure (Dfat.gov.au, 2019). The act of Domestic and family
protection act of 2012 has been one of the guiding principles that has been implemented by the
government of Australia in order to cater the complaints of such acts. It has also ensured the