Domestic Violence in Global and Australian Context

Running head: DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Domestic violence in global context and Australia
Domestic violence can be defined as any abusive action or violence against a person in
domestic setting. Domestic violence does not necessarily means physical violence alone, but also
to psychological torture done in order to gain authority or control over an individual (Motz,
2016). Abusive behaviour is a learned behaviour and is necessarily not caused by anger or
mental problems. A large number of actions can be considered as domestic violence such as
physical assault, threatening or intimidating, kidnapping, unlawful imprisonment, criminal
damage, mental and sexual harassment (Motz, 2016).
This essay will focus on the issue of domestic violence in a global and Australian context,
how domestic violence impacts the physical and the mental well-being of a person. The essay
would further examine how the socio-economic and the psychological factors influence the
incidence of domestic violence.
Statistics on domestic violence
Women and children are the most vulnerable groups to any kind of violence at home.
Domestic violence is an issue that can be found globally irrespective of the ethnicities and
nationalities (Hoyle,2012). It is a serious problem that can be seen in every society of both the
developed and the underdeveloped nations. Although domestic violence can be seen against men,
but the women, children and the elderly account for most of the cases of domestic violence.
According to Australia's National Research Organisation for Women's Safety
(ANROWS), one in every 11 people (1927899) have been a victim of domestic violence for
since the age of 15. Breaking down the results- one in six women and the one in every 20 men
(White ribbon Australia, 2018). As per the statistics on an average at least one women a week is

2DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
being killed by a partner in Australia, One in five women in Australia have demonstrated sexual
violence, one in four Australian female have faced with emotional abuse by the current or the
former partner. Women are more susceptible to suffer from domestic violence from an intimate
partner. Young women between the age group (15-44) are likely to suffer from emotional or
physical abuse than the women in older age group. According to the reports the cost of
healthcare and social welfare involving domestic violence has been found to be $21.7 billion a
year, suggesting that if no further actions are taken, the cost might accumulate to $323.4 billion
(Australian institute of health and welfare, 2018)
Socioeconomic status and domestic violence
Socioeconomic status can be identified as one of the risk factors to domestic violence. It
should be noted that SES does not only encompass income but also attainment of education,
subjective viewpoint about social classes and status and financial security (Adams et al., 2013).
Families with lower SES are likely to experience domestic violence. Families with low
SES lack a nurturing environment for the growth of a child and as a result low SES children are
more likely to experience adverse experiences than their counterparts with high SES. Economic
status of a person is linked to domestic violence in many ways (Adams et al., 2013). Poorer
women or those women who are financially dependent on their partners are likely to suffer the
most and are more likely to return to the abusive partners. The degree of the economic
dependence of the women is associated with the severity of the abuse (Motz, 2016). Increased
dependence on partner is associated with greater abuse. Furthermore a person can also be harmed
to undermine his/her ability to become financially independent. A poor household is associated
to low capacity of spending, lower ability to cope up with the increasing economic needs, which
may give rise to depression in abusive partners, who can hit their partners at rage (Hearn, 2013).