Violence in the Home

23 to 25 April 2009

The question of violence in the home has acquired urgency in recent times. The phenomenon has acquired serious and alarming proportions with regular reports of the most macabre forms of violence being perpetrated in the precincts of the home – an arena considered to be a haven of peace, harmony, solace and love.

A certain degree of tolerance to some violence in the home was inbuilt in the typical feudal-patriarchal family of the subcontinent, though this had also its safeguards; the paterfamilias was also the protector of the family. Thus, as long as the basic authority structure of the family was intact, violence per se was also contained within certain limits. However, the structure of the family varied along the axes of caste, region, and class, rural and urban residence and also kinship patterns.

There have been important changes in the structure of the family and in relationships, which in turn have been set off by wider social and economic processes at the macro level. Thus these broader processes have constituted the context for the changes in the structure, roles and relationships in the family and the home. A related dimension of the current changes that are affecting the family is the excessive stress on the man-woman relationship. This is partly an outcome of nuclearisation of the family and partly one of individuation in society at large. While both nuclearisation and individuation have been the outcome of larger processes which have been operative for a longer period, it would seem that the current phase has seen an intensification of these processes.

Violence in the home is an important part of these deep-seated changes. The increased prevalence of violence in the home has manifested itself principally in increased violence against women, with one in every two women in the subcontinent facing violence in the home. The social and cultural legitimation and often even political sanction of such violence as ‘normal’ has made it all the more difficult to deal with its multiple facets. Gender-based violence in the society has become acceptable to large sections of the middle classes and upwardly mobile groups.

The crucial analytic question is whether the issue of violence against women in the subcontinent can be solely attributed to traditional patriarchal structures and values or whether the pernicious impact of the spread of commercialisation, commodification and the overall hegemony of market forces which have penetrated the home have further intensified and exacerbated and even altered the character of patriarchy typical of our caste- feudal social order. The result is that this new patriarchy has legitimized foeticide, a phenomenon which is new and quite unlike the older issue of infanticide which was prevalent only in select groups.

The home and family was at one time quintessentially the woman’s domain, and to a certain extent continues to remain so. The transformations in this sphere will therefore have serious and long-term implications for not only women’s traditional roles as home-makers and for men’s role as breadwinners, but also the structure and nature of inter-generational relationships.

Another significant element in the picture is the role of the middle class as a transmission belt for the newly emerging vision of the family and the home. While the transformations are first affecting the middle classes, the new values of what constitutes the home and family are also providing the role model for other classes in society, particularly in the small towns, mofussil and even rural areas, affecting the aspiration structure and simultaneously widening the gap between aspirations and reality. The dominant discourse is to emphasize the role of the family as a buffer to absorb the shocks that are almost endemic in a volatile social environment; but is this an adequate buffer given the pervasive and extreme violence?

There are two dimensions to the question of violence in the home: the external one wherein the violence of the outside impacts the home and transforms it beyond all recognition, whether it be the hapless migrant who is forced to migrate for livelihood or whether it is the half widows of Kashmir or the camp-homes of Gujarat; and secondly, the internal transformations of the family and the home wherein traditional relationships have undergone drastic changes and have redefined both the boundaries of the home and affected the texture of the relationships.

While gender-based violence is crucial, the other dimensions of changes along the axis of age have also been impacted. Violence against the aged has acquired alarming proportions. The changes in the demographic composition of our society, with increased longevity have led to a significant section of our society consisting of the aged. The changes in the structure of the family with increasing nuclearisation has affected inter-generational reciprocity and left the aged with very little social support. Moreover, with the social welfare net almost nonexistent, this has meant increased vulnerability of the very old.

These changes have also affected the very young. While as with the case of women, the rights of the child have become part of a certain kind of public discourse, this discourse seems to coexist with the phenomenon of children becoming victims of the most horrific forms of violence. All the changes prompted by social economic processes are mediated by class, caste, tribe gender and residence. This extreme deprivation of the vast majority of Indian children constitutes the social matrix of the violence against the young.

The State’s response has been double-edged: on the one hand there have been attempts at legislation prompted by various women’s groups and conscientious voices of various citizens’ groups; on the other hand, there has been a free hand given to the play and even hegemony of market forces, which erode whatever cultural restraints the traditional order offered. The dynamics of the market and the penetration of the media into virtually every home also have serious implications for human relationships.

In order to discuss these issues, the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla is organising a three-day seminar from 23 to 25April 2009.

The broad themes that the seminar will cover are as follows:

Introductory Session

1. Changing Context of Violence in the Home—Broad Background, Contemporary Processes of Globalisation, Overall Commodification, Growing Polarisation and its Impact.

2. Broad Social Matrix of Increasing Violence in the Home -- Changing Contours of the Family and the Home.
(Changes in the family, migration and its impact on families, homes and relationships; single parent families, the burden of care increasingly falling on women)

Session II -- Afternoon

3. Violence Against Women – Widows, violence in marital relationships, rape

4. Girl Child and Adolescent Girls – The South Asian Context – infanticide, foeticide, honour killings—

Violence Against the Aged and Children -

Session I - Morning

5. Violence along the axis of age – children, aged,
(One paper each on violence against the aged and children

6. Mental Health – Depression, Suicides,

Session II -- Afternoon

6. Media and Representation of Violence

7. State Responses to Violence in the Home

8. Legal initiatives – Prevention of Domestic Violence Act

The last day will conclude with a panel discussion covering a wide range of issues with representatives of the media, the police and well known public personalities.