Colaba's Women Graduates Union conducted a panel discussion on the subject of domestic violence
Colaba recently saw an intensive and intriguing session on domestic violence that was much appreciated by the attendees. Organised by the Women Graduates Union, the session was an extension of the socially volatile and relevant issues taken up by the International Federation of University Women, Geneva.
To enlighten people about the sensitive issue of domestic violence, three brilliant women known for their amazing insight shared the dais. The speakers were Vibhuti Patel, Professor and Director, Centre for Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy and Head, PG Economics, SNDT Women's University; Rinki Roy Bhattacharya, Founder and Chairperson of the Bimal Roy Film Society and Monica Sakhrani, Associate Professor and Chairperson, Centre for Social Justice and Governance, School of Social Work, Tata Institute of Social Sciences.
The discussions highlighted the need to understand that domestic violence has a long and encompassing definition. Vibhuti Patel elaborates, "When we say domestic violence, it doesn't only refer to women as victims; any person of any age group, irrelevant of their gender, could be a victim."
She emphasised the point that even though most victims of domestic violence in India are women, the number of victims who are children and senior citizens is also high. According to the statistics, one in every five women face domestic violence once in their lifetime. She adds, "According to a World Bank report, 40 per cent absenteeism at work in the metro cities of India is due to domestic violence."
Rinki Roy Bhattacharya, daughter of famous filmmaker Bimal Roy, who has also been a victim of domestic violence, spoke her heart out at the event. She opined that the basic reason behind the crime of domestic violence is the compulsive need to have power over someone else and to be in control. In 1990, Roy had also made a movie called Char Divari, which highlighted the issue of wife-beating.
"There are many myths surrounding domestic violence among Indian families due to the traditional outlook we have," shared Roy, "Hence, there is a need to unlearn what has been learned and accepted all these years. There is a need to dispel these myths; the most common one being that only women belonging to certain economic classes face such violence. That is certainly not the truth and it is time that we admit it."
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