Domestic Violence Throughout History

Domestic Violence Throughout History

Summary:

Domestic violence has been apart of society forever, and it rooted in traditional male dominance and the view of women as property. Still, domestic violence is still a problem that takes place regardless of the socio-economic status of a family.

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Domestic violence is as old as recorded history. There have been reports of domestic violence since the dawn of time, in every country. Throughout history domestic violence has been legal and socially acceptable, until recently. Two major elements have sealed the status of woman for more than six thousand years. Those elements are male dominance, and the concept that women are property of men. Physical force has always been used by the more dominant group, mainly to keep the subordinate group in place.

Women have been oppressed and beaten with the approval of societies that are dominated by the male sex. Years ago, laws even stated that any woman that was even verbally abusive to her husband, was to have her name engraved on a brick. Later, that brick would be used to knock out her teeth.

Women were also the ones who took on the burden of raising and educating the children alone. As, time went on, slowly women's rights progressed. Unfortunately these rights were only given as reward to status and class in society. Even now, in the 21st century, other countries still have many women that deal with the brutality of their spouses and other dominate males. Few people realize how damaging abuse actually is, that is why it took so long for any efforts were made to help this problem.

According to the English common law, in the eighteenth century, a husband was allowed to chastise his wife as long as the instrument he was using was no wider than the width of his thumb. Many new laws were instituted during the next decade, and during the progressive era. For the first time women were becoming political leaders and earning more independence. One of the biggest steps for women in the United States was the passage of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote. Although it was a step up, women's rights were still nowhere equal to men's.

Before this, the 14th Amendment was gave all Americans equal rights under the protection of the law. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court still denied equality for women and other minorities. It seemed the judiciary always created laws to protect women but they did it by giving power to the woman's father or husband. When women received the right to vote, everything changed. Now an important factor to the politicians was to earn the women's vote, which meant addressing the concerns that the women had.