By Pankaj Adhikari (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-11-30 07:21

A survey by All-China Women's Federation found that 30 percent of the 270 million families in China experience domestic violence, with most of the victims being women.

As the world celebrated the International Day for the Eradication of Violence Against Women on November 25, it is heartening to read a report that 13 community volunteers in the Kaiyang community in Beijing have joined hands to combat domestic violence.

The report said: "Wang Bin is a transformed man now. He no longer uses hands to communicate with his wife. Thanks to the counseling from anti-domestic violence community volunteers. Wang himself now leads the 13-member team to fight violence against women."

Wang said: "I want to use my experience both as a perpetrator of and fighter against domestic violence to appeal to those gearing up for the White Ribbon Campaign (WRC)."

Kudos to Wang.

It was also reported that Wang and 200 other residents, all wearing white ribbons as a symbol of personal pledge never to perpetrate or remain silent on violence against women, gathered to begin a series of programs. The campaign prompted an increasing number of victims to stand up against domestic violence.

The responsibility of keeping women safe rests on men. Of course, to say that men are the sole custodians of women's safety only strengthens one of patriarchy's most enduring myths; women, being the weaker of the two sexes, need to be looked after and cared for by men.

The danger, however, lies elsewhere. Such an inviolable privilege also gives men the license to repeatedly abuse the very responsibility that they have entrusted themselves with.

Domestic violence has been around for centuries. Even the educated and affluent classes are not immune. Violence cuts across classes.

However, changes have begun. The veil on the issue is lifting and the silence is breaking as more and more women talk about it.

An expert with the Gender and Law Research Center has rightly pointed out that educating women victims to break their silence is as important as asking men to refrain from assaulting women.

Apart from vocational training and counseling, providing legal support for women to fight their own cases would also help them fight the injustice.

Violence against women need not always be physical. It is also aimed at stalling women's attempts at being self-sufficient. Unfortunately in a patriarchal society, men find it difficult to accept women's rising role. Even today an educated male finds it hard to accept his partner's ascendancy in the professional field and in social status.

Male chauvinism!

Well, today women are not bothered about male chauvinism. Women power is an established and undeniable fact. Take the case of Yang Huiyan. With $16 billion, she has become the richest person in Asia. With an estimated fortune of $3.4 billion, Zhang Yin is the first woman to top the Hurun Report rich list in China. These are just two examples of how Chinese women have outshone their male counterparts. Thus it will be foolhardy to consider women as the weaker sex.

It is not a question of empowering women to tackle the problem. It is a question of domestic peace and happiness which is crucial for family harmony. And this is only possible if man and woman respect each other. This is where the true test of man-woman relationship lies.

Thomas Hardy in The Mayor of Casterbridge said: "Happiness is but an occasional episode in the general drama of pain."

Let us hunt for "happiness always".

E-mail: pankaj@chinadaily.com.hk

(China Daily 11/30/2007 page10)