What the hell my MUET Writing homework. Lazy update. Next update on Sunday I hope.

Cases of violence against women have been on the rise lately. Violence against women is generally defined as an action of abuse towards women. This form of abuse can be in the form of physical abuse and also emotional abuse. What is the cause for the increase of cases of violence against women? Is it because of women themselves? Or is it because of several other factors that have caused this increase? Certainly, a detailed analysis has to be made from various perspectives in order to seek out the root to this menace.

Firstly, the government should be held responsible. Even though there may be laws and acts enacted to protect the rights of women, they have not been properly enforced. Perpetrators of crimes against women such as rapists can easily get away with their wrongdoings. This happens because the authority does not take these cases seriously. Sometimes, a typical rape case involving a woman will take several months, sometimes years, to solve. By the time there are enough evidence against the criminal, the woman that was raped my have committed suicide or may have went into a depression due to the fact that she may no longer be able to stand in the crowd as an innocent and “clean” person. Furthermore, investigations do not encompass a wide range of cases of violence against women. For example, if a husband were to scold and hurl harsh words at his wife everyday, which is a form of emotional abuse, would the authorities be able to prosecute the husband? Certainly not, as there are no laws allowing the authorities to do so. These loopholes in the laws should be covered up by amending the current laws so that they can be more relevant to the society today.

On the other hand, the mass media is also to be blamed, especially the television and movies. The television programmes aired on the idiot box nowadays promote violence against women by showing scenes of women being tortured physically and mentally. This goes the same for the movies. Some shows such as CSI show gory screenshots of women being tortured in many different ways. Of course, these shows have no intention of emphasising acts of violence against women. However, the emotions of the viewers would be stirred if they happen to watch these shows or movies. By doing so, the subconscious mind would influence their thinking and rationale. In this case, the age-old adage “what you eat is what you are” holds true, although with a different twist to it. So, what you watch on television may also turn out to be what you are. Some serial rapists, molesters and even wife-abusers learn all the “tricks and tips” on how to take advantage of women from these shows and movies. In the end, that is what have become of them. It is therefore very important that shows and movies that are to be made available to the public should be properly screened by the authorities. Scenes involving violence against women should be censored completely and without any compromise.

Sometimes, acts of violence happen to women because they lack the courage and knowledge to stand for their rights. Many cases of abuse against women have been swept under carpet. Rather than to make a stand for their rights, women tend to keep a hush-hush on these matters and they hope that time will one day solve all their problems. Such method of handling violence against women will not help in stopping people from abusing women. For example, some parents of female rape victims would just dismiss rape incidents because they would not want their daughter to become the talk of the society. As Asians, many parents tend to have this mentality, too. This halts any further actions to be taken onto the criminals by the authority. Then, these criminals are free to continue to commit crimes of all sorts against women. There, women should take one leap of faith and take fate in their own hands. Report any cases of abuse against women to the authorities and never compromise your rights.

Weighing the logic of the reasons given, it is therefore not the problem of women that violence against women occurs. Yes, women may have weak points, as they are created naturally to be gentle creatures. The society should learn how to treat women with dignity and respect, rather than to treat them like second-class genders. At this point, much more can be done by the government and also private institutions to help stop this problem of violence against women once and for all. Only then, Vision 2020’s goal to create a healthy and loving society can be fully realized.