Violence Against Women and Issues Related to Their Identity: An Anthropological Observation

Culture is the reflection of activities in human society. It has certain sanctions and restrictions which ultimately frames the social order and customs related to human life. The contemporary human society is the ultimate outcome of prolonged socio-cultural evolution through different stages and phases. Along with the process of cultural evolution remarkable changes could be noticed in the process of technological development and economic organization from subsistence to surplus pattern. Universally division of labour on the basis of sex is a common practice. However related to the authority and succession of economic resource, property and decision making a number of socio-cultural norms and restrictions have been imposed upon the female folk. Their roles have been specified and their rights have been reduced through patriarchal regulations particularly in the Indian Hindu society. Different forms of violence are a method to suppress the voice of the female and to restrict their opinions and decisions both at the familial as well as societal level. It has both the practices of physical abuse and mental-psychological torture. Such issues have become a cultural practice which is socially subjugating the women, creating conflict over the resources and severely violating their issues related to identity and rights to their dignity.