Extensions of Remarks

6808 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS April 17, 1989 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN A Then there are the less recognized forms Once a gesture of love, ever-escalating SEVERE, WORLDWIDE HUMAN of violence. In Nepal, female babies die from dowry now represents a real financial RIGHTS PROBLEM neglect because parents value sons over burden to the parents of unwed daughters. daughters; in Sudan, girls' genitals are muti Increasingly, dowry is being seen as a "get lated to ensure virginity until marriage; and rich quick" scheme by prospective hus HON. GEORGE MILLER in India, young brides are murdered by their bands, with young brides suffering severe OF CALIFORNIA husbands when parents fail to provide abuse if promised money or goods do not enough dowry. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES materialize. In its most severe form, dowry In all these instances, women are targets harassment ends in suicide or murder, free Monday, April 17, 1989 of violence because of their sex. This is not ing the husband to pursue a more lucrative random violence. The risk factor is being arrangement. Mr. MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, new female. research by the World Watch Institute shows Dowry deaths are notoriously undercount Most of these abuses have been reported ed, largely because the husband and his rel that violence against women is one of the in one or another country, at one or another atives frequently try to disguise the murder most widespread yet least recognized health time. But it is only when you begin to amass as a suicide or an accident and the police are and human rights problems in the world. It statistics and reports from international or loathe to get involved. A frequent scam is to cuts across all cultures and affects every so ganizations and countries around the world that the horrifying dimensions of this set the women alight with kerosene, and cioeconomic group. global war on women come into focus. For then claim she died in a kitchen accident In the United States, a woman is beaten me the revelation came only recently after hence the term "brideburning." In 1987 the every 15 seconds and, each day, four of talking with scores of village women police officially recorded 1, 786 dowry deaths these women die. Every 6 minutes, a woman throughout the world. in all of India, but the Ahmedabad Women's in the United States is raped. I never intended to investigate violence; I Action Group estimates that 1,000 women was researching maternal and child health may have been burned alive that year in In parts of Africa and the Middle East, Gujurat State alone. young girls are subjected to life-threatening issues overseas. But I would commonly begin my interviews with a simple question: A quick look at mortality data from India circumcisions in order to ensure virginity until What is your biggest problem? With unnerv reveals the reasonableness of this claim. In marriage. ing frequency, the answer came back: "My both urban Maharashtra and greater In India, thousands of young brides have husband beats me." Bombay, 19 percent of all deaths among been murdered by their husbands in cases These are women who daily have to walk women 15 to 44 years old are due to "acci where the bride's parents did not pay the hus four hours to gather enough wood for the dental burns." In other Third World coun band a dowry as large as he had expected. evening meal, whose children commonly die tries, such as Guatemala, Ecuador and In Austria in 1985, more than half of all mur of treatable illnesses, whose security can be Chile, the same statistic is less than 1 per wiped out with one failed rain. Yet when de cent. ders were committed within the family, with fining their own concerns, they see violence Elsewhere in the world, the marriage women and children constituting 90 percent of as their greatest dilemma. Those dedicated transaction is reversed, with prospective the victims in those cases. to helping Third World women would do husbands paying "bridewealth" to secure a Tragically, governments and societies well to listen. woman's hand in marriage. In many cul around the world have generally ignored this More than simply a "women's issue," vio tures-especially in Africa-the exchange violence against women because much of it lence could thwart other widely held goals has become so commercialized that inflated occurs in the home where historically such vi for human progress in the Third World. bridewealth leaves the man with the dis Study after study has shown that maternal tinct impression that he has "purchased" olence has been sanctioned by religious, cul education is the single most effective way to tural, and legal systems. In more than half of his wife. reduce child mortality-not because it im The notion that bridewealth confers own the States in our own country, for instance, parts new knowledge or skills related to ership was clearly depicted during recent there are circumstances under which it is legal health, but because it erodes fatalism, im parliamentary debates in Papua, New for a man to rape his wife. proves self confidence and changes the Guinea over whether wife-beating should be This week, the Washington Post published power balance within the family. made illegal. Transcripts show that most an excerpt of the new World Watch report, In effect, these studies say that a woman's ministers were violently against the idea of which I urge my colleagues to read. sense of self is critical to reducing infant parliament interfering in "traditional mortality. Yet acts of violence and society's family life." Minister William Wi of North The. article follows: tacit acceptance of them stand as constant [From the Washington Post, Apr. 9, 19891 Waghi argued that wife beating "is an ac reminders to women of their low worth. cepted custom and we are wasting our time THE GLOBAL WAR AGAINST WOMEN Where women's status is critical to achiev debating the issue." Another parliamentari <By Lori Heise) ing a development goal-such as controlling an added: "I paid for my wife, so she should fertility and improving child survival-vio not overrule my decisions, because I am the Violence against women-including as lence will remain a powerful obstacle to sault, mutilation, murder, infanticide, rape progress. head of the family." and cruel neglect-is perhaps the most per Measured by its human costs alone, It is this unequal power balance-institu vasive yet least recognized human-rights female-focused violence is worthy of inter tionalized in the structure of the patriar issue in the world. It is also a profound national attention and action. But it has chal family-that is at the root of wife-beat health problem sapping women's physical seldom been raised at that level, much less ing. As Cheryl Bernard, director of Austria's and emotional vitality and undermining addressed. Millions of dollars are spent each Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Politics, their confidence-both vital to achieving year to protect the human rights of fetuses. notes: "Violence against women in the widely held goals for human progress, espe It is time to stand up for the human rights family takes place because the perpetrators cially in the Third World. of women. feel, and their environment encourages Despite its invisibility, the dimensions of The Indian subcontinent is home to one of them to feel, that this is an acceptable exer the problem are vast. In Bangkok, Thailand, the most pernicious forms of wife abuse, cise of male prerogative, a legitimate and a reported 50 percent of married women are known locally as "bride-burning" or "dowry appropriate way to relieve their own tension beaten regularly by their husbands. In the deaths." Decades ago dowry referred to the in conditions of stress, to sanction female barrios of Quito, Ecuador, 80 percent of gifts that a woman received from her par behavior ... or just to enjoy a feeling of su women are said to have been physically ents upon marriage. Now dowry has become premacy. abused. And in Nicaragua, 44 percent of an important part of premarital negotia While stress and alcohol may increase the men admit to beating their wives or girl tions and refers to the wealth that the likelihood of violence, they do not "cause" friends. Equally shocking statistics can be bride's parents must pay the groom as part it. Rather, it is the belief that violence is an found in the industrial world. of the marriage settlement. acceptable way to resolve conflict, and that e This "bullet" symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. Matter set in this typeface indicates words inserted or appended, rather than spoken, by a Member of the House on the floor. April 17, 1989 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS 6809 women are "appropriate" and "safe" targets which is carried out without anesthesia. Not important impetus for reform. Putting vio for abuse, that leads to battering. uncommonly, these complications result in lence against women high on the world Today's cultures have strong historical, re death. agenda is not appeasing a "special interest" ligious and legal legacies that reinforce the The long-term effects, in addition to loss group. It is restoring the birthright of half legitimacy of wife-beating. Under English of all sexual feeling, include chronic urinary of humanity. common law, for example, a husband had tract infections, pelvic infections that can the legal right to discipline his wife-subject lead to infertility, painful intercourse and to a "rule of thumb" that barred him from severe scarring that can cause tearing of THE COST OF HEALTH IN using a stick broader than his thumb.

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