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by. Siti Roswati Handayani
Introduction
Domestic violence or Violence Against Wives (from here on abbreviated as VAW), which is the term used by Rifka Annisa Woman Crisis Center (WCC), is by its nature one of the serious problem in the area of reproductive health.
At the ICPD (International Conference on Population Development) in Cairo, which was held in 1994, this issue was raised as one of its biggest concern. This gave birth to a recommendation that throughout the world, that special 356 attention should be given to women’s reproductive health, because of the high female (children through to adults) mortality rate factor.
The term Reproductive Health (RH) is not only limited to physical health, but also to psychological (or mental) health, and social health, connected with reproductive function in women.
The conception of a focused attention on reproductive health problem has raised the issue of women and violence as one of the five biggest causes of reproductive health problems in women. The following is a brief description of how violence becomes a women’s reproductive health problem.
The Fact of Violence Against Women and Reproductive Health Problems
Violence Against Women
Violence Against Women is a problem of immense proportions, however broadly speaking it can be categorized into five main areas – they are: Physical, Emotional, Economic, Social and Sexual Violence. The most important document used for VAW reference boundaries is the Declaration for the Abolition of Violence Against Women, which is ratified by the United Nations in 1993, in section 1. It stated that:
“Violence against women is all forms of gender based acts of violence that result in or will cause pain or suffering to women, including threat, force, the restriction of freedom, occurring in both public and domestic areas”.
Indeed, the facts show that VAW doesn’t only occur outside, but also inside the walls of the home. In fact, the number of cases of VAW within the home tend to be higher because it can be ‘safely’ kept and hidden, and therefore the community is not made aware of this socio-pathological issue.
Rape
Rape is one form of VAW that easily identified as one of the Women’s Reproductive Health Problems. Something which needs to be criticized by the society is the fact that rape itself can occur during times of war and peace, inside and outside the home, it is not always in the form of penis penetration to vagina, it is not always carried out in a forceful way, and the rapist is not always a stranger to the victim but could be a boyfriend, step or blood relative or even a spouse.
Physically, rape can cause damage and infection to women’s reproductive organs, infection with STDs (Sexually Transmitted Disease), and pregnancy. Psychologically, rape can cause damage such as trauma, a phobia of men or sexual relationship, a loss of self-confidence because of the feeling that self-respect has been torn away, through to permanent damage to psychological health or the mental state. Socially, rape can cause the women to be ostracized from their families or the community, to be stigmatized as no longer a virgin, and so on.
Domestic Violence
Domestic violence, usually termed Violence within Marriage (against wives), is a Reproductive Health Problem which is hidden because until now, there has been a huge social denial that rough or cruel treatment of women by their spouses is in fact a human right violation. Domestic violence creates many problems for both female spouses and children.
Within marriage there is a hope that the process of regeneration will continue, but in reality this becomes complicated when a husband is violent to his wife. Miscarriages are one of the problems in the reproductive health of the wife. Miscarriages can be caused when pregnant wife is beaten, or when physical or psychological loads become too much to bear for the pregnant wife. Besides miscarriages, other reproductive health problems can emerge during the time of pregnancy, such as babies who are underweight at birth, or even deformities. For the mother herself, domestic violence can lead to death if her physical health is not properly cared during the pregnancy.
The impact of domestic violence on reproductive health is also evident beyond pregnancies alone. For example, women may experience disturbances in menstrual cycle, lengthen period of bleeding, sterility and also sexual dysfunctions.
Something that the majority of the community is not really aware of (related to Women’s Reproductive Health Problems), is connected with a women’s freedom to determine thing by herself, especially in regards to aims in the process of regeneration functions. What this refers to is the ability to choose her own partner in life. The time that she wants to get married, the number of children she wishes to have, and the right to enjoy a sexual relationship that is SHEN (Safe, Healthy, and Enjoyable). The forced use of contraceptives is one of the problems related to women’s reproductive health, because it often emerges in the physical-emotional health problems in women.
All of these issues are problems for women’s reproductive health, because the process of female (and also male) reproduction stems from all of them.
Conclusion
We have to be aware that the area of Women’s Reproductive Health is extremely wide in scope and as a result, advocacy of this also requires the involvement of various parties (multi-discipline).
The important thing here that needs to be noted, is that the women’s empowerment movement must be accompanied by a community awareness movement, for example to not just give open access to information about problems of reproductive health to women but also to men. This will enable a balance of understanding in all members of society (male and female).
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