January Blog- Abuse on Women

~January 31st, 2015

In early times, it was a known fact that men were superior to women. Men controlled the money, the lifestyle, and the livelihood of his wife and children. Fast-forward to modern times. In many cultures, we have reached a time where women and men are equals. We have reached a time where women can support and care for themselves. We have reached a time where women are seen as strong, smart, and  independent. However, why is domestic violence still an issue? Why is it that men still are willing to violently harm their wife, sister, or mother?
In A Thousand Splendid Suns, Rasheed is willing to harm both Mariam and Laila in order to get what he wants. A specific example of this is in chapter 33. Rasheed barges into Mariam's room and threatens to beat her for teaching Laila to deny him. He talks off his belt and would have whipped her with it if not for Laila saving her. Rasheed takes advantage of both girls throughout the novel by forcing them into sex , scaring them into doing chores for him and threatening them with force. This was common practice in the culture and time the book takes place in. However, when Americans of today read it, we see it as an abomination. No husband should treat his wife the way Rasheed does. Rasheed's actions would land him in jail if he lived in America now. 
Unfortunately, even though Americans see domestic violence as a terrible thing, it still occurs on a daily occurrence. In America, a woman is abused every 18 seconds. Even though thousands of cases occur every year, one particular case has risen awareness on domestic violence: the Ray and Janay Rice assault case. Ray Rice was a star running back for the Baltimore Ravens. On February 15th, 2014, Ray and Janay Rice got into an altercation in an Atlantic City elevator. When they got out of the elevator, Ray had knocked out Janay and carried her out of the elevator. The incident became global news. Because of this horrendous incident, awareness was raised for the danger of domestic violence. The world watched the fiasco that would ensure after the incident. After surveillance videos came out of the incident, the NFL suspended Ray and the Ravens released him. The incident would go to court and Ray was eventually reinstated into the NFL. However, the publicity of the event helped the world realize how large a problem domestic violence is. 
The abuse of women is something that needs to be stopped. It is crucial to raise awareness for the problem. There  must be strict laws and punishments for those that hurt another person. Any person that purposely physically harms another is cowardly and inhumane. This is an issue that everyone must realize and try and put a stop to. There is no room in this world for a person willing to undertake these cruel acts.