“Global estimates published by WHO indicate that about 1 in 3 (35%) of women worldwide have experienced either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime. Globally, as many as 38% of murders of women are committed by a male intimate partner” (World Health Organization, “Violence Against Women, 2017”).  This demonstrates the superiority of men over women as women are more tolerant, patient and sympathetic therefore easily seen as a quarry, while men are more ignorant, insensitive, possessive and controlling. Men have towered over women as if to belittle their importance believing they are more important than the female population as a whole. How men typically establish this dominance and superiority is by engaging in acts of physical and emotional violence towards women. This is an important issue as it results in multiple deaths and serious injuries of female victims all across the world, causing traumatic experiences and dangerous and destructive learned behavior for generations. Violence against women has many causes and outcomes that significantly impact women globally.

In most cases, men show their dominance in relationships with women. It is not often seen where women show their superiority and dominance towards men. Power in relationships is mostly held by men, because men often utilize their physical strength to hold over and/ overpower women while in a relationship. “Men are not more violent because they’re stronger, but stronger because they’ve needed to be more violent over evolutionary history, which has shaped male psychology in all sorts of ways” (Nuwer, “What if women were physically stronger than men? 2017”). Men have primarily been the directors, law enforcers, hunters and providers of the family over the centuries; the breadwinner. Under no circumstances should this be seen as an excuse for male behavior, but males have used this to empower themselves to be of some form of higher being which gives them ‘control’ and ‘right’ to do as pleases with their spouse, which is a direct cause of male dominance in relationships.

Females are naturally more intelligent than men, hence the reason females now, are given many more opportunities to take advantage of compared to men. Females are coming out on top, taking successful job positions, owning businesses and networks and men are seen as sometimes intimidated by females because of this. “A man might not be able to understand or articulate this, but the thinking comes down to, ‘Yes, a woman may make more money than me, my boss might be a woman, my wife might have better job than me, but none of them can play football,’” (Nuwer, “What if women were physically stronger than men? 2017”). God gave the power to both men and women to create children for the formation of life, therefore males are not the only ones that make all things possible. The purpose of a woman is to bring life into existence, women are the carriers of ‘mankind’. Women carry the seeds of men and women that blossoms into a beautiful creation of human life, an infant. “So, while male-on-female domestic abuse would likely decrease, female-on-male cases would probably increase” (Nuwer, “What if women were physically stronger than men? 2017”), if women were to be as strong as or even stronger than men it would possibly become a much larger affair. Thus, women are an important part of existence just as much and/ even more than men are.

However, it also happens that “Men are more likely to perpetrate violence if they have low education, a history of child maltreatment, exposure to domestic violence against their mothers, harmful use of alcohol, unequal gender norms including attitudes accepting of violence, and a sense of entitlement over women....women are more likely to experience intimate partner violence if they have low education, exposure to mothers being abused by a partner, abuse during childhood, and attitudes accepting violence, male privilege, and women’s subordinate status” (World Health Organization, “Violence Against Women, 2017”). This has affected women who have jobs and are trying to make a living for their family, as it can be seen as a setback and/ motivation; motivation to escape the ill-treatment that is experienced. “Many domestic violence survivors depend on welfare to provide the economic support necessary to escape the violence” (Beechey, Susanne, and Payne, ‘Poverty Increases Women's Vulnerability to Abuse’ 2004). Domestic violence is a primary cause of homelessness amongst women, which poses significant barriers to these women's workforce participation. Women, under these circumstances, usually undergo multiple changes in jobs, destruction of personal and work property and of course many injuries varying from minor to severe. “Abusers often try to interfere with any efforts their partners make to gain economic independence, including efforts to find work, retain employment or continue studying. This is done in a variety of ways: by inflicting injuries and keeping women up all night with arguments before important events such as interviews or tests; preventing her from sleeping; turning off alarm clocks; destroying homework assignments; saying negative things about her ability to succeed; destroying clothing; inflicting visible facial injuries before job interviews or threatening to kidnap the children from school care centers” (Beechey, Susanne, and Payne, ‘Poverty Increases Women's Vulnerability to Abuse’ 2004).

“Duane Minard, a former abusive husband...confesses, that he realized he had a serious problem and made a commitment to end his abusive behavior. He entered a batterer; intervention program and read books on domestic violence, which helped him understand how he had learned violent behavior from his abusive father during his childhood” (Volpe 122). This is the most common cause of violence against women at an early age. Young boys grow up seeing their father or someone who portrays authority and strength like a father figure in their life practice belittling behavior upon their mother or mother figure. “Some time toward midnight Tom Buchanan and Mrs. Wilson stood face to face discussing, in impassioned voices, whether Mrs. Wilson had any right to mention Daisy’s name.  ‘Daisy! Daisy! Daisy!’ shouted Mrs. Wilson. ‘I’ll say it whenever I want to! Daisy! Dai____’ Making a short deft movement, Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand” (Fitzgerald 20). Tom Buchanan showed no concern about his actions towards Myrtle Wilson, as he didn’t apologize or feel remorseful for what he had done. Was it because she was impecunious? Was it because she was his mistress and not his wife? Was it because she was a female and he was a male; someone ‘superior’. Mr.Buchanan was ruthless because of Mrs.Wilson’s social class; she was poor, living in the Valley of Ashes with her unsuccessful husband with no lavishes other than what he gifted her with like the puppy, dresses and the apartment he bought for them to share on their rendezvous and where all of her luxuries were located. Male privilege, privileges men have institutional power in relation to women as a class.

Women have been greatly affected by this, struggling with depression, insecurities, stress and so much more, like suicidal thoughts. “In Utah, research found that 81% of long-term welfare recipients had lived with an abusive partner, and 79% had either called the police or sought a protective order. The individuals who had experienced domestic violence reported more barriers to employment (including higher rates of depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and substance abuse) than individuals who had not experienced domestic violence” (Beechey, Susanne, and Payne, ‘Poverty Increases Women's Vulnerability to Abuse’ 2004). A study shows that not only has it affected the abused women, but as reviewed children are subjected to learned behavior and have failure to thrive symptoms affecting their mental and physical growth. “Children who live in violent households can have learning issues, exhibit high anxiety, experience feelings of depression and anger, or feel unstable or unsafe in their homes” (La Bella 27). Children under such trauma also suffer from low self-esteem and other physiological problems like wetting the bed, having poor impulse control and academic learning problems. Teens and young adults are also more likely to abuse drugs, alcohol and their future spouse and possibly even children. Children who are abused by their parents often accept all forms of assault from their future partners, “Sally got married like we knew she would, young and not ready but married just the same...she says she is in love, but I think she did it to escape” (Cisneros 64). Sally, from The House on Mango Street, was abused by her father because he thought she would have run away like his sisters who made his family ashamed. Sally ran away and got married at a young age of 13 or 14 years old, in hopes of getting away from someone who couldn’t control himself, someone who beat her for the most irrational things. Her new husband has anger issues and doesn’t permit her to look out the window or to make telephone calls to friends, dominating, having excessive control over her and her life.

“Girls and women are more likely to report that their alcoholism or drug addiction developed in the course of a relationship with a substance-abusing boyfriend or husband. More female alcoholics and addicts report histories of physical and sexual abuse. Also, more women alcoholics or addicts attribute their alcohol or drug dependence to a significant loss or trauma, while males more often report their alcohol and drug dependence developed gradually from their recreational drug use” ("Gender and Substance Abuse." Drugs, Alcohol, and Tobacco: Learning about Addictive Behavior, edited by Carson-DeWitt). Not only do men physically abuse women but they abuse them emotionally in cases where they choose to resort to drugs, men also influence or force women to consume drugs. Men threaten, criticize, reject, isolate and blame women for many things which are manly irrational causing them to believe that they are at wrong and begin to find fault in themselves. “Women who use illegal drugs frequently support their drug habits by prostitution, putting themselves at risk for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis B, even if they are not needle users” ("Gender and Substance Abuse." Drugs, Alcohol, and Tobacco: Learning about Addictive Behavior, edited by Carson-DeWitt). Women, when put onto narcotics use the substances less compared to men and are usually at a lower risk of becoming an addict. When an addict, women possess the constant urge to use a drug substance, they will use all of their funds to source what they crave and eventually when her funds run out due to no income or excessive spending without a dime in her name placing herself into debt she will resort to additional illegal activities like prostitution, selling drugs themselves, being pimped out, etc. When engaged in illegal activities relating to sexual activities women often obtain Sexually Transmitted Diseases such as Gonorrhea, Hepatitis B, Syphilis, etc and from drug substances acquire other life-threatening diseases such as Trachea, Bronchus, and Lung Cancers, Strokes, Coronary Heart Disease and the list goes on. This is an effortless way to shorten or make life burdensome for women who are living with such illnesses.

Violence against women has many causes and outcomes that significantly impact women globally. Men who have learned behavior from their childhood usually result in abusing their wives and possibly even children in the future. Violence against women disrupts the earning of income by inflicting injuries, ruining documents or outfits needed for work, a job interview or school assessments. As well as abusive relationships that usually retain some influence of drugs causing one spouse to get the other hooked on some form of a drug. Violence against women, not only results in long-term abuse but in long-term effects like anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, and self-worth.