Socioeconomic Factors Causing Domestic Violence Against Women and Its Legal Consequences: A Study of Quetta, Pakistan

Abstract

Due to the impunity, concealment, stigma, and shame surrounding it, violence against women and girls (VAWG) is one of the most pervasive, ongoing, destructive, and systemic human rights abuses in our time. This paper describes the phenomenon and factors of domestic violence among women living in Balochistan. The current research was carried out on the studies and cases related to Quetta, Balochistan, Pakistan. For this study, secondary data has been organized and analyzed by systematic review analysis technique to present a concise picture of domestic violence in Quetta. The study concludes that violence generally takes the form of physical, sexual, and psychological abuse, including intimate partner violence (battery, psychological abuse, marital rape, femicide), sexual violence and harassment (rape, forced sexual acts, unwanted sexual advances, child sexual abuse, forced marriage, street harassment, stalking, and cyber-harassment). It occurs everywhere, regardless of a person's age, race, religion, or socioeconomic level. There is a strong desire to mobilize society's sectors to formulate domestic violence policy. Both women and men need to promote non-violent relationships in private and public life. Moreover, there is a need to assure the implication of The Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Act of 2012 in related institutions to avoid violence against women.