A woman is abused by her partner every 15 seconds in the United States. Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury for women between the ages 15 to 44. One in four women is beaten by their partners at some point in their lives. Eighty-five percent of domestic violence victims are women.

What do these statistics mean, and why as a society should we care?

The answer is simple. Domestic violence is absolutely abhorrent, and violence against women all across the world points to a global societal structure in which patriarchal norms are not only being tolerated but accepted and applauded. There are multiple methods we can take as a society to uproot this global culture of inequality and stop domestic violence from occurring. First, begin equality education for both boys and girls starting in pre-school, and secondly, the global governments need to enact harsher penalties for convicted domestic abusers.

Whenever we see changes in patterns of behavior from one generation to another, we have to look at the changing culture and education of kids within a society. For the most part, the values and beliefs of the parents and the society pass down to the children. This is why it’s so important for us as a society to begin teaching our children at a young age the value of gender equality. Not only should this education be done at home, but also in the classroom where schools should spend a significant amount of time teaching children of all ages that domestic violence is absolutely not acceptable in our society today. This is why we need to put in place a program on a national level that begins a course of domestic violence education starting at the pre-school age. Whether this program is enacted through our federal government or at the state level, our society has a responsibility to educate our children about the harms of domestic violence.

As a society, we have made great strides on the front of gender equality, but when we still have millions of cases of domestic violence occurring in the world each year, and it’s clear we have a long road ahead until we reach true equality for all men and women.

Furthermore, the global governments can do their part on the domestic violence front by enacting harsher penalties and rehabilitation programs for convicted domestic abusers. We need to look at domestic violence in a two-pronged approach when it comes to punishment if we as a society are ever going to see progress regarding the scope of domestic violence.

Not only can governments across the world create stronger laws that discourage domestic violence in terms of prison sentences, but governments can also create rehabilitation programs. In terms of prison sentencing, currently, most state laws in the United States depend on whether the domestic violence was a misdemeanor or a felony. But sometimes these laws in the United States have limited effect, and once the abusers get released from prison after a short period of time they go back to their violent ways. In other countries, the problem is even worse.

Many times even if the woman is brave enough to speak up about domestic violence, the abuser will get away with a slap on the wrist and the abusive relationship might certainly continue. By imposing harsher penalties, these convicted domestic abusers will know that their government and society, in general, is not letting them get away with non-acceptable patterns of abuse behavior.

In conclusion, stopping domestic violence within our society will certainly not happen overnight. But if we as a society place a concerted effort on limiting the scope of domestic violence, we will all begin to see progress on all fronts of gender equality, and begin to tear down some of the same patriarchal norms which have caused violence and inequality throughout human history.