WOMEN-JAPAN: Domestic Violence Peeps Out of Closet

By Suvendrini Kakuchi Reprint | | Print |

Suvendrini Kakuchi

TOKYO, Oct 4 1998 (IPS) - The low status of women in Japanese society is no secret but officials in this country have expressed surprise at the large number of women violently treated by men.

After decades of ignoring the problem, officials say there may be thousands of battered women across Japan who tolerate their partners’ abusive behaviour partly out of fear of societal scorn.

The officials’ acknowledgement of the reality of domestic violence comes on the heels of a survey on battered women by the Tokyo metropolitan government. The survey, released in August, covered 1,553 women who had been experienced violence by their husbands or partners at least once.

“The results were astonishing,” said Yuko Omura, an official in charge of the survey. “The problem of battered women is just coming out of the closet in Japan and we find that it needs immediate attention.”

Nearly seven percent of the respondents said their partners physically assaulted them frequently, while 24 percent said they had been abused at least twice. Sexual violence was the top form of abuse and included domestic rape, being forced to tolerate their partners watching pornographic films or indecent material, and having husbands or partners who did not accept their responsibility in family planning.

“What was alarming were the cases of rape,” said Omura. “While the percentage was low at one percent, this still brings the number to around 29,000 women if taken on the ratio of the total number of married women living in Tokyo, which is 291,000.”

Respondents in the survey also told of severe violence that often resulted in fractures, swollen faces or limbs.

The survey was conducted as a result of the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995. Explained Omura: “At the urging of the United Nations, we officials realised Japan also had to take on the issue of battered women to prepare ourselves toward the target of gender equality.”

But officials were ill prepared for stories like that of ‘Keiko’, who endured physical and psychological abuse from her husband for two decades. A mother of three, Keiko helps her husband run a photography shop in suburban Tokyo. She says her husband works hard, but drinks so heavily at night, then becomes violent.

She has suffered two broken teeth as a result of his attacks and fractured her wrist when he tried to push her down the stairs in a fit of rage. Keiko says her husband refuses to discuss his problems with her and tells her to leave if she is not happy.

“I have tried several time to leave him,” confessed the woman who looks much older than her 42 years. “But every time I try, my parents and in-laws tell me to endure the situation for the sake of my children.”

She is willing to endure life with her husband for a few more years but “when my children leave home, I then, at last, can think of a new life.”

Nobuko Kishi, director of a Tokyo counseling centre set up primarily for sex workers, says Japanese society seems to have built up tolerance toward domestic violence against women.

Part of the problem, she says, is that battered women are reluctant to talk about the abuse to outsiders, and society puts family before individual concerns. Indeed, almost half of the Tokyo survey respondents said they had not consulted anyone about their situation.

Most of these women, in their 50s, explained they did not want to reveal their problems to outsiders and shame the family. Many of the respondents in their 20s, meanwhile, had consulted other people. The overall impression among respondents, however, was that they were powerless to change their situation.

Satoru Saito, a psychiatrist at the Institute for Family Functioning in Tokyo, commented: “Battered women are not socially incompetent women or obedient women. They can be teachers, doctors, nurses, or lawyers. Some men feel threatened by these women and so are physically abusive.”

One respondent in her 30’s said her husband became violent when she went with her friends. She wrote: “He beat and kicked me and dragged me around by my hair. I was forced to apologise on my knees.” After trying to keep her marriage intact for 10 years, she successfully sought a divorce.

But experts say more often than not, battered women are willing to take abuse for much longer. Police say their intrusion in family matters is often not welcomed by many abused women.

“If battered women clearly express their desire that their husbands should be arrested, we will do so,” said Tomoko Sakaguchi, head of the Office for Crime Victims at the Metropolitan Police Department. “But often the women take back their requests for help when they cool down.”

“We must begin by helping women to speak out against violence by telling them that there is no shame in seeking their rights to be free from abuse by their husbands,” said Omura. “Men also have to be aware of what they are doing so that they, too, can get help to get rid of the habit of beating their wives. ”

More women are beginning to seek outside help. According to Omura, the counselling centre headed by Kishi is now full of battered women seeking solace and advice.

Counsellors are calling for more shelters for battered women – there are now three or four of them — and more informative workshops. Lawyers see a need to toughen existing laws.

“Violent husbands are rarely prosecuted unless wives suffer serious or fatal injuries,” said lawyer Tomoko Hirayama, who specialises in divorce and other civil cases. “Courts can issue temporary restraining orders, but abusive husbands are not punished for violating orders.”