Domestic Violence against Estate Women in Sri Lanka

Domestic violence or violence against women is a common phenomenon taking place in any country without any geographical boundaries or culture. Although there are various types of violence against women such as rape, trafficking, and sexual slavery, domestic violence continues to increase at a higher rate. Domestic violence constitutes physical, sexual, or psychological harm to women including threats of such acts, coercion, or arbitrary deprivation of liberty. In Sri Lanka, domestic violence is unleashed against estate women more destructively than those urban and rural women in the country. This study aims at finding the causes of domestic violence and their impact on their families in the estates. Further, the defensive mechanism of women victims of the violence against them is also looked into. The study was carried out in 2022 concerning the domestic violence in estates namely Weoya Estate, Polatagama Estate, Halgolla Estate, and Kelaniwatta Estate located in Yatiyantota police division in Kegalle district, Sabaragamuwa province. The interview method and the case study method were used to collect data from 25 women victims selected from a purposive sample. The study revealed that women between the age of 20-30 years who had married under age had the minimum capacity to perform household tasks with their little children and suffered heavily from financial problems and domestic violence as they had to look after their little ones without any employment. The alcohol consumption, brewing of illicit liquor, and extramarital relationships by husbands pave the way for wives beating in the estates. The patriarchal system and extended family system also contribute to domestic violence. The study suggests that estate management coupled with field officers, community policing, and other relevant organizations should take immediate measures to reduce the causes that lead to physical, mental, economic, and other forms of violence against women in the estate sector.