The first setting where a child undergoes socialization is usually the family, often regarded as the primary social institution. This is where a child learns about the world around them, how to interact with other people, the norms, values, and principles by which to live, and knowledge and skills necessary for survival. Given this, the family and the home should be a source of comfort and safety so that one can develop into a whole and healthy human being.
Unfortunately, for many, the home is a place of conflict with violence taking place between members of the family. When children are victims of, or witness this violence, there can be lasting physical and psychological harms. Research demonstrates a link between a boy child’s early exposure to violence with a higher likelihood of perpetrating violence against women and girls later in their life. Indeed, a World Health Organization report titled “Respect women: preventing violence against women”, states that one of the key risk factors for perpetration of violence against women is identified as childhood experience of violence and/or exposure to violence in the family. Additionally, according to a collection of 15 years of data from The International Men and Gender Equality Survey (IMAGES), men who witnessed violence as children, particularly against their mother, were twice as likely to carry out intimate partner violence in adulthood.
It is important to note that research has not established childhood exposure to violence as a cause of violence against women and girls. Instead, research suggests that the quality of family relationships experienced in early stages of life impacts what is learned as normative practice within families in adulthood. While the majority of victims of childhood violence will not become perpetrators of violence as adults, among those who do cause harm, there is a greater proportion of men who were victims as children than in the general population.
The family represents an important context in which violence against women and girls must be addressed. Women and girls are most often the victims of family violence due to values and ideologies that position women and girls as inferior and to be controlled. Fostering healthy home and family relations free of violence and harmful gender norms presents a key approach in violence prevention efforts that are sustainable and long-lasting.