Violence can be direct or indirect. Direct violence, also known as personal violence, includes the physical act of inflicting visible wounds, for example by hitting. However, indirect violence, also known as structural or institutionalised violence, is caused as a result of institutional or social structures that prevent certain people from fulfilling their basic needs or achieving their full potential. The aggressor is not a person, but a series of norms, practices and policies that have become institutionalised and hence, the violence it inflicts becomes invisible and even normalised. For instance, social discrimination, poverty, rural migration, income inequality, gender pay gap are all forms of structural violence because they deprive a certain section of the population from meeting their basic needs and living a life they value.
To use the analogy of an iceberg, direct violence forms the tip of the iceberg whereas structural and cultural violence comprise the larger mass which mostly remains hidden.
These social structures and cultural norms play an important role because they justify the physical act of violence. For instance, the entrenched belief that men are superior to women and hence more desirable, provides a cultural sanction to female foeticide and infanticide, discriminatory practices against women and girls, domestic violence, gender stereotypes at home, workplaces and in society, as well as lower rate of education enrolment of girls. The list is long and endless, and in the end, deprives all people, including men, of their full human potential. That is why it is important to become aware of our implicit biases, assumptions and beliefs, and see how these unconsciously manifest in our daily behaviours and decision making. The key is to establish the values of justice, equality and respect for the dignity of all life in our hearts and make this conviction the basis of all our actions.
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