Treatment of women seems to be worse in third world countries (according to Peace Research Institute of Oslo's global Women, Peace and Security Index) however aside from a low literacy rate, high levels of poverty and terrorism being factors behind it - another commonality amongst these countries is their colonial past, which could play a vital role in the psychology behind the poor treatment of women.
The effects of colonisation linger to this day. This can sometimes be in the form of intergenerational trauma, or presented in aggressive patriarchy which was triggered by colonisation.
Definition: Transgenerational trauma (otherwise known as intergenerational trauma) - A trauma that is transferred from the first generation of trauma survivors to the second and further generations of offspring of the survivors.”
If we look at this concept of intergenerational trauma, the economical, political and social instability faced by the indigenous populations in colonised nations created traumas - which triggered the abused to becoming the abuser. An example of political instability could be the number of refugees and displaced individuals who have been forced to migrate due to violence, carrying trauma which is then passed onto children.
The second generation or even third then becomes psychologically distressed, and this can be expressed through domestic violence and the poor treatment of others.
“Intergenerational trauma generally refers to the ways in which trauma experienced in one generation affects the health and well-being of descendants of future generations” (Sangalang and Vang, 2018).
Atkinson (2010) gives the example of the suffering of aboriginals in Australia, and assesses that “the presence of unacknowledged or unresolved trauma in previous generations was linked to dysfunction in later generations of an extended family.”
Another concept which looks at the impact of colonialism and how it affected the treatment towards women, is that men were treated a certain way by colonizers, they suffered economically, culturally and were exploited for labour.
However, an important point raised by Val Kalei Kanuha PhD (2002) is that both men and women were colonised, so we need to explain how colonized women are not violent against men as well as question why are there still a disproportionate number of men of color who are violent against our women?
He explains that colonialism impacted men differently to women, as men were always at the forefront of politics, economy and society due to the long reign of patriarchy. In turn this further encouraged the structure of social hierarchy and overtime men’s treatment towards women was that of how the colonizers had treated these men.
Using the example of Hawaii, Kanuha compares colonial taking of land in Hawaii to “abusive men controlling women’s economic resources and constraining them from access to their social and familial resources.” Much like how the colonizers had grabbed their land and resources.
In conclusion, the link between colonialism and poor treatment of women is two-fold. One stems from colonizers and their similarities to the role of men, and the other of intergenerational trauma from the physical and psychological suffering of colonialism, which has built up aggression amongst this generation of oppressors.
