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Men's Arrack Drinking and Domestic Violence against Women in a Bangladeshi Village

2006; SAGE Publishing; Volume: 25; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2190/1568-2652-7422-7921

1541-3519

Rabiul Karim,

Sex work and related issues

Arrack, indigenously made and known as tari, is a widely-used alcoholic beverage among poor drinkers in rural Bangladesh. This study examines the influences of men's arrack drinking habits on violence against women at the family level in Parbattipur, a typical village of northwest Bangladesh. Fifty purposively-selected married male arrack drinkers as well as their wives were interviewed singly by using a semi-structured questionnaire. Results show that arrack drinkers suffer from behavioral abnormalities. It creates family problems and women are often victimized by their husbands' drunken behaviors. Although violence against women is a common phenomenon in rural Bangladesh, it is argued that men's habitual arrack drinking behaviors, through the interplay of a patriarchal family structure, are directly linked with incidences of violence against women within marriage.