Gender Violence, Article Critique Example

This article states that even though violence against women has significantly decreased in the developed countries, the problem still persists. The article informs that there are four types of violence which are physical violence, institutional violence, symbolic violence, and economic violence. Even though all violence is undesirable but the worst form of violence against women is economic violence because it prevents women from becoming economically independent and have access to same career opportunities that are available to men. Economic violence takes different forms such as preventing access to education, equal access to work, and expecting women to take care of family.

This article does a great job of introducing the readers to the types of violence but I believe the most serious threat is symbolic violence and not economic violence. Symbolic violence’s effects can be seen everywhere including anorexia, plastic surgeries, and bullying of teenage girls because unrealistic images of women are promoted. Physical and institutional violence are the greatest threats in developing countries where they are sometimes seen as necessary component of tradition and culture but the forms of violence against women that are most prevalent on a global basis are symbolic violence and economic violence. The developed countries have made significant progress against economic violence but symbolic violence often goes unnoticed. Even media is hesitant to raise voice against symbolic violence because it is a party to it when it promotes unrealistic images of women and depict them as objects of desire. And corporate America has chosen to ignore it for the sake of economic profits that result due to provocative marketing campaigns.