PHYSICAL ABUSE OVER WOMEN IN GENERAL SANTOS CITY FROM 2018-2020: A SECONDARY DATA ANALYSIS

This is a study on physical abuse over women in General Santos City based on the Women's desk records from 2018-2020. It determined the demographic profile of the physically abused women, the rate of physical abuse as well as the common forms of physical abuse on women.

Data were taken from the Women's Desk records of the three barangays- Fatima, Calumpang and Lagao- through a self-made checklist. Data were analyzed through frequency and percentage, and reflected on the bar graph and line graph.

The study found out that there is a total of 166 recorded physically abused women in General Santos City. The abused women were varied ages, where majority of them belong to age of 32 years old and above. Most of them are Roman Catholic being the dominant religion in the city, and most of them are unemployed.

Among the three (3) Barangay-locales in General Santos City, Barangay Fatima has the highest number of women who were physically abused by their spouses. Majority of these women experienced different forms of abuses usually in combination of beating, hitting and kicking detrimental to the health and general well-being of the women.

Violence against women still remains as an issue in General Santos City. Although the number of physical abuses over women is not really big, it is thought that a lot of cases may have remained unreported due to cultural reasons such as fear from further threat on the part of women, and avoidance of stigma towards the family where members feel devaluated due to internal or familial violence and conflicts to the detriment of the women's well-being. It is recommended that Barangays need to have or enhance their Gender and Development program in response to the growing number of physically abuses to increase women's consciousness regarding gender rights and empowerment.