Commentary: Women’s violence to children

Abstract

Feminists often feel uncomfortable about talking about, or even acknowledging, women's violence, whether it be women's violence to men, women's violence to other women, or women's violence to children. It is now generally recognised that women can be violent to their male partners, but that women's violence is often in self-defence, and does not usually result in the same degree of hurt and injury as does men's violence to women. As someone who, for many years, has been concerned about parental use of physical punishment, I have long been aware that women can also be violent towards their children.