A system that denies men work and then arrests them for being unemployed strips them of respect everywhere outside the home. They take that loss out on the one place they still hold power, beating their wives and children. The abuser stays responsible, but the outside oppression feeds the abuse inside the house.
Custom treats a husband's cheating, lying and beating as a normal part of marriage. The same custom tells a wife she must stay faithful and loyal no matter what he does. Because women are taught from childhood that men rule every part of their lives, they accept treatment they would otherwise refuse.
When a husband spends his wages on drink and gambling and forbids his wife to work, her only way to feed the family is to earn money behind his back. That hidden income becomes a new target. He beats her for spending it without his permission, steals it, and destroys what she buys with it.
When a husband pays the bride's family a price for her, the marriage starts as a purchase, often of a young girl by an older man. Once the price is paid, he can leave her for another woman and stop sending money. She is still bound to the marriage and left to raise the children alone.
Tradition puts the whole care and upbringing of children on the mother. When fathers desert or squander their pay, nothing is left to share the load. Each generation of women repeats the same fight for food, work and housing, and their lives become hard to tell apart.