Saturday, March 03, 2007

37 pc women face domestic violence

Over 37 per cent married women in the country were victims of physical or sexual abuse by their husbands with Bihar topping the list. Women in Himachal Pradesh faced less violence at home compared to other states in the country.

The latest National Family Health Survey-III found that 37.2 per cent women had experienced violence and cited lack of education as the key reason behind their woes. "Women with no education were much more likely than other women to have suffered spousal violence. However, spousal abuse also extends to women who have secondary or higher secondary level education, with 16 per cent reporting abuse," the survey said. The survey showed that countrywide more women face violence in rural areas (40.2) as compared to those in the urban areas (30.4).
In Bihar, women in urban areas fared worse than those in rural areas.

While 62.2 per cent underwent the trauma in urban areas, it was 58.5 per cent women in villages. It is followed by Rajasthan (46.3) Madhya Pradesh (45.8), Tripura (44.1), Manipur (43.9), Uttar Pradesh (42.4), Tamil Nadu (41.9), West Bengal (40.3) and Arunachal Pradesh (38.8).

Among the metros, the fairer sex was better off in Delhi (16.3) and Mumbai (19.5) recorded relatively low percentage as compared to Chennai (40.6) and Kolkata (26.7). Nearly, 17 per cent women in Goa have experienced violence, with 17.2 women in rural areas at the receiving end as compared to 16.4 per cent women in urban areas.In Chhattisgarh, a total of 30 per cent women suffered at the hands of their husbands, while in Jharkhand, the figure was 37 per cent. About 40.8 per cent women in Jharkhand villages found the going tough as compared to 24.6 per cent in the urban areas.

In the hill state of Uttarakhand, nearly 28 per cent women experienced violence, with those in villages (29.8) fared worse than their urban counterparts (22.8). After Himachal Pradesh, women fared relatively better in Jammu and Kashmir (12.6), Meghalaya (13.1), Nagaland (15.4), Sikkim (16.5) and Kerala (16.4). Other states where women find themselves vulnerable are Assam (39.6), Arunachal Pradesh (38.8), Orissa (38.5), Maharashtra (30.7), Andhra Pradesh (35.2), Haryana (27.3), Gujarat (27.6) Punjab (25.4), Mizoram (22.5) and Karnataka (20).

3 comments:

Children with out voices said...

Sadly the world is touched!

Anonymous said...

Subject: 37 pc women face domestic violence:

We should have more education through TV & radio media, and more marriage counseling centers to tackle this issue.

This report should have included abuse to children, old age people and to men also. That would have given more information to tackle this issue in better way.

Anonymous said...

Domestic Violence Act

Ray of Hope


To me the act is noteworthy because for the first time in India the term ‘domestic violence’ has been magnified, broaden, amplified and strengthened from the regular dowry deaths to positive civil rights of armor ,defense and command .still the most crucial test lies in the implementing of the act
No doubts the Act is significant and by passing of the Domestic Violence Act (DVA) it is an important indicator in the history of the women’s movement in India, which has tackled the problem of domestic violence for well over two decades. This endorsement sets free the movement from the malaise that has long plagued it, of attributing all categories of violence, women have tolerated and suffered within their families and amplifying the scope of the term ‘domestic violence’. It acknowledges that domestic violence is a widely prevalent and universal problem of power relationships, more than the culture specific phenomenon called ‘dowry death’. More importantly, it marks an exit from the penal provisions, which hinged on rigid punishments, to positive civil rights of protection and injunction.


While celebrating this, it is also an apt moment to take a breather and reflect on why and how several pro-women legislations in the past have been futile and ineffective to protect women. It is the time and an opportunity to scrutinize and analyze what is new in this act that sets it apart. What is it that hoists this act and elevates this over all the pro-women legislations of the past two decades and to raise some uncomfortable questions? Do we know the outcome of the act? How will it unfold 10 years down the lane or is it another going round the circles? Are we going round in circles and entangling ourselves in further legislative entanglements? Can we predict the myriad directions in which the Act will unfold in years to come? I’m not suspicious or incredulous but watching and reading history, dearth and lack of women friendly acts are evident .
Implementing the act is like who will bell the cat situation. Making this act known and relevant is a frightening task. Besides state capitals and metros the act of this sort does not exists. The rural area is unaware. So the responses are polarized with one section fearing its misuse by an elite class in metro cities and another segment predicting its futility for the mass of rural women saddled with the yoke of patriarchy to which courts are as yet alien
Delinking Domestic Violence

The scope of this act is tremendous. It will benefit millions of women in our country hopefully there will be greater credence and acceptability to women’s testimonies. The wide definition of domestic violence - physical, mental, economical and sexual - brings under its purview the invisible violence suffered by a large section of women and entitles them to claim protection.

This enactment once upon a time which was intended to provide less formidable judicial fora, which would respond with greater sensitivity to the needs of women facing matrimonial problems,. What is it that makes us believe that the newly enacted DVA would change the equations and bring respite to women trapped in violent marriages, I find its single most significant achievement is the widening of the scope of protection against violence beyond the category of ‘wives’ and extending it not only to mothers, daughters and sisters but also to women in informal relationships. Aged women, unmarried girls and widowed / divorced sisters can now seek protection from their relatives.

The Act opens up new doorways of hope