Most Cases of Violence Against Women in India: Study

March 9, 2005

NEW DELHI (MARCH 8, 2005): In the developing world, India tops the

chart on violence against women. This startling fact was revealed in

a global study that the UN, at its February meeting, chose as the

base study for formulating its policies to deal with such violence.

Funded by UN and International Clinical Epidemiology Network

(INCLEN), the sample study was conducted by World Studies of Abuse

in Family Environments (WorldSAFE) in one centre each in

Philippines, Egypt and Chile, and three in India. Figures

showed "intimate partners in India" abused women physically and

verbally. About 3,975 women were part of the study, of which 1,922

were Indians.

The survey was conducted on women in Lucknow, Vellore and

Thiruvananthapuram, and contrary to popular belief, the subjects

weren't only from slum areas. In the age group of 15-49, victims

were from the middle to lower middle class in Chile and Philippines,

and mostly from middle class in Egypt.

At least 42 per cent women in Thiruvananthapuram said they had

suffered from severe psychological trauma, followed by 16.2 per cent

in Lucknow and 15.2 per cent in Chile.

Cases of verbal abuse were again the highest in the same area, with

46.6 per cent respondents saying they were regularly humiliated by

their husbands. This figure was 38 per cent in Chile, 20 per cent in

Lucknow and 18.8 per cent in Vellore. Phillipines reported 11 per

cent and Egypt a mere 7 per cent of such cases.

The study also revealed that most Indian women were living under

constant threat from spouses. The violence, according to the study,

damaged their mental health, with about 7.5 per cent Indian women

attempting suicide at least once.

SOURCE: The Indian Express, EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE. Posted online:

Wednesday, March 09, 2005 at 0110 hours IST

Recommended Posts