The Hindu : Karnataka News : Home too seems far from being safe for women

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Karnataka

Karnataka

Home too seems far from being safe for women

Special Correspondent

20 per cent of women in Karnataka report having been slapped by their husbands

BANGALORE: Home is assumed to be the place that provides the greatest security, especially for a woman. This is far from true for one out of every five married women in Karnataka, as the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3) has revealed.

According to the report, which was released a few days ago, one in five (20 per cent) women in Karnataka reported having been slapped by their husbands. Between seven to nine per cent of women reported having their arms twisted, hair pulled, punched or beaten up. Eight per cent of women reported spousal emotional violence and only one per cent of women had initiated action against their husbands. The data pertains to 2005-2006.

NFHS-3 further showed that more than half of all Indian women believed that husbands could beat wives if they had “an appropriate reason,” and 37 per cent admitted to being victims of spousal violence. The percentage of physical or sexual violence on women was highest in Bihar (59 per cent) and the lowest in Himachal Pradesh (six per cent).

And here is a finding of the NFHS-3 which makes a case for creating greater awareness on The Protection of Women From Domestic Violence Act, 2005, and its implementation with greater rigour: The report says that in the State an over whelming 57 per cent of abused women had neither sought help nor told anyone about their predicament.

The awareness seemed to be slightly better as far as Karnataka was concerned, where seven per cent of abused women had sought help from the police, much higher than the national average of only two per cent, the report pointed out.

Women employed for cash were more likely than other employees or unemployed women to have experienced violence, the report said.

Women whose mothers were beaten by their fathers were more likely to be in an abusive marriage themselves. Thirty-three per cent of women whose mothers experienced spousal violence had themselves experienced spousal physical or sexual violence, compared with 16 per cent of women whose mothers did not experience spousal violence, the NFHS-3 report said.

Women with husbands who consumed alcohol were more likely to experience spousal violence. Thirty-four per cent of women had suffered injuries as a result of spousal violence. For most women who had ever experienced spousal violence, the violence first occurred within the first three years of marriage.

The report was prepared with funding by international agencies and involved interviews with 6,008 women and 5,528 men in Karnataka. The Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bangalore, conducted the field work. Data from the National Crime Records Bureau also emphasised the points raised by the latest NFHS. The bureau’s national figures indicated that there had been little or no change in crime trends with regard to rape and molestation in India. Despite the high incidence of violence against women, reporting was rare and conviction rates for reported cases abysmally low. The conviction rate for cruelty by husbands was 19.2 per cent and 25.5 per cent each for dowry and rape.

Workshop

Starting Monday, The Indian Social Institute in Bangalore is holding a three-day residential workshop for women on The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005. It hopes to create awareness on all contributing factors to women’s violence, such as the patriarchal social and political structure, and the special legislation that has been framed to protect women from such violence.

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