The focus of the women’s movement has primarily been centred on legal reforms to combat violence. Sadly, the overemphasis on legal reforms ...
The focus of the women’s movement has primarily been centred on legal reforms to combat violence. Sadly, the overemphasis on legal reforms has overshadowed the social reality of inaccessibility of legal mechanisms for those who need their protection the most.
Meanwhile, a parallel narrative has gained credence that women misuse stringent provisions and implicate innocent men. This myth is being perpetuated at all levels of the legal edifice, including the Supreme Court. Endorsed by lawyers and sensationalised by the media, it provides fodder to men’s rights groups.
Their anecdotal stories run counter to national and international statistics about the extent of prevalence of violence against women in India. Since violence is the norm, stories of even suicides by married women and murders of wives by their husbands are passé.
How grave is the problem in India? One place where a huge amount of data is collected and analysed is the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), which takes place every ten years. The statistics brought out by the NFHS-4 (2015-16) were dismal. According to NFHS-4, one-third (33 per cent) of ever-married women (aged fifteen to forty-nine years) have experienced spousal violence. Physical violence was most common, followed by emotional and sexual violence.
