3 in 10 women report violence by spouse: Survey

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 28

Nearly three in every 10 women in India experience domestic violence, the latest round of the National Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS) has shown.

The percentage of women (18 to 49 years) reporting violence by spouse dropped marginally from 31.2 in 2015-16 to 29.3 in 2019-21, the findings show.

Among the states and UTs in the region, Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir witnessed a rise in the number of women reporting violence in marriage over the past five years.

In Himachal Pradesh, the proportion of women reporting spousal violence rose from 5.9 to 8.3 points. In Jammu and Kashmir, the percentage rose from 9.4 to 9.6 and, in Ladakh, the rise was from 8.5 per cent to 18.1 per cent.

The proportion of married women in Haryana reporting domestic violence dropped from 32 per cent in 2015 to 18.2 per cent in the latest survey. In Punjab, the drop was from 20.5 per cent to 11.5 per cent. For Chandigarh, the drop was from 22.5 per cent to 9.7 per cent and, in Delhi, it was from 26.8 per cent to 22.6 per cent.

While spousal violence data still presents a challenge, the survey shows that more women nationally are getting involved in household decision-making.

“Married women, who participated in the household decisions, rose from 84 per cent in 2014-15 to 88.7 per cent in 2019-20,” the NFHS-5 report says.

The percentage of women, who worked in the last 12 months and were paid in cash, however, remains meagre at 25.4. It has improved marginally from 24.6 per cent in 2015-16.

The proportion of women owning a house or land alone or jointly with others has also improved from 38.4 per cent to 43.3 per cent. Women having a bank or savings account that they themselves operate have gone up from 53 per cent to 78.6 per cent. The proportion of women with mobile phones that they themselves use has risen from 45.9 per cent to 54 per cent.