Crimes against women have been in focus, with several heinous ones being reported across the country. National Crime Record Bureau report shows stark increase in violence against women in India in the forms of dowry deaths, acts of sexual harassment, torture, rapes and domestic violence. The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women issued by the UN General Assembly in 1993, defines violence against women as “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.”

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Violence against women:

• 1 in 3 women and girls experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime, most frequently by an intimate partner.
• Only 52% of women married or in a union freely make their own decisions about sexual relations, contraceptive use and health care.
• Worldwide, almost 750 million women and girls alive today were married before their 18th birthday; while 200 million women and girls have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM).
• 1 in 2 women killed worldwide were killed by their partners or family in 2012; while only 1 out of 20 men were killed under similar circumstances.
• 71% of all human trafficking victims worldwide are women and girls, and 3 out of 4 of these women and girls are sexually exploited.
• Violence against women is as serious a cause of death and incapacity among women of reproductive age as cancer, and a greater cause of ill health than traffic accidents and malaria combined.

Reasons for increasing violence against women: 

• Gender Disparity: is one of the deep rooted cause of violence against women that put women at risk of several forms of violence.
• Discriminatory gender norms and gender stereotypes results into structural inequality.
• Psychiatric Morbidity: Generally, refers to the incidence of both physical and psychological deterioration as a result of a mental or psychological condition, generally caused due to the consumption of alcohol.
• Regular consumption of alcohol by the husband has been strongly associated with poor mental health of women.
• Alcohol operates as a situational factor, increasing the likelihood of violence by reducing inhibitions, clouding judgment and impairing an individual’s ability to interpret cues.
• Sociodemographic factors: Patriarchy has been cited as the main cause of violence against women. Where women have a higher economic status than their husbands and are seen as having sufficient power to change traditional gender roles, risk for violence is high.
• Family factors: Exposure to harsh physical discipline during childhood and witnessing the father beating the mother during childhood is a predictor of victimization and perpetration of violence against wife in adulthood.
• Traditional and cultural practices:
  • Female genital mutilation: Can lead to death, infertility, and long-term psychological trauma combined with increased physical suffering.
  • Acid attacks: Acid attacks have emerged as a cheap and readily accessible weapon to disfigure and sometimes kill women and girls for reasons as varied as family feuds, inability to meet dowry demands, and rejection of marriage proposals.
  • Killing in the name of family honor: In several countries of the world including Bangladesh, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Pakistan, Turkey, and India, women are killed to uphold the honor of the family due to varied reasons such as-alleged adultery, premarital relationship (with or without sexual relations), rape, falling in love with a person the family disapproves, which justify a male member of the family to kill the woman concerned.
  • Early marriages: Early marriage with or without the consent of the girl, constitutes a form of violence as it undermines the health and autonomy of millions of girls.
• Judiciary and law enforcement machinery: An insensitive, inefficient, corrupt and unaccountable judicial system and law enforcement machinery fails to deter against various forms of crimes.
• Sociocultural factors disfavouring women: Stereotypes of gender roles have continued over the ages.
  • The primary roles for women have been marriage and motherhood.
  • Women must marry because an unmarried, separated or divorced status is a stigma.
  • The custom of dowry is still prevalent in Indian marriages.

Steps taken by government to address them:

• Constitutional Safeguards:
  • Fundamental Rights: It guarantees all Indian women equality (Article 14), no discrimination by the State on the basis of gender (Article 15(1)) and special provisions to be made by the State in favour of women (Article 15(3)).
  • Directive Principles of State Policies (DPSP): It ensures equal pay for equal work (Article 39 (d)).
  • Fundamental Duties: It ensures that practices derogatory to the dignity of women are prohibited under Article 51 (A).
• The Dowry Prohibition Act 1961: It prohibits the request, payment or acceptance of a dowry.
• Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) act was enacted to protect the minors. This is one of the first laws which is gender neutral.
• The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) Act was enacted in 2013 as a comprehensive legislation to provide a safe, secure and enabling environment, free from sexual harassment, to every woman.
• The Indian Penal Code has many stringent provisions in itself. After the Nirbhaya case, amendments were made in the code in 2013 on the recommendations of Justice Verma committee. The amendments have made the code further stringent.

Way forward:

• We need to provide children with greater parental guidance.
• In families, there should also be a relationship of authority and respect between parents and their children.
• Women should be respected at home. When women are respected at home, then children also learn about the importance of respecting women. Parents cannot treat their sons and daughters differently.
• People should be made about Zero FIR.
• The state has to work towards making people aware of laws like POCSO Act, Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act etc. The state should also make the penalties of not abiding by these laws clear to the public.
• Gender-sensitization programmes should also be started for males of family, police personnel, medical fraternity etc. Police apathy, especially when a woman approaches the police should be worked upon.
• Encourage and adopt family focused practices that promote equal access for both girls and boys to high quality education, and ensure opportunities to successfully complete schooling, and to making educational choices
• Students should be taught to engage in community activities so that they understand realities and also understand how to cope up with realities. Community get-togethers should also be encouraged so that people get to know each other. Neighbours should also get to know their neighbours. Community activities should be encouraged.