Domestic violence is widespread, deeply ingrained and has serious impacts on women’s health and well-being. This aspect is not restricted to this part of the globe but world over. According to a worldwide analysis published in The Lancet, over one in four women (or 27 per cent) experience intimate partner violence before the age of 50.
The study, involving more than 2 million women from 161 countries, and led by researchers from McGill University and the World Health Organization (WHO), showed that one in seven women (or 13 per cent) experienced intimate partner violence.
The analysis also found high levels of violence against young women, estimating that 24 per cent of those between the ages of 15 to 19 experienced domestic violence in their lifetime.
While the numbers are alarming, the true scale of violence is likely even higher, said researchers from McGill University and the WHO, noting that the studies were based on self-reported experiences.
Given the stigmatised nature of the issue, women can be hesitant to report their experiences, they explained.
Globally, the problem is likely to have been further exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, the researchers explained. There’s an urgent need to strengthen the public health response to intimate partner violence, and ensure it’s addressed in post-Covid-19 rebuilding efforts, they said. It is here the government must step in and take measures to arrest the trend.
The supreme court of India recently observed that domestic violence in India is rampant and several women encounter violence in some form or the other or almost every day.
A woman resigns her fate to the never ending cycle of enduring violence and discrimination as a daughter, a sister, a wife, a mother, a partner or a single woman in her lifetime, the top court noted.
This is happening despite the fact the progress of any society depends on its ability to protect and promote the rights of its women.
As per the top court, the “non-retaliation” by women coupled with the absence of laws addressing women’s issues, ignorance of the existing laws enacted for women and societal attitude makes the women vulnerable.
The entire society should rise above the occasion and let the home be a place that does not imperil lives and breeds the most drastic forms of violence perpetrated against her.
