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| Violence Against Women |
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- In India, 35 percent of women in the age 15-49 have experienced physical or sexual violence
at some point in their life.[1]
- At least one in seven of married and divorced women have suffered injury as a result of
spousal violence.[2]
In India women face violence at every stage of their life cycle. Violence against women is
enacted in the practices of female foeticide, female infanticide, girl-child neglect, physical and
sexual abuse, child marriage, eve-teasing, sexual harassment in the work place, domestic
violence and even dowry death. Although many of these practices are found in all countries,
many expressions of VAW are particular to the Indian socio-cultural context. The institution of
dowry, despite its illegality, is an ever present spectre, and whilst it remains, the problem of son
preference and the embedded ideas of gender inequality will pervade.
On 23rd June 2005 the cabinet approved the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Bill,
after which it received assent from Parliament. This approval brings to the fore a new civil law on
domestic violence, which provides immediate emergency remedies for women facing violence.
These include: protection orders; non-molestation orders; and the right to reside in the shared
household. The definition of domestic violence has been extended to include physical, sexual,
verbal, economic and economic abuse. It also covers for the first time single women in live-in
relationships and women living in joint families and its most empowering clause relates to
women's right to residence in shared households.
With the passing of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, Indian women's
movement can rejoice on having achieved a milestone long overdue. However, after achieving
the first milestone, the journey towards domestic violence-free life for women has just begun.
We have seen that countries have strong laws but if not implemented properly fail to serve the
very purpose for which they were drafted. The need today is to make effective utilization of this
piece of legislation to protect women and to provide them some relief from being revictimized.
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| CSR's Role |
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CSR has one and a half decades of experience in providing direct services to women victims of
violence and has established a National Network on Violence against Women.
Projects
GTI is currently implementing a project on “Promotion of Women's Rights through Networking,
Lobbying, Advocacy and Capacity Building”. The project is supported by Interchurch
Organization for Development Co-operation (ICCO). The project aims to directly help women
who are facing violence and abuse, as well as changing the mentality of the community at large
towards violence against women. The central components of this project are six Crisis
Intervention Centres in Delhi and a Gender Resource Centre in the Varanasi District.
The Development Department is implementing a project on “Capacity Building of Service
Providers, Advocacy and Effective Lobbying for Effective Implementation of Protection of
Women from Domestic Violence Act”. The project aims at enhancing capacity of the service
providers/stakeholders for effective implementation of the Protection of Women from Domestic
Violence Act (2005) in India and South Asia. This project is also supported by ICCO.
Research
Over the years, CSR has built a strong research base in the field of violence against women
through its various research studies on the subject. Some of these include:
- The use and misuse of Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code - IFES-Gender & Law
Project, USAID
- Special Arrangements to Combat Violence and Crime against Women in the states
of Punjab and Haryana – NIPCCD
- Brides Are Not For Burning
- Domestic Violence: A Case Study of Selected Areas in the Indian Capital
- Directory of services for women in distress
For more information on these research projects, see the information on the Research
Department.
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[1]National Family Health Survey, 2005/2006,
http://www.nfhsindia.org/NFHS-3%20Data/VOL-1/India_volume_I_corrected_17oct08.pdf
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[2]National Family Health Survey, 2005/2006,
http://www.nfhsindia.org/NFHS-3%20Data/VOL-1/India_volume_I_corrected_17oct08.pdf
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