Many Women Justify Wife Beating In India!

If you thought domestic violence was on the wane in India with the rise in education levels, take a look at these hard figures. Over 40% of women in a nationwide survey reported being beaten by their husbands at some point of time. More shockingly, around 54% of the women surveyed thought that such violence was justified on one ground or the other.

According to India’s most comprehensive National Family Health Survey-III, which interviewed 125,000 women in 28 states and the national capital during 2005-06, 41% of women justified wife beating if it was because they showed disrespect towards their in-laws while 35% women were OK with being brutally assaulted by their husbands if they neglected household chores or their children.

Not surprisingly then, 51% of the 75,000 men interviewed didn’t find anything wrong with assaulting their wives.

Dr Sulabha Parasuraman of the International Institute of Population Studies, who spearheaded the survey conducted jointly by 18 organisations, termed this attitude of Indian women "truly shocking".

"Men are brought up being taught that beating up their wives isn’t wrong while women are told that being assaulted by their husbands is acceptable. Girls are taught that they can be punished by their husbands for disobedience. This social attitude has to change immediately," she said. (The Times Of India)
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