VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

UPSC SOCIOLOGY MAINS – PAPER 2  – Part C – Chapter 7 – Challenges against social transformation – Violence against women.

GS 1 – Role of women and women’s organization, population and associated issues, poverty and developmental issues, urbanization, their problems and their remedies.

UN WOMEN – DATA ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

• Globally, an estimated 736 million women—almost one in three—have been subjected to intimate partner violence, non-partner sexual violence, or both at least once in their life (30 per cent of women aged 15 and older). 
• In 2018, an estimated one in seven women had experienced physical and/or sexual violence from an intimate partner or husband in the past 12 months.
• One hundred thirty-seven women are killed by a member of their family every day. It is estimated that of the 87,000 women who were intentionally killed in 2017 globally, more than half (50,000) were killed by intimate partners or family members.
• Globally, violence against women disproportionately affects low- and lower-middle-income countries and regions. Thirty-seven per cent of women aged 15 to 49 living in countries classified by the Sustainable Development Goals as “least developed” have been subject to physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence in their life.
• Adult women account for nearly half (49 per cent) of all human trafficking victims detected globally. 
• At least 200 million women and girls, aged 15–49 years, have undergone female genital mutilation in 31 countries where the practice is concentrated. 
• 15 million adolescent girls worldwide, aged 15–19 years, have experienced forced sex. 
• In the Middle East and North Africa, 40–60 per cent of women have experienced street-based sexual harassment.

VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN INDIA STATISTICS

• The National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4) suggests that 30 percent women in India in the age group of 15-49 have experienced physical violence since the age of 15.
• The report further reveals that 6 percent women in the same age group have experienced sexual violence at least once in their lifetime.
• About 31 percent of married women have experienced physical, sexual or emotional violence by their spouses.
• According to official crime data, there were 3,486 reported cases of rape against Dalit (Scheduled Caste) women and girls in 2019, and 1,110 reported rape cases against Adivasi women and girls (Scheduled Tribes).

PANDEMIC AND VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

• Calls to helplines have increased five-fold in some countries as rates of reported intimate partner violence increase because of the COVID-19 pandemic. (UN WOMEN)
• Restricted movement, social isolation, and economic insecurity are increasing women’s vulnerability to violence in the home around the world.
• By September 2020, 52 countries had integrated prevention and response to violence against women and girls into COVID-19 response plans, and 121 countries had adopted measures to strengthen services for women survivors of violence during the global crisis, but more efforts are urgently needed.