Violence against women in West Bengal: its extent and causes

Abstract

Violence against women (VAW) is a common phenomenon in orthodox Indian society. Women are here trained to tolerate violence since their childhood. Although it is an age-old problem, it has come into the spotlight after the Beijing world conference. Since then, the Indian government and NGOs have started to take numerous steps to eradicate this crime, but it not only continues to persist in the society but is also increasing over time.Based on the project data of West Bengal State in India, chi square test and logistic regression are carried out to locate the factors associated with VAW in West Bengal. In addition, women are asked to specify the reasons of violence against them to unveil the important factors. Addressing the factors detected from the study and the factors from the perception of women may help the policymakers to take right and effective measures to tackle this social crime. This study confirms that most of the Bengali women face some sort of violence in their married life; sometimes, they experience multiple types of violence. They also experience neglect, isolation or restriction in their married life and among several factors; dowry is emerging as an important factor in West Bengal.<br />Key messages<br /><ol><li>Almost all Indian women experience some sort of violence in their married life.</li><br /><li>The majority of women face neglect, isolation and control.</li><br /><li>Severe physical violence is relatively less against Indian women.</li></ol>

Digital Media and Women’s Political Participation in India

“…In India, WhatsApp has been responsible for fuelling social conflict leading to persecution of a particular community, and re-posting and circulating thousands of messages have led to social unrest in the country (Prakash, 2019). Gender trolling has become common online and hinders women’s freedom and speech (Biswas, 2023; Mukherjee et al, 2021). Women have to face annoying comments, including hate speech, online harassment and abusive comments on the Internet.…”

Incidencia de la Interseccionalidad y los estereotipos de género en la violencia de la mujer en el distrito de Chachapoyas en Amazonas

“…Para resolver el problema de la violencia de la mujer como consecuencia de factores interseccionales y estereotipantes, se debe partir precisando que los factores de violencia de la mujer están constituidos por agresiones materiales e inmateriales, los que se denominan violencia física, psicológica, sexual, económica y discriminaciones, entre ellas por el color, origen étnico, idioma (Castillo, 2021), así como por concepciones estereotipantes que busca diferenciarlas a partir de los roles socialmente asignadas (Avolio y Chavez, 2023); por ello, la violencia es definida como toda acción física, sexual, psicológica, económica o mediante símbolos (Barja-Ore et al, 2022), materializadas contra la mujer, por razón de su sexo y su género, que afecta su libertad y sus derechos fundamentales (Barraza et al, 2023); el problema es tal, que tiene alcance global, por lo que necesariamente se requiere del diseño de políticas públicas preventivas y de actuación oportuna (Restrepo et al, 2021); máxime si existe sociedades como la India, donde por el contrario, se propugna la tolerancia de la violencia contra la mujer, fenómeno que según avanza el tiempo, se va incrementando por la multiplicidad de factores y formas de violencia (Biswas et al, 2022).…”