Abstract:
No nation is untouched by domestic violence, and it is well-known that it seriously impacts women’s health and well-being. The present study aims to assess the prevalence and characteristics of domestic violence during the COVID-19 pandemic, as compared to the years before, using National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data from 2015-16 and 2019-21. The NFHS collects data nationally through surveys covering various topics, including domestic violence. For this study, graphical representations were created of physical, sexual, and spousal violence and marital control to compare data. Analysis showed that the prevalence of domestic violence has increased during the COVID-19 lockdown, and there has been no significant improvement in domestic violence rates, despite the disparity in the age of respondents between the two surveys. This indicates that more social and governmental programs and policies need to be put forth in place to improve the prevalence of domestic violence in India.
Key Findings:
A pattern has emerged from the findings of the two surveys on the parameters that make women more prone to experiencing domestic violence. Aged, married, uneducated, employed, poor, and rural women are more prone to violence. However, how the lockdown has impacted the severity of these factors differs for each. While most categories saw an increase during the pandemic years, some, especially those that included literacy aspects, saw a fall. This implies that while overall, the pandemic caused a rise in violence, it led to improvements in categories due to situational problems such as mass unemployment, financial stress, and fear of disease also impacting the psyche. Different factors were found to play a role; hence, there is a need for social revolution for this public health concern.
Leave a Reply