The speaking order delivered on February 24 directs the attendance of the Secretaries of the Union Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Social Justice and Ministry of Home Affairs; Chairperson of National Commission for Women and a nominee of the Chairperson of National Human Right Commission (NHRC)  and Chairperson of National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) at the proposed meeting. The Court has also directed the union government to conduct the first meeting at the earliest, preferably within a period of three months.

The apex court was hearing a petition seeking direction to the Union Government, State Governments and the Union Territories regarding appointment, notification and establishment of Protection Officers, Service Providers and Shelter Homes, in terms of Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005. Advocate Shobha Gupta represented the petitioner “We the Women of India” and Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati represented the Union Government.

The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005 is an Act of the Parliament of India enacted to protect women from domestic violence. It was brought into force by the first United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government through the ministry of Women and Child Development on October 26, 2006.

In a detailed and sensitive order, the two judge bench also directed the Ministry of Women and Child Development to place on record the current status of implementation of Mission Shakti (integrated women empowerment programme), the umbrella scheme for safety, security and empowerment of women schemes. It specifically asked for certain information, including information on the aspect of the number of one-stop centres proposed in each district; the staffing pattern for these centres; and the data on distress calls.

The Modi 2.0, union government has also been asked to disclose the details of the common portal and dashboard proposed to be set up. It is also required to provide material to demonstrate how Mission Shakti shall act as an umbrella scheme for implementation of the Domestic Violence Act, especially with respect to the statutory officers and remedies provided in the Act. The Bench directed the Union Government to file an affidavit elucidating the action taken by it, within a period of six weeks.

Since the Court took cognisance of the matter, it has passed orders asking the Union Government to collect data. In view of these consistent orders, the union government had provided data pertaining to litigation under the DV Act in each state; the nature of Central programmes and plans outlining assistance to support efforts under the Act; broad indications as to what are the desirable qualifications and eligible terms for creation of regular cadre of POs, their cadre structure.

Subsequent to this, NALSA conducted a study which indicated that 4.71 lakh cases under the DV Act were pending as on 01.07.2022. Another 21,088 cases were pending in appeals and revisions. The number of Protection Officers appointed was also indicated. The numbers are quite low. The union government filed an affidavit indicating that a programme, ‘Mission Shakti’ has been framed under which 801 One stop centres have been set up in the districts. In these 801 districts about 4.4 lakh cases are pending. The Bench commented on the fact that there are two few officers per district and stated that if there are one officer in each district, they would be required to monitor 500 cases on an average, which is not an appreciable ratio. It was pointed out that the nature of responsibility of the officers are all-encompassing and not comparable to judicial officers. They are required to make spot visits for surveys and inspections, act as the interface between the survivor, the police and the judicial process. For these reasons, it is crucial to have more Protection Officers in each district.

Feminist and women’s rights groups have welcomed this order of the SC stating that the court has pinned down the issue, where the gaps in implemtntation occur: calling in the ministry of finance is thorough since the PWDVA 2005 implentation requires a dedicated cadre not part time revenue officials, stated Ammu Abraham senior women’s rights activist.

Staggering figures

In 2017, CJP had done a detailed analysis of the state of affairs in the country when related to domestic violence and abuse, Building Lives after Domestic Abuse, Civil, not Criminal Provisions will Empower Women. This detailed report examined the numbers:

Detailed report:

“As per the latest NCRB data, in 2016, a total of 110434 cases were registered at a crime rate[i] of 18.0% under Section 498A (cruelty by husband and relatives) in India. The crime rate was highest in Assam at a rate of 58.7% and a total of 9321 cases registered. The state with the second highest rate of filing of Section 498A was West Bengal at a crime rate of 42.3% and recording a total of 19305 cases. Delhi recorded a crime rate of 40.6% with total number of cases being 3879. This was followed by states like Rajasthan and Telangana recording crime rates of 39.4% and 39.2% respectively.

“In contrast, a mere 437 cases were registered under the Domestic Violence Act (DVA), 2005 in all of India at a rate of 0.1 %. 171 cases were registered in Bihar at a crime rate of 0.3% and 111 cases were registered in Kerala with a Crime rate of 0.6. 90 cases were reported in MP at a rate of 0.2 % followed by 23 in UP, 2 in Assam, 3 in Chhattisgarh, 2 in Maharashtra, 1 in Uttarakhand, 5 in West Bengal. 1 case was registered in Delhi.

This implied that the cases that were registered under Section 498A, were in all probability not linked to the Domestic Violence Act (DVA) 2005. This also means that majority of women are not able to seek the civil provisions of the DVA, which may include free legal advice, compensation, protection orders, request for shelter homes or any other supportive mechanisms. Day in and day out, mainstream media reports are trying to build a case of misuse of the Section 498A, not caring two hoots about the civil provisions of the Domestic Violence Act itself.

Source: NCRB 2016 data

“The above figures point to an acute lapse. Though states such as Bihar, UP, Haryana recorded highest number of dowry related deaths, and by implication, were more violent towards women, the cases registered under Section 498A did not correspond in a similar manner. In fact, if one considers crime rates, these states recorded 7.5, 10.8 and 26.2 respectively. These are miniscule numbers.

“The National Family Health Survey (NFHS) gives a rather comprehensive picture of domestic violence. As per the last report of the survey published for the years 2015-16, as many as 28.8% women reported having experienced domestic(spousal) violence at least once in their lives. Of this, 23.6% belonged to the urban set up while 31.4% belonged to the rural set up. A total of 3.3% women experienced violence during pregnancy. A detailed report explaining attitudes for the year 2015-16 is now available.

Experience of violence from anyone: Twenty-seven percent of women have experienced physical violence since age 15 and 6 percent have ever experienced sexual violence in their lifetime. The detailed report mentions that the most common type of spousal violence is physical violence (27%), followed by emotional violence (13%). Six percent of ever married women have experienced spousal sexual violence.

The trends in spousal physical or sexual violence showed that ever-married women’s ever experience of spousal physical or sexual violence has declined from 37 percent in NFHS-3 to 29 percent in NFHS-4; however, there has been almost no change in women’s experience of spousal physical or sexual violence in the 12 months preceding each survey (24% in NFHS-3 and 22% in NFHS-4).

One-fourth of ever married women who have experienced spousal violence report experiencing physical injuries, including 8 percent who have had eye injuries, sprains, dislocations, or burns and 6 percent who have had deep wounds, broken bones, broken teeth, or any other serious injury. The report also revealed that certain forms of violence like slapping were far more normalised than say, burning.

Regarding attitudes on wife-beating specifically, the report had following observations,

“An important indicator of empowerment is the rejection of norms that underlie and reinforce gender inequality. One such gendered norm is husbands’ “right” to control their wives in various ways, including through violence. Rejection of such norms potentially signifies greater gender equality. 52% percent of women and 42 percent of men believe that a husband is justified in beating his wife in at least one of seven specified circumstances which included reasons like the woman showing disrespect for the in laws, neglects house or children, goes out without informing him, etc.

Covid Pandemic & Domestic Violence

The Covid pandemic and subsequent lockdown saw a surge in both virus and domestic violence cases leading to initiatives by various bodies and social media

The end of the year, 2020 data of National Commission for Women (NCW) data painted a very grim picture on the rising cases of domestic violence in India amid the Covid 19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown in 2020. Over 5,000 complaints and counting, has been recorded by the NCW from women forced into confinement with abusive husbands and relatives over the last few months. In June alone, it received a staggering 2,043 complaints of crimes committed, the highest in the last eight months. To further call attention to this ordeal, the commission that received 607 complaints in 2019 between March to May, in 2020 registered a total of 1477 cases between the same range.  

In May, 1,500 complaints were received by the NCW, whereas 800 in April and 1,347 complaints in March. In February, 1,424 complaints were received while in January 1,462 complaints were received as per the NCW data which may be read here.

As reported then by The Tribune, NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma attributed the rise in complaints to numerous factors like economic insecurity, financial instability and isolation among others. “Victims of domestic violence are distanced from their regular support systems making it difficult for them to call out for help. The series of lockdowns in India reduced the opportunities of reporting of domestic violence cases,” she said.

The National Family Health Survey (NFHS 4) data in India has also stated that the number of violence cases against women is always a concern in India as they remain underreported. It is more difficult to assess the cases and report it in a country like India as just 46 percent of women have access to their own mobile phones as a whole, while in rural areas, the percentage is a mere 37 percent.

Swayam, a feminist organisation based in Kolkata also revealed that where there were 22 complaints on average per month before the lockdown, it increased to 57 complaints on average per month through emails and different helplines. The NGO also released a “Stop Domestic Violence” campaign on Twitter in June which was picked up by the Kolkata Police who took the responsibility of displaying the posters across 79 police stations in the city.

“While talking to the media, the Associate Director of Swayam said: “Domestic violence is a deep-rooted structural problem in our society caused due to patriarchy and gender inequality which prevents women from leading a life free from violence and dignity. Through this campaign, Swayam hopes to involve individuals, corporates and institutions to support the #StopDomesticViolenceCampaign and help raise awareness around domestic violence.”

As most countries were pushed into dealing with the menace of violence against women, Italy as an example of innovation, launched an app called “YouPol’, that allowed victims of domestic violence to seek help without talking on the phone, as per the New Indian Express report. The app enabled survivors to send images and messages in real-time to the state police operators and one could anonymously report if they didn’t want to reveal their personal information. In France, women used the term “Mask 19” if they felt anxious and insecure to ask for help from people working at 24*7 pharmacies who then passed on the message to the Police.

Related:

SC: Women have a right to stay at marital home under domestic violence laws

Violence against women – more than just a law & order problem

Making the Domestic Violence Act work for Women: Majlis Experience

The post Domestic Violence Act, 2005: SC directs union to hold meetings with various ministries, states/UTs, address hopeless inadequacy of protection officers appeared first on SabrangIndia.

In a shocking case, the Uttar Pradesh Police allegedly tried to kidnap a woman and her son from Kerala, and take them back by force to the woman’s UP based abusive husband. But their attempts were thwarted when local activists intervened.  

One Kusum Yadav and her son were reported missing from Uttar Pradesh last month. Being an alleged victim of domestic violence, her family filed a missing persons report. On March 17, both the mother and son were produced in a local court in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala and the police along with the Child Welfare committee found Kusum to be incoherent and traumatised. The custody of the child was given to the Child Welfare Committee and the woman was transferred to the mental hospital, by GRP (Railway Police) as they could not establish the reason for their travel into Kerala.

Meanwhile, the husband received information about the location of his wife and son and took help from the Uttar Pradesh police. Shockingly, despite knowledge of previous acts of domestic violence, the Uttar Pradesh police failed to detain the husband and secure safe return of the woman to her parental family. Instead, the constables allegedly escorted the husband to abduct the woman from the safe custody of Kerala Government and Railway Police. They would have succeeded, had local activists not intervened.

The All India Union of Forest Working People (AIUFWP), has now issued a statement, expressing their gratitude towards the medical fraternity, trade union friends, women rights defenders, solidarity groups and fellow women comrades for their support in rescuing a woman, subject to domestic abuse.

The Uttar Pradesh police, as alleged by the AIUFWP, procured a release order for the woman from the mental hospital and moved to get her transported back to Uttar Pradesh without informing the local Magistrate. “If not for the timely intervention by SEWA Kerala leadership, the legal counsel of the mental hospital and activists from the sorority of the Union, the woman would have been kidnapped and most likely eliminated by now,” read the statement.

On March 26, the Chief Judicial Magistrate withdrew the order to send Kusum off with her husband and ordered that only her sister, Rani, can take her custody, after due process of law. On March 30, Kusum and her son were safely transferred to the custody of Rani and they safely departed for their home.

AIUFWP has expressed its solidarity and gratitude to SEWA Kerala leadership, especially Sonia George who spoke to the legal counsel of the Mental Hospital over the issue. The Union has also appreciated the efforts of the legal team who helped Kusum and her son Abhishek in this battle, the Delhi Solidarity Group and all other individual activists for their concern and assistance.

The Don Bosco home, the Mental Health Hospital staff and specially the Superintendent, Advocate Biji Mathew (High Court, Kerala), Nalini Nayak (SEWA- Kerala), and Delhi Forum friends made sure that justice was served.

The entire AIUFWP statement may be read here:

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The post Domestic violence survivor rescued, AIUFWP thanks lawyers and activists appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The National Commission for Women (NCW) data painted a very grim picture on the rising cases of domestic violence in India amid the Covid 19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown in 2020.

Over 5,000 complaints and counting, has been recorded by the NCW from women forced into confinement with abusive husbands and relatives over the last few months. In June alone, it received a staggering 2,043 complaints of crimes committed, the highest in the last eight months. To further call attention to this ordeal, the commission that received 607 complaints in 2019 between March to May, in 2020 registered a total of 1477 cases between the same range.  

In May, 1,500 complaints were received by the NCW, whereas 800 in April and 1,347 complaints in March. In February, 1,424 complaints were received while in January 1,462 complaints were received as per the NCW data which may be read here.

As reported by The Tribune, NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma attributed the rise in complaints to numerous factors like economic insecurity, financial instability and isolation among others. “Victims of domestic violence are distanced from their regular support systems making it difficult for them to call out for help. The series of lockdowns in India reduced the opportunities of reporting of domestic violence cases,” she said.

The National Family Health Survey (NFHS 4) data in India has also stated that the number of violence cases against women is always a concern in India as they remain underreported. It is more difficult to assess the cases and report it in a country like India as just 46 percent of women have access to their own mobile phones as a whole, while in rural areas, the percentage is a mere 37 percent.

Swayam, a feminist organisation based in Kolkata also revealed that where there were 22 complaints on average per month before the lockdown, it increased to 57 complaints on average per month through emails and different helplines. The NGO also released a “Stop Domestic Violence” campaign on Twitter in June which was picked up by the Kolkata Police who took the responsibility of displaying the posters across 79 police stations in the city.

While talking to the media, the Associate Director of Swayam said: “Domestic violence is a deep-rooted structural problem in our society caused due to patriarchy and gender inequality which prevents women from leading a life free from violence and dignity. Through this campaign, Swayam hopes to involve individuals, corporates and institutions to support the #StopDomesticViolenceCampaign and help raise awareness around domestic violence.”

Launching Swayam’s #StopDomesticViolence Campaign
highlighting different forms of Domestic Violence and underlining that men who abuse come from all socio-economic backgrounds, present themselves as publicly upright citizens, but they have a vastly different persona at home! pic.twitter.com/0FAG2RW4lS

— SWAYAM (@swayamkolkata) June 9, 2020

The NCW also undertook measures to curb violence against women using social media platforms that proved to be a boon in this period. It launched an Advertisement campaign through electronic media and social media inviting women who suffered any kind of violence to come forward and report it. Though this ad campaign remain restricted to urban women only and ignores the women in rural India who possibly bore the brunt of frustrated unemployed men due to the lockdown.

Further, in addition to handling complaints received through regular modes, NCW also initiated the launch of a WhatsApp number ‘7217735372’ on April 10, 2020 to report domestic violence cases. In August the Chairperson, Rekha Sharma revealed that the helpline number did wonders for several women.

ii) We understood the difficulties of the victims of domestic violence and made our helpline a text-only service considering that the survivors will not be able to call us before their abusers. Our helpline number has proven to be a life-saver for several women.#StoptheSetback

— Rekha Sharma (@sharmarekha) August 11, 2020

In a move to back efforts to quell rise in domestic violence, Twitter India launched a search prompt. Through this initiative, people in India searching for ‘domestic violence’ related keywords will now be directed to relevant information from the Ministry of Women and Child Development and National Commission for Women in both English and Hindi.

Some of the search keywords in English include #crimeagainstwomen, #domesticviolence, #dowry, #dowrydeath, #genderviolence, #lockdownviolence, #maritalrape, #POSH while Hindi ones include #ghareluhinsa (domestic violence), #dahejhatya (dowry death), #mahilaatyachaar (violence against women) among others, as reported by Indian Express.

Continuing with our COVID-19 efforts, we’ve launched a dedicated #ThereIsHelp search prompt for #DomesticViolence that will direct people to authoritative information from @MinistryWCD and @NCWIndia. https://t.co/3RcZBkFkcK pic.twitter.com/4rtcjl6GSW

— Twitter India (@TwitterIndia) June 18, 2020

As most countries were pushed into dealing with the menace of violence against women, Italy as an example of innovation, launched an app called “YouPol’, that allowed victims of domestic violence to seek help without talking on the phone, as per the New Indian Express report. The app enabled survivors to send images and messages in real-time to the state police operators and one could anonymously report if they didn’t want to reveal their personal information. In France, women used the term “Mask 19” if they felt anxious and insecure to ask for help from people working at 24*7 pharmacies who then passed on the message to the Police.

Related:

SC: Women have a right to stay at marital home under domestic violence laws

Violence against women – more than just a law & order problem

Making the Domestic Violence Act work for Women: Majlis Experience

The post The 2020 plague of Domestic Violence appeared first on SabrangIndia.

“Stay safe, stay home” has become the international mantra in a matter of weeks. As we adjust to this new reality of our world, the realisation that “home” is not necessarily “safe” for many of us, women and LGBTQIA persons in particular. Being trapped in a house with people who can and do perpetuate physical, mental, or emotional abuse is not just damaging, but dangerous. The UNFPA predicts that six more months of theCoronavirus crisis could result in 7 million unplanned pregnancies and 31 million gender-based violence cases. 47 million women worldwide stand to lose access to contraception in the next 6 months.In India, feminist activists and celebrities like Javed Akhtar have also raised concerns about the availability of liquor during lockdown and how it might exacerbate instances of domestic violence. Most of the people raising concerns about the increasing reports of domestic violence across the country, including the National Commission for Women, are facing backlash from Men’s Rights Activists despite clear data indicating that women and children are the most at-risk groups for domestic violence in times of crisis- be it war or a natural disaster. The helplines are overwhelmed, the police and courts are in a state of limbo while responding to reports of domestic violence, and leaving the house during a lockdown, is not an option. Even getting access to therapy or mental health services is extremely difficult as there may be no privacy or access to internet/phone without monitoring by the abuser.

In terms of financial independence as well, women face a larger challenge. According to Dr. Ramiz Alakbarov, UNFPA’s deputy executive director, “Women are the first to lose their jobs during these crises, they’re the first to stand up for the family, they take most of the brunt economically.”

An extremely distasteful article from Times of India made its way to our timelines as people started tweeting pictures of it.

Casual, easy sexism.
They deserve it. pic.twitter.com/y45nAfZduI

— Samar Halarnkar (@samar11) May 3, 2020

There are many layers of what is wrong with this article even if it was meant as satire (to which TOI is yet to offer an explanation). First, the sexism. The convenience with which men can find a way to blame women despite the women shouldering the entire burden of household work, is not a new phenomenon in the pandemic. This is hundreds of years of patriarchy at play. Far be it for such entitled men to actually divide household chores equally even in a global crisis- the demands of food, snacks, and general housework can increase as they spend more time at home. Second, the classism. Is it time to introspect if the only thing keeping a middle- or upper-class family in harmony is the reliance on another woman? Is the reason of empowerment and emancipation of middle- and upper-class women, not that they have supportive partners, but rather that the domestic responsibilities are outsourced to another woman? Third, insensitivity. Most households who employed domestic helpers prior to lockdown have not been paying their salaries since the lockdown started. Many of the women who work as domestic helpers are the only breadwinners for their families. Stories abound on social media about out of work women who have been denied salaries and now cannot afford to keep their families fed in this crisis.

As a chronically ill person, I rely on the people around me for many household chores. Domestic helpers are a valued part of our lives as disabled or chronically ill people. Many of us are not privileged enough to afford their services. Some of us do not have caregivers or helpers living with us during the lockdown.Even the acts necessary for staying alive: cooking, cleaning, buying and stocking essentials, etc., can become burdensomeif the person is living aloneand no time or energy can be dedicated to the pursuit of livelihood. I wonder how many of us will lose our sources of income during this lockdown because staying alive is the only priority and the only thing we are able to do at this point. In the case of chronically ill women and women with invisible disabilities who need to take care of their children and the men of the house in the absence of domestic helpers, I can only shudder to think of the various ways their minds and bodies are undergoing invisible abuse in terms of pressure from their families to shoulder domestic duties.

Women’s labour has long been taken for granted in households, their testimonies against their abusers have long been silenced or disbelieved by society and their own families; their struggles have been compounded by their gender expression, sexuality, caste, and class. Transwomen relying on begging and sex work for earning have been hit hard by the lockdown in terms of loss of livelihoods. Anindiya Hajra from Pratyay Gender Trust puts it succinctly, “They do not have the social privilege of operating within a distant ‘online’ world when their lives are precariously balanced on the thread of social interaction and functions”.

As a new day unfolds in this extended lockdown, another scandal hits our timelines- this timeteenage school boys from Delhi who have regular Instagram chats about underage girls, share their private pictures and comment vulgarities, and plan gangrapes under the garb of locker room talk. The internet, which is the great connector of these times, is also a battleground for safety. Violence is throbbing just under the apparent calm of this lockdown as we marvel at the empty roads and cities. Safety is a multi-layered privilege that seems just out of reach and the only thought I had upon seeing the circles drawn outside a grocery shop in the interest of social distancing- was the first ever assuredness in my entire lifetime, of knowing no one would grope me in a queue today.

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The post Lockdown through the gender lens appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The winter session of Parliament saw Prataprao Patil Chikhlikar of Nanded Constituency raise questions about cases of domestic violence in India. Chikhilkar specifically asked about cases in the last three years and if there was any increase in the number of cases. However, in her written response, Smriti Irani quoted publicly available data published by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) which only covers information upto 2017. This means she used old and dated information to give an official response to a demand for fresh information.

The data quoted in Irani’s response specifies that the number of domestic violence cases registered under ‘The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005’ is 461 in 2015, 437 in 2016 and 616 in 2017. However, based on the question, Irani should have supplied figures of the last three years. But these figures are not available as NCRB data is only available till 2017.

But that’s not all. Irani offered a cookie-cutter response when specifically asked about measures taken by the government to curb domestic violence.

In response to Chiklikar’s question on the steps taken by the Government to curb domestic violence, Irani responded with the purpose of the existence of The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005. Her very generic response said that the Act was brought into effect in October 2006 so as to to provide protection and support to victims of domestic violence, and that it provides for appointment of Protection Officers and registration of Service Providers by State Governments for carrying out various duties and functions relating to protection and relief to women suffering from domestic violence.

Further, Irani said that the Ministry has advised the State and UT Administrations to allocate separate budgets for smooth functioning of Protection Officers (PO), support provision to survivors, as well as training and capacity building of Police, Judiciary, Medical Officers, Service Providers, along with creating mass awareness about the Act. The Ministry has also advised States to provide information to aggrieved women about their rights in a simplified manner in local languages or dialects.

This response offers no specific information about what exactly are the support provisions to survivors, what kind of training is provided to the police, judiciary, medical officers etc., and more importantly, details of the outreach program so as to empower potential and current survivors of domestic violence about their rights. Also, what happens to survivors of marital rape considering it is not considered a crime.

It is worth noting here that as per the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4), 31.3 per cent of women that have ever been married have experienced physical, sexual or emotional violence caused by their spouses.

What is more worrying about the survey data is that a lot of women in India are, surprisingly, supportive of domestic violence. As per the survey, 54.8% of the women in India between the ages of 40 to 49 were most supportive of domestic violence, while 47.7% of girls between the age of 15 and 19 agreed with violence by husbands.

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New Zealand passes law providing paid leave to domestic violence survivors
Will Anganwadi workers ever get their due?

The post WCD Ministry offers up cookie-cutter answers to queries on domestic violence appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The post Delaying Marriage By A Year Can Empower Women Against Domestic Violence appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Christine Blasey Ford is sworn in by Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the nomination of Brett M. Kavanaugh. AP/Tom Williams/Pool Photo

“I’m very much concerned… with the sexual abuse that people had to endure,” he said. “But I had to deal with the facts I had in front of me.”

The testimony of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, and Kavanaugh’s confirmation despite that testimony, is a prominent example of what happens when abuse survivors engage with systems that were never designed to respond to their words or meet their needs.

Although few survivors testify in front of the Senate, the process by which Ford was forced to tell her story, and the reaction of senators to that story, is strikingly similar to what abuse survivors undergo every day in civil and criminal courts.

I am a scholar of domestic violence, and my work has focused on analyzing the stories survivors share when they seek safety.

I’ve also studied what happens when the legal system processes these stories.

What I’ve found is a fundamental mismatch between what survivors disclose and what legal systems need to hear to take action.
 

Victims and systems unaligned

Legal institutions ask survivors to explain why they need legal protection, to tell their story of abuse. But, as noted by scholars Shonna Trinch and Susan Berk-Seligson, “What is needed by those whose job is to listen to them is a report, not a story.”

Courts want a report that is linear, providing an almost external accounting of abuse with specific names, dates and “facts.” Survivors expect to be able to share what they have experienced in a way that reflects how they have made sense of the event and its aftermath.
The end result is that we have systems that are supposed to help, but in general are unable to adequately assess and respond to survivors’ stories.

Activists demonstrate as the Senate Judiciary Committee hears from both Ford and Kavanaugh. AP//J. Scott Applewhite

My research shows that survivors who disclose their abuse often hear initial statements of support and belief. Those statements are quickly negated by a “but” and an explanation of why someone will continue to act as if that story had never been told.

How did we end up with this system?

Many scholars, including Kimberlé Crenshaw, argue that institutions, including the legal system, design policies based on stereotypes about survivors that rarely reflect their actual circumstances. That’s especially true with survivors who are not “good victims” or who are not white, middle-class women who have external documentation of physical abuse.

This explains how what appears to be neutral system can produce different outcomes for people based on the intersections of gender, race, sexuality, age, citizenship status and other aspects of social identities.

For example, using victim advocates from a prosecutor’s office or police department to assist survivors filing for protection orders that would keep them safe from their abusers appears to be an effective use of resources.

But many abuse survivors have legal problems themselves or mistrust the legal system. They may not want to report the violence they’ve experienced because they could become the target of immigration enforcement or child protective services.

For many survivors, it’s easier and safer to not report the abuse and pretend that the resulting trauma never happened.
 

Puzzles in the aftermath

To an outsider, the choice not to report in the moment, or even years later, does not make sense.

They do not understand how survivors compartmentalize in order to survive or even thrive. They do not see that survivors evolve complex ways of coping, such as Ford’s insistence on constructing double front doors at her home so she’d be able to escape through one if the other was blocked.

The legal system’s rules of evidence, evidentiary requirements and statutes of limitations all reflect this.

What I’ve found in my research is that the legal system wants short, brief reports that focus on legally relevant acts of abuse, contain specific information and include supplemental documentation.

Few survivors can craft those types of narratives unassisted.

And many survivors – especially those who are of color, are poor or do not have U.S. citizenship, and who are not heterosexual – do not see institutions like the legal system as a resource.

Those institutions aren’t designed with their goals, needs and motivations in mind. When they witness events like the confirmation hearing, where a woman with education and privilege discloses sexual violence and nothing happens, how can they be expected to entrust their own narratives of abuse to others?

Many survivors of assault are afraid to make reports to the police. Jacek Wojnarowski/Shutterstock
 

Speaking up

Ruth Bader Ginsburg said that “I’m dejected, but only momentarily, when I can’t get the fifth vote for something I think is very important. But then you go on to the next challenge and you give it your all. You know that these important issues are not going to go away. They are going to come back again and again. There’ll be another time, another day.”

For some survivors, today, in the aftermath of Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony, is finally that day. They are filling out protection order petitions, calling the police, reaching out for help.

But in some cases, they will be denied an order, the abuser will not be sanctioned or they themselves will be mistakenly arrested instead of, or along with, their abuser. In the toughest cases, like that of Melanie Edwards in Washington state, they will be killed by their abusers.
The United States should rethink how to help survivors of violence and how to sanction perpetrators.
 

Helping or hurting?

In the right environment and with the right support, survivors will want to tell their stories and will be empowered and validated by that retelling.

However, the legal system is an adversarial system with confusing and complex bureaucratic procedures and often untrained staff. As trauma scholar Dr. Judith Herman explains, “If one set out intentionally to design a system for provoking symptoms of traumatic stress, it might look very much like a court of law.”

Survivors are asked to recall specific details about their victimization that they have repressed in order to survive. As one advocate said to me in an interview, “They’re trying to forget what happened and here I am, asking them to write down, with as many details as they can, what they went through.”

How might we create a more responsive system?

First: Stop requiring survivors to narrate their abuse. It’s more detrimental than helpful, especially if we simply discount it as a “story” afterward.

If there is some form of external documentation, survivors should be able to provide that instead. If there is no external documentation, then the narrative should be elicited in a supportive environment of the survivor’s choosing, with trained staff available to help them better understand the kinds of information judges and law enforcement need.

Second: People charged with listening and responding to survivors need to be educated about the dynamics of domestic and sexual violence. While some are, many do not fully understand the ways in which domestic and sexual violence impact survivors. It is impossible for them to hear and respond appropriately unless they understand those dynamics.

The confirmation hearings, and the responses to Ford’s testimony, underscored this idea. While the remarks of some senators after her testimony reflected that they understand that they should “support” and “believe” survivors of violence, they also showed they were not informed about how survivors act in response to and process sexual trauma.

It’s as if they were saying: I believe, but I don’t understand, so your story does not exist for me in that it does not force me to act or impact my vote.
Finally: Explore what believing and supporting a survivor means.

While the words “I believe” and “I support” are critically important, they should not become buzzwords that replace actions. When you believe a survivor and decide to support that survivor, you must act. You must make hard, even unpopular, decisions.
You must work to adapt the system in order to uphold justice.

I believe. Period. I believe.
 

Alesha Durfee, Associate Professor of Women and Gender Studies, Arizona State University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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The last time Chari (name changed), 35, came to Mumbai’s municipal-run K B Bhaba Hospital was because three fingers on her right hand were injured, and she could not work. “I fell,” was her default response when doctors asked her how she injured herself. But the doctors trained to see signs of domestic violence–injuries, fractures, poison consumption, multiple abortions and pregnancies etc–kept prodding gently till she revealed that her husband hit her with a brick.

Chari and her husband were migrants to India’s financial capital from Uttar Pradesh and did rag picking to sustain themselves, but her husband was ever suspicious and controlling. He did not allow her to work, talk to others and even forbade contraceptives.

Nationally, almost one in three (33.3%) married women aged 15-49 years experienced spousal violence (physical/emotional or sexual) and 3.9% faced violence during pregnancy, according to the National Family Health Survey (2015-16) or NFHS-4. Of all women in India who have ever experienced any type of physical or sexual violence, only 14% have sought help to stop the violence; 77% have neither sought help nor told anyone about the violence they experienced, the survey further revealed.

Hospitals are often the first place that women facing violence come to, but once there they rarely get the care that they need. Doctors do not recognise or willfully ignore signs of violence the women face, said experts, and treat them medically without offering social or psychological support.

Funded by National Health Mission funds’, Dilaasa centres offer to change that through a model of care that can be replicated across government health centres nationwide. Started in 2001 at the K B Bhabha Hospital, a 423-bed municipal hospital in Bandra, a western Mumbai suburb, by health advocacy Centre for Enquiry into Health and Allied Themes (CEHAT), the Dilaasa centres have reached out to over 8,000 women.

The Dilaasa centre at KB Bhabha hospital. Hospitals are often the first place that women facing violence come to, but once there they rarely get the care that they need. Dilaasa centres are changing that.

Over the two years to 2018, 5,647 women were identified as potential victims of domestic violence, of which 2,554 cases were registered for domestic violence and 809 cases for sexual violence in the 11 centres in Mumbai, according to municipal records.

The model’s effectiveness has convinced more states, including Sikkim, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Assam and Uttar Pradesh, to replicate it and activate a comprehensive healthcare response to violence, said Sangeeta Rege, coordinator at CEHAT.

Apart from Mumbai, the model has been replicated in Kerala, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Meghalaya under different names over four years to 2018.

Chari would have not spoken about domestic violence, but when the doctors and physiotherapist at the hospital asked her to visit its Dilassa crisis centre, she decided to drop by.

Despite the language barrier–Chari speaks only Bhojpuri despite 10 years in Mumbai–she revealed her husband’s assaults. “It is not your fault,” was one of the first things the counsellors told her and discussed a safety plan with her, strategies she could use to prevent violence, including calling the neighbours, banging the doors when the husband is violent and to negotiate with him to not hit her when he is calm.

Chari returned to the hospital over three months and gained enough confidence to ask for a joint-meeting with her husband in presence of counsellors.

One of the first conditions she placed before her husband was that he should stop hitting her. It was non-negotiable, she insisted. Fortunately for her, her husband listened and changed his behaviour. The violence also stopped. Chari often visited Dilaasa centres and appraised the counsellors about her life and said he had never hit her again.

Reassurance, anonymity and personal care
Everything about the ward and its name–Dilaasa means reassurance–is designed to be accessible for the women who need it. Positioned in the outpatient department, near the gynaecology section where young women seek antenatal care for themselves and their children, the location gives the women the anonymity to seek support.

It is also a good place to refer and identify women who face domestic violence but may not come forward themselves. The hospital staff are trained to identify potential red flags as we mentioned earlier: Women who have consumed poison, who have fractures, repeated signs of abortion, pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, pelvic inflammatory diseases, anxiety, sleeplessness and depression. The idea is to reach out to young women in the reproductive age group and intervene at an early stage of violence, including the collection of medical evidence when such cases of sexual violence come to the hospital.

Why hospitals play a crucial role
As we mentioned earlier, almost a third of married women in India have faced spousal violence at least once in their lifetime. Women who have faced violence have a higher chance of seeking healthcare than women who did not, shows evidence.

“Hospitals are the right place to reach out to women facing violence because of their large catchment area and they can intervene at an early stage of violence,” said CEHAT’s Rege.

“The health-care system can provide women with a safe environment where they can confidentially disclose experiences of violence and receive a supportive response. Furthermore, women subjected to intimate partner violence identify health-care providers as the professionals that they trust with disclosure of abuse,” said a 2014 paper published in the Lancet, a medical journal.

Despite the fact that violence against women was identified as a health priority in 2013 guidelines published by the World Health Organization, it is not adequately understood or accepted in national health programmes.

Mumbai shows the way
In 2016, the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM), the civic body governing Mumbai, established 11 Dilaasa centres in municipal hospitals across the city under the National Urban Health Mission (NUHM), the urban arm of National Health Mission. Each centre has two counsellors with a social work degree, two auxiliary nurses/midwives (ANMs) or health workers and a data-entry operator. The centre staff is trained by CEHAT for a week and they in turn train a core group of hospital staff, such as doctors, nurses and administration.

“MCGM has taken the lead in establishing 11 Dilaasa hospital-based crisis centres in 2016 and an additional three in teaching hospitals, so we can truly say that we have institutionalised a healthcare response to violence against women and children,” said  Mangala Gomare, deputy executive health officer, family welfare and child health department.

Since it is a non-profit that works at improving health research and accountability, CEHAT wanted to establish a model for hospital-based crisis centres that could be replicated by government, be a part of the formal public health system and be sustainable.

How women come to Dilaasa
While some women come to the centre after reading posters and publicity material in the hospital, others visit because they remembered a nurse telling them about Dilaasa when they were admitted. Others come through referrals from doctors and nurses who deal with sexual- violence cases, after the police bring survivors to the hospital for medical examination.

Every pregnant woman who visits the hospital for antenatal care is also referred to the centre in between other medical tests. Counsellors who screened these women found a high prevalence of violence and in 2015-17 ran a study. “We found that of all women who seek antenatal care, in the government hospitals we work in, 17% have faced violence during pregnancy,” said Rege. This is about one in every six pregnant woman.

Once the violence victim is at the centre, a counsellor seeks to gain her trust. It takes time but gradually women start opening up about the abuse they face at home. Counsellors like Archana Mali, 34, from V N Desai hospital, a municipal hospital at Santacruz, another western Mumbai suburb, know the women are not always looking for solutions–sometimes they only want to be heard.

Empowering women to protect themselves
Dilaasa centre follows the concept of feminist counselling–they discuss the socio-cultural and gender context of the problem the woman faces–and the counsellors primarily aim at empowering woman to protect themselves.

They explain to women that violence is not their fault but flows from cultural norms and power dynamics between them and their families.

“The woman, no matter what social strata she belongs to, wants to keep mum about the violence,” said Mali, “We teach her ways in which she can reduce the violence, if not end it.”

Some strategies followed by women to reduce severity of violence are: Making noise, banging doors, getting the attention of neighbours, so that immediate violence is stopped. In other cases, counsellors help women with injuries who come to the hospital register a medico-legal case–where the doctor examines and writes his observations in a legal document–that can be used as evidence for legal proceedings.

What is an abused woman looking for?
After a session that lasts about 45 minutes, counsellors find out what is it that an abused woman is looking for: Ways to separate from her spouse, prevent violence or emotional support.

“We know we have to listen from a non-judgmental point of view and offer her all kinds of support that she needs,” said Chaitanya Kumari, 34, another counsellor at the V N Desai Hospital’s Dilaasa centre in Santacruz. “Sometimes women just come and sit at the centre because it makes them feel better.”

A counsellor listens to a woman at the Dilaasa centre. After a session that lasts about 45 minutes, counsellors find out what is it that an abused woman is looking for: Ways to separate from her spouse, prevent violence or emotional support.

Many women do not want to separate from their spouses because they do not have the financial resources to live on their own or have no support from their families. For the ones who do want to take that step, counsellors provide a realistic picture of the difficulties ahead, so they are prepared.

Counsellors also closely work with police officers and protection officers who conduct inquiries and provide legal assistance for survivors.

In some cases, when women fear for their lives and do not want to return to their families, the Dilaasa centres provide shelter for upto 48 hours, so that they can decide what to do next. In other cases, they refer women to other non-government organisations that provide vocational training.

How perceptions changed among doctors
Chitra Joshi has been working in the Dilaasa centre at Bhabha Hospital since it began 17 years ago. When the centre was being started, Joshi, a community development officer and now the centre in-charge, realised that most doctors and staff considered domestic violence a family matter.

“It was difficult to make them understand the importance of dealing with and intervening in domestic violence cases because at that time in 2000 there was no law around it,” said Joshi. Even though domestic violence was a criminal offense under Section 498A of Indian Penal Code, the Protection from Domestic Abuse Act 2005, which recognised all domestic abuse, even among unmarried women, and the Criminal Law Amendment 2013 related to sexual violence, had not been passed.

Joshi and other staff from CEHAT trained hospital staff–medical, paramedical and other support staff–to consider violence through a gender lens and convinced them that violence affects a woman’s health–physically, emotionally or sexually–and intervening is essential, a “best practice” in counselling jargon.

Even today, in each hospital with a Dilaasa centre, counsellors train new resident doctors every six months in identifying and mitigating violence against women and children.

“It is a good initiative that has helped many women in seeking support,” said Rajashree Jadhav, medical superintendent, M M M Shatabdi Municipal Hospital, a municipal hospital that runs a Dilaasa centre in the Mumbai’s eastern suburb of Govandi. “Doctors have been sensitised to treat women facing violence in a better way.”

For women like Chari, the Dilaasa centres offer a chance to speak up about violence, find ways to stop it–and, possibly, a shot at a new life.

(Yadavar is a principal correspondent with IndiaSpend.)

Courtesy: India Spend

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One sees the origin of this mind-set in law formulation in the nature of laws that were passed in British colonial era-as long back as in 1812. In the colonial law passed in 1812, as Radhika Singha points out, ‘marital infidelity’ was kept in the domains of the private sphere, whereas rape by unknown persons was the most ‘heinous crime’. Criteria for this ‘heinous crime’ was extent of penetration and the damage to community honor. She says,

“It was administrative common sense, the norm of knowing the people, that the honor of men, particularly among the respectable orders in India depended upon the chaste reputation of their women. Stories about the ‘defiled’ woman herself demanding to be killed tended to be accepted as confirmatory ‘of the anxiety which the natives of this Country feel, on points where female chastity is concerned, to preserve unsullied the reputation of their family.’11

Clause 359 of the Draft Code was retained as Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in 1860, with one amendment. The Exception read: “Sexual intercourse of a man with his own wife, the wife not being under ten years of age, is not rape”  [2]

Thus, the law was concerned with the exoneration of the man than the well-being or rights of the woman. The colonial rulers were clever not to disturb the fabric of the exploitative Hindu society by way of not touching upon the sphere of the ‘private’ or ‘domestic’ , at the same time establishing itself as the ‘saviours’ with a humane face showing almost exaggerated contempt for assaults by unknown persons or strangers. The values that families are supreme and “what happens within should stay within” were reinforced through such measures.
There was sporadic reporting of incidents of battery and deaths of resistant child brides by older and powerful husbands throughout 1870s, however most of them were let off with very light sentences.

Phulmonee’s Death Sparks a Movement
Phulmonee was an 11-year-old girl who had not yet come of age and died after her 35-year-old husband raped her. She died after 13 hours of profuse bleeding. ‘I saw my daughter lying on the cot, weltering in blood…,’ said Radhamonee, Phulmonee’s mother[3] Despite the fact that Phulmonee’s parents testified in the court that their caste codes did not allow premenstrual cohabitation and that the couple had been kept apart till that very night when her husband had broken into her room and forced himself upon her, and caused death, the English judge Wilson accepted husband’s version. The husband said that they had cohabited several times before that night and also that since her age was more than 10 years, the charge of rape did not apply.

The jury consisted of six Hindus, two Europeans and one Muslim man. The judge Wilson said, “I think it is my duty to say that I think there exists hardly such solid and satisfactory ground as would make it safe to say that this man must have had knowledge that he was likely to cause the death of the girl…. You will, of course, in these, as in all matters, give the benefit of any doubt in favor of the prisoner.”

The husband was found guilty of causing death by ‘rash’ and ‘negligent’ act and not marital rape or domestic cruelty and hence was sentenced to a year’s rigorous imprisonment. [4]

After Phulmonee’s death, 44 women doctors brought out lists of child brides who had died or suffered grievous hurt consequent to rape, as part of the reformist movement to raise the age of consent. Despite the taboos against women speaking in public, many mothers of these girl children came out and deposed against the forced rapes. However the magistrates let them off in most cases and the husbands were even restored to the girls who were alive even after the act of brutality and assault.

Bull in a China Shop
A century later, in 1971, the Law Commission of India, in its 42nd report, recommended changes in Section 375.[5] In the intervening years, in the Exception to Section 375, the minimum age below which intercourse would constitute statutory rape had been raised to 15 years. The issue of marital rape was critical to these discussions. The report recommended the removal of marital rape from Section 375, and the inclusion of an explanation to the effect that a separated wife would not be deemed to be a wife under the section on rape. It recommended the gradation of the offence of rape by a husband of his wife under a new section: Punishments severe for the rape of child-wives below the age of 12 and minimal where the wife was between 12 and 15 years old. [6]

However, marital rape remained out of the purview of general definition of rape.

1970s was probably the first time that the issue of domestic violence was discussed in the public sphere. The campaign against dowry deaths gained momentum through the labor of many feminist groups. It was not that dowry related deaths had suddenly increased in number, but that these deaths had started coming to attention. Dowry related deaths, or murders, since were happening in the confines of home were difficult to prove in the court of law, and even in case of dying declarations made by wives, were deemed as ‘insufficient  evidence’.

In 1983 Delhi High Court in the case Harvinder Kaur vs Harmander Singh said,[7] “Introduction of Constitutional Law in the home is the most inappropriate. It is like introducing a bull in a china shop. … In the privacy of the home and the married life neither Art 21 nor Art 14 have any place“

This was not an exclusive statement.

Proving Domestic Violence in Courts
When Domestic Violence Act(DVA) was constituted, its success depended on the required services that would have been put in place by the state, on how the law is interpreted by the judiciary and to the extent to which women were going to be able to invoke the protection of the law. [8] But most of all the success of the law depended on the extent to which women internalize that violence in domestic relationships was unacceptable and hence deemed an offence by the law.

There were many factors that needed interpretation and required an understanding. For example the concept of shared household. While giving judgments like S. R. Batra and another versus Taruna Batra, the judges felt that the right to ownership of property was the only way to decide who gets the right to reside in a shared household. This was against the notion of shared household that PWDVA was built upon, where “women of the coparcenary married into the family, in their capacity of mothers and daughters-in-law, had the undisputed right to reside in it. The coparcenary was quite literally the “shared household“; [9]

Further, the concept of cruelty needed understanding. Through the Criminal Law (Second Amendment) Act in 1983, the concept of “cruelty” to wife was introduced under Section 498A and defined as including both, physical and mental cruelty, or any harassment associated with demand for dowry.

In a similar manner, Section 304B was introduced in the IPC in 1986 which created a new offence of “dowry death”. This provision made it possible to prosecute the husband and in-laws of a woman, if she died as a result of burns or any other injury within seven years of marriage, under suspicious circumstances and if it could be shown that she was subjected to cruelty or harassment by the husband/ in-laws in relation to demand for dowry.

Only when the Act came into force did activists from women’s movements realize that there were several other forms of violence that women were facing inside domestic relationships apart from those related to dowry. In such cases it became impossible to invoke Section 304B. In many cases where the women committed suicides or death was due to other kind of violence where dowry was not concerned or the violence committed on unmarried women, elderly women and children, there was no proper recourse to the law.

In fact, the definition of cruelty itself has been questioned over the years.

            “Cruelty was defined to mean any willful conduct which could have driven the woman to commit suicide or caused grave injury to her or posed a danger to her life, limb or health (either mental or physical). The definition was worded in such vague terms that it was difficult to bring issues of sexual violence, economic violence or even threats of violence within the ambit of the section.” [10]

This basically meant, in order for domestic violence to be “proven” in the court of law and for Section 498A to be invoked, the threshold of the impact of violence perpetrated on women should be adequately high, nearing fatal injuries.

Further, even though some acts detrimental to women have been classified as “ crimes “, criminal law itself does not offer much to women. The most persistent problem that women faced as victims of domestic violence was that of being thrown out from the place of residence. Filing a case and the process is itself tedious and there was hardly any support mechanism to address the urgent issues of protection from violence, a shelter, children’s education and other such civil matters that, on a number of occasions discouraged women from walking out of violent marriages.

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Congolese women in the eastern town of Bunia. Even in conflict zones women are more likely to face violence in their homes than outside. EPA/Murizio Gambarini

While this is right and good, over emphasising conflict-related sexual violence runs the risk of making us lose sight of the fact that a war zone is not the most dangerous place for a woman. Her home is.

Nearly a third (30%) of women worldwide in intimate relationships will experience violence at the hands of their partners. This is according to the World Health Organisation, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the South African Medical Research Council. Globally, about 38% of all women murdered die at the hands of their intimate partners.

South Africa is a case in point. According to a 2016 health and democratic survey, a fifth (21%) of women over 18 years old in intimate relationships have experienced physical violence from a partner; 6% experienced sexual violence from a partner. And a retrospective national study published in 2009 put the South African mortality rate from intimate partner violence at 8.8 per 100 000 women – twice as high as the USA.

Not that America is a safe place for women. The Centre for Disease Control’s 2010 National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey found that 9,4% of women have been raped by intimate partners in their lifetime. 15,9% of women have experienced sexual intimate partner violence other than rape, and nearly 33% of women have been subjected to physical violence at the hands of their partners.

Shocking new findings show that even in conflict-affected countries infamous for the high rates of sexual violence perpetrated by fighting forces and where soldiers and rebel fighters are a daily danger to women, their husbands and boyfriends are the bigger threat. A baseline household survey done in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) showed that women reported very high levels of intimate partner violence – much higher than the rate of sexual violence perpetrated by soldiers and militias.

DRC research

The baseline household survey was done in 15 communities in the Ituri Province of the DRC and 769 people were interviewed.

It was conducted by Tearfund and HEAL Africa as part of a project called “Engaging with Faith Groups to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls in Conflict-affected Communities”. This project is funded by UK aid from the UK government, via the What Works to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls Global Programme. The funds are managed by the South African Medical Research Council.

The eastern DRC is still racked by ongoing violence from different rebel groups. This has been going on for decades, and the eastern DRC is known for high rates of very violent sexual attacks perpetrated by soldiers as well as rebels.

The survey showed that non-partner sexual violence – which would include sexual violence perpetrated by soldiers and rebels – was very high – 20,8% of women reported non-partner sexual violence within the last year. This is much higher than the global figure of 7% for lifetime experience of non-partner sexual violence.

This outcome of the survey was expected. What wasn’t was the shocking finding that more than two thirds (68.7%) of the women who reported having experienced non-partner sexual violence in the last 12 months, said that the perpetrator was a known person or a family member. Only in 6% of the cases was the perpetrator a militia member or another unknown person.

As shocking was the very high levels of intimate partner violence: 68.8% of women in relationships who took part in the survey reported having experienced some form of intimate partner violence in the previous 12 months, and 38,4% had been sexually violated by an intimate partner in the last year. Over 68,2% of men in relationships reported perpetrating intimate partner violence.
 

War versus the home

While still under researched, there is evidence suggesting that intimate partner violence increases during times of conflict, is more common in couples that experienced or were affected by armed conflict.

Nevertheless, the survey confirms that, even in areas affected by conflict, intimate relationships are the biggest and most consistent threat to a woman’s safety.

What this underscores is that yes, there is need to address the abuses suffered by women at the hands of those waging war. But what musn’t be forgotten is that, for many women all over the world, their homes are the battle front.

Feminist theories explaining violence against women have gained increasing traction in the past few decades. They explain that such violence is a result of male power within patriarchal society, revealing the relationship between gender and power. Even sexual violence is about power, as through the act men aim to prove their dominance and control over women.

Addressing this imbalance in society is difficult. One possible avenue through which it can be done is religion and religious institutions. Religion is able to influence behaviour and motivate and facilitate social change. While research has shown us that religious institutions are usually patriarchal institutions, upholding the status quo that is detrimental to women, the opposite can also be true. Tearfund and HEAL Africa, focusing on religious leaders to act as catalysts to prevent violence against women and girls in Ituri province, are banking on this.

Elisabet le Roux, Researcher, Unit for Religion and Development Research, Faculty of Theology, Stellenbosch University

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

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