Abstract

PIP: Violence against women can take many forms and is widespread, but incidences are difficult to quantify because women suffer in silence or fail to realize that the violence they experience is unacceptable. In India, a survey of 1842 rural women of reproductive age revealed that both men and women consider wife beating acceptable and that 40% of all wives have been beaten by their husbands. Indian women who have a good education, are married at later ages, and have control over economic resources are less likely to experience domestic violence. Females can suffer from violence throughout their life cycle. Fetuses may be aborted just because they are female; infants may be killed because they are female; girls may be neglected or subject to various other types of abuse; adolescents may be raped; married women may be beaten, raped, or killed by their husbands; and widows may be neglected and abused. The health effects of this violence, thus, range from death to psychological trauma. In response to this situation, women's organizations have focused worldwide attention on violence against women as a human rights violation and are beginning to hold accountable governments that were party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. Training medical personnel on how to deal with women who are obvious victims of domestic violence will be an important strategy.