45% Of Women Justify Husband Beating Wife If She Argues, Doesn't Cook Properly Or Refuses Sex

The findings of the latest National Family Health Survey 5 (NFHS-5) are shocking if one is to believe that women's empowerment is gaining momentum in the country.

According to NFHS-5, "Fifty-six percent of women are allowed to go alone to the market, 52 percent to the health facility, and 50 percent to places outside the village or community. Overall, only 42 percent of women in India are allowed to go alone to all three places and 5 percent are not allowed to go alone to any of the three places."

Women¡¯s freedom of movement increases with household wealth, but it does not vary consistently with education.

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The percentage of women who are allowed to go alone to all three places increases from 40 percent among women in the lowest wealth quintile to 50 percent in the highest wealth quintile

The proportion of women who report freedom of movement varies greatly by state. In Himachal Pradesh, 82 percent of women are allowed to go alone to all three places, compared with only 2 percent in Lakshadweep, 15 percent in Kerala, and less than one-third in Goa, Odisha, Manipur, Nagaland, and Karnataka

Attitudes towards wife-beating

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 signifies greater gender equality.

In the survey, respondents were asked if they agree that a husband is justified in hitting or beating his wife under each of the following seven circumstances: she goes out without telling him, she neglects the house or the children, she argues with him, she refuses to have sex with him, she doesn¡¯t cook food properly, he suspects her of being unfaithful, and she shows disrespect for her in-laws.

Forty-five percent of women and 44 percent of men believe that a husband is justified in beating his wife in at least one of seven specified circumstances.

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Women and men are both most likely to agree that a husband is justified in hitting or beating his wife if she shows disrespect for her in-laws (32% and 31%, respectively), and are both least likely to agree that a husband is justified in hitting or beating his wife if she refuses to have sex with him (11% and 10%, respectively).

For both women and men, agreement with wife-beating is lower in urban than rural areas and it tends to decrease with schooling and wealth.

Negotiating safer sexual relations with the husband

Respondents are asked if they think a wife is justified in refusing to have sex with her husband if she knows he has a sexually transmitted disease, she knows he has sex with other women, and she is tired or not in the mood.

The majority of women (80%) and men (66%) in India believe that a woman is justified in refusing sex to her husband for all of the three specified reasons. Eight percent of women and 10 percent of men do not agree that a wife can refuse sex for any of the three reasons.

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