VOICES OF BATTERED WOMEN IN A SOUTH INDIAN CITY: A QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS

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VOICES OF BATTERED WOMEN IN A SOUTH INDIAN CITY
A QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS

• Subadra Panchanadeswaran,M.S.W.(Ph.D.Student)
• University of Maryland School of Social Work
• Catherine Koverola, Ph.D.
• University of Maryland, School of Medicine
• IASSW, Montpellier, France July 15-18, 2002

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PRESENTATION OVERVIEW

• Problem statement and significance
• Method
• Results
• Discussion Conclusions
• Questions

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BACKGROUND SIGNIFICANCE

• WHO global study----one in three women have a
  lifetime incidence of abuse (WHO, 1997) in both
  developing and developed countries.
• Violence consequences ---multifaceted, physical,
  emotional, psychological and at the societal
  level too (Heise, et al, 1994).
• 71.5 increase in cases of torture and dowry
  deaths between 1991-1995 in India (ICRW, 1999).

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Background Significance (contd.)

• One in four dowry victims was driven to suicide,
• 61.3 rendered homeless after a prolonged period
  of torture and harassment (Kumari, 1989).
• Increasing visibility of the phenomenon
  evidence of widespread prevalence--- public vs.
  private divide.
• Womens groups focus on legal reforms, police
  procedures, etc. (ICRW, 1999).

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CURRENT STUDY OVERVIEW

• Aim To gain an in-depth understanding of the
  phenomenon of wife-battering in India.
• Specific research questions
• What are the socio-demographic characteristics of
  battered women in Chennai?
• When and how does abuse begin?
• What are abused womens perceptions of the causes
  of their battering experiences?

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METHOD

• Qualitative, exploratory study combined with
  secondary data analysis.
• Procedure
• Secondary data analysis of Chennai Crime
  Records Bureau---1990-1996.
• Sample--- 90 abused women- State/NGOs.
• Currently residing Separated/seeking
• with partners. divorce.

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Method (contd.).

• Sampling
• Counseling centers attached to two All-Women
  Police stations (30).
• Tamil Nadu State Legal Aid Boards Counseling
  Center for Women (30).
• Residents of battered womens shelters (30).
• Purposive sampling, volunteers invited through
  staff.

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Method (contd.).

• Data collection
• Pretest, semi-structured interview schedule----
  open/close ended questions. Face-to-face
  interview duration---- 35-40 minutes.
• Data analysis
• Open-ended responses compiled, coded,
  categories formed, and analyzed.
• Univariate and bivariate analyses for
  close-ended responses using SPSS.

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RESULTS

• SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS
• AGE
• 15-50 years. Mean age---- 27.32 years.
• EDUCATION LEVELS
• Illiterate ---- 10, lt High school---- 70.
• RELIGIOUS BACKGROUND
• Hindu---- 78.9,Christian---- 17.8, Muslim----
  3.3.
• NUMBER OF CHILDREN
• lt 2 ---- 59, gt 3 ---- 41.

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Results (contd.).

• OCCUPATION
• RespondentsUnskilled semi-skilled ----36.7,
  Skilled---24.4, Homemakers----39.
• Batterers Unskilled semi-skilled---- 47,
  Skilled---- 45, Unemployed---- 5.
• CASTE
• Disadvantaged communities---- 71, Privileged
  communities---- 10.
• MARRIAGE TYPE
• Arranged---- 64.4, Choice---- 35.6.
• AGE AT MARRIAGE
• Mean 19 years.

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Results (contd.).

• ABUSE CHARACTERISTICS
• ONSET OF ABUSE
• First day of marriage---- 11.
• Within first month---- 32.
• Within first 6 months---- 25.
• Within first year---- 70.
• Onset mental abuse relating to wedding
  arrangements, insufficient dowry, physical
  appearance, and so on.

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Results (contd.).

• NATURE AND FREQUENCY OF ABUSE
• Psychological violence---- 49.2 of the abuse.
• Physical violence---- 39.2 of the abuse.
• Life endangering physical violence---- 8.8 of
  the abuse.
• Sexual violence---- 2.7 of the abuse.
• 79 were battered everyday.
• (Beating, stabbing, kicking, attempts to
  burn/choke, insults, threats, restrictions,
  desertion, etc.).

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Results (contd.).

• PERCEIVED CAUSES OF VIOLENCE
• Suspicion of infidelity by women---- 51.1.
• Case K
• .Initially I was flattered with his
  protective behavior and his bouts of jealousy.
  Slowly, anger took over.he raped me regularly.
• Case J
• He just would not allow me to work, even though
  we needed the money desperately. He suspected me
  of having an affair with everyone One day, in a
  fit of fury, Js husband beat her up severely and
  chopped her hair off asserting that it attracted
  a lot of unwanted attention from men.

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Results (contd.).

• Alcohol/Drug use---- 51.1,
• Instigation by in-laws---- 46.6,
• Insufficient dowry---- 41.1,
• Extra marital affairs of husband---- 23.3,
• Irregularity of husbands employment ----11.1.
• OthersRespondents employment, interaction with
  parents, debts, upbringing of children, lack of
  male child, gambling, and so on.

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DISCUSSION CONCLUSIONS

• Wife battering was prevalent across all religious
  backgrounds, castes, and educational levels.
• The proportion of younger women among the abused
  was high---could be an artifact of higher
  awareness of resources and consequent reporting.

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Discussion Conclusions (contd.).

• Respondents more educated than the national
  average---may have been an important factor in
  reporting.
• Economic dependency---vulnerability to abuse.
  Largely semiskilled laborers.
• Early marriage and early onset of abuse of all
  forms.

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Results Discussion (contd.).

• Suspicion of infidelity, alcohol abuse, dowry,
  and instigation by in-laws were the 4 main causes
  of battering episodes as perceived by women.
• Type of marriage (choice or arranged) was not
  associated with the onset of abuse or the
  perceived causes of battering.

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STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESS

• Strengths
• Focus on dowry and
• non-dowry related abuse
• experienced by women.
• Varied sites sampling,
• not restricted to only
• clinical situations.
• In-depth views of womens perceptions of the
  problem through qualitative data gathered.
• Limitations
• Research design and sampling---unknown
  representativeness, inability to draw causal
  conclusions or generalize to the larger
  population.

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IMPLICATIONS

• Need for holistic view,multi-pronged
  approach,and recognition of violence occurring in
  non-dowry related circumstances.
• Active collaboration needed among preventive and
  awareness programs, counseling programs,
  shelters, and socio-legal interventions.
• Eliminate structural constraints that prevent
  effective help-seeking and access to resources,
  especially economic resources.

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• THANK YOU!!!!

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• References will be provided on request
• For further information
• email sumipanch_at_hotmail.com