Domestic Violence Against Women: Experiences of married Women of Kapilvastu District

Abstract

In this study the researcher has tried to discover the nature and condition of women victims and non victims of domestic violence in ward number 3 of Motipur, Kapilvastu. The research is an initiative to explore and describe the condition of female victims and women who are suffering from domestic violence in the hands of their husband and in-laws and are not able to raise their voice against them. Simple random sampling method has been used as the primary tool for study and the required data has been obtained through structured interview schedule. The study was carried out among 41 married women of Motipur VDC-3, Kapilvastu who were aged 15 to 50 years. Majority of the respondents that is, 12.2% belong to the age group of 29 years,56.1%are Brahminsand63.4% of the respondents are housewives while the lowest percent of just 2.4% are engaged in service sector During research it was found that among the women interviewed, 82.9% had experienced some type of domestic violence in their life time with 63.4% each facing physical and mental violence respectively on the other hand, 48.8% had under gone sexual violence. While68.3% of the respondents had faced domestic violence from their husband, 51.2% were made the target of domestic violence by other members of the family. Out of54.1% of the women who had shared their experience of physical violence with others,majority of them 61.50% had shared it with their relatives. Among the interviewed women who have faced sexual violence from their husband,50% of them have adopted various coping mechanisms while 60% of the mental victims shared their ill experience with their relatives and 40% with their friends. The study highlights that majority of the respondents have been victimized and want to share their incidences with their relatives and friends as there are no NGO’s and INGO’s and furthermore, the police station is 20 kilometers away. There are various pychological and physical problems that women have been suffering due to domestic violence.