Domestic violence against women in Nepal (A case study of Tharu community in Sunawal Aadarsha Village Development Committee, Nawalparasi)

Abstract

The study is done to know the real situation, cause and consequences of domestic violence against women. This study also focused on awareness of women towards violence, legal provision and position of reporting violence events in the study area. The study is conducted in “Kanwar” (Tharu) Community of Sunawal Aadarsha VDC Ward No. 1, 5 and 6 of Nawalparasi District. The respondents are from age group 15 -49 years, of them the highest 26.1 percent belong to age group 20 -24. Similarly, majority of the respondents are illiterate (65.2%). Overwhelmingly majority of the respondents are Hindu (98.3%) pursue agriculture occupation (97.1%). The knowledge toward domestic violence against women (DVAW) is almost universal among the respondents. It is reported that majority of the respondents (98.3%) have experienced DVAW at least once in their life. Cent percent literate respondents experienced DVAW as compared to 97.3 percent among illiterate women. There is higher prevalence of DVAW among women, who are engaged in agriculture sector. Cent percent respondents experienced violence torture due to birth of daughter and humiliation due to marriage with so- called lower cast. Majority of the respondents are victimized by male members (89.4%), 8 percent respondents are victimized by their female members and 2.7 percent are victimized by female and male both. Most of the respondents (72.6%) want to keep secret DVAW and only 27.4 percent report/ share their problem. About two-third of the respondents (64.5%) share violence incident with their friends. Similarly, 32.3 percent of the respondents share their problem with their relatives. Only about 3.2 percent respondents report their problems in police office for legal actions. Almost all the respondents (99.1%) said that lack of education is major cause of violence, and 90.4 percent also replied that economic dependency is the main cause for such events. Similarly, 6.1 percent told that the major cause of DVAW is alcoholism/drug abuse and some respondents (1.7%) said that main cause of DVAW is lack of effective enforcement of existing legal provisions on DVAW. Almost all the respondents (99.1%) said that by aware people, incidence of violence could be controlled by raising awareness about DVAW.