Domestic Violence Against Women in Indian Context: Causes and Impact on Family

ABSTRACT Violence against women is not a new phenomenon; it is a primitive practice that has always been treated as a part and participle of socio cultural milieu and domestic violence against women is a worldwide phenomenon in different forms such as physical, emotional, religious, economic and mostly sexual abuse. According to the United Nations Declaration (1993), violence against women includes “any act of gender – based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivations of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life. Domestic violence negatively affects victim's physical, mental, sexual and reproductive health and may increase vulnerability to HIV/AIDS. The impact of domestic violence against women on family may include child maltreatment, harmful use of alcohol, attitudes accepting of violence and gender inequality and also It may lead to socio – economic difficulties such as – a limited ability to take care of themselves or their children, an inability to work and to sustain wages and isolation due to domestic violence, which leads to a lack of participation in social and regular activities.