Partner violence in married women

Introduction: Violence against women is the highest in Australia, Canada, Israel and South Africa and women make up 40 to 70% of homicide victims. Forced marriage is still practiced in the parts of South Asia, East Asia and Africa and among immigrants to the West from these regions. The objectives of the study were to explore and compare the violence in the married women living in urban and rural areas. Material and methods: The study adopted a comparative research approach. The study was conducted on married women of age group between 16-40 years. The population comprised of 60 married women (30 subjects each from urban and rural areas respectively) was drawn by convenient sampling technique. Data was collected through interview, by using socio demographic proforma and structured intimate partner violence questionnaire. Data was analyzed by using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: The overall prevalence of violence among women was high. There was no significant difference between rural and urban area with respect to psychological and physical violence. The findings showed that majority of violence in urban area women were more than the rural area women. Conclusion: Women are more frequent victims of violence. Violence is a universal phenomenon, so effective actions should be taken to stop intimate partner violence at no time.