Impact of Alcoholism and Other Factors on Violence against Women in the State of Bihar, India - Data from NFHS (National Family Health Survey -5-2019-21)

Study Design

The total sample size of NFHS-5 was 35,834 households, 42,483 women of age group 15-49 (including 6,350 women interviewed in PSUs in the state module), and 4,897 men of age group 15-54 for the state of Bihar – see Table-1. The sample size was based on the size obligatory to produce trustworthy indicator estimates for each district. The rural sample was a two-stage sampling design, keeping villages as the Primary Sampling Units (PSUs) in the primary stage (selected with probability proportional to size), followed by random selection of twenty-two (22) households in each PSU at the subsequent stage. In the town areas of survey two-stage sampling was done with Census Enumeration Blocks (CEB) assortment during first stage while random selection of twenty-two (22) households in each CEB during succeeding stage. The second phase sampling selection of households in both areas, were done after performing an inclusive mapping and inventory operation for household in the particular samples of first-stage units. This study was a cross-sectional large-scale, several round survey done in an illustrative sample of households in all 38 districts of the state of Bihar from 9 July, 2019 to 2 February, 2020.

Setting

Household questionnaire regarding Gender role attitudes, Experience of physical and sexual violence, Experience of violence during pregnancy, Forms of spousal violence, Injuries to women due to spousal violence, Help seeking against violence in the household three years preceding the survey were asked from respondents and the information was gathered and utilized to construct information in 19 languages using CAPI (Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing). The fieldwork was conducted in all 38 districts of the state of Bihar starting from 9 July, 2019 to 2 February, 2020. Data were collected from selected 35,834 households, 42,483 women of age 15-49 (including 6,350 women interviewed in PSUs in the state module), and 4,897 men of age 15-54.

Table 1: Number of households, number of interviews with women and men, and response rates, according to residence, Bihar, 2019-21 Note: Eligible women and men are women age 15-49 and men age 15-54 who stayed in the household the night before the household interview (including both usual residents and visitors). This table is based on the unweight sample. 1Households interviewed/households occupied 2Respondents interviewed/eligible respondents

Participants

Participants were from 38 districts of the state of Bihar from selected 35,834 households, which includes 42,483 women of age group 15-49 (including 6,350 women interviewed in PSUs in the state module), and 4,897 men of age group 15-54. The selection basis of participants is as per population distribution in rural and urban areas and stay at house between men and women and age selection is as per understanding questionnaire and reproductively active age.

Descriptive Data and Variables

The descriptive data and variables are listed in tables-

2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10

Table 3: Gender role attitudes- by background characteristics Percentage of women and men age 15-49 who agree that a husband is warranted in hitting or beating his wife for at least one specified reason, who agree that a wife is justified in refusing to have sex with her husband for all specified reasons, and percentage of men who agree that when a wife refuses to have sex with her husband, the husband does not have the right to any of the four specified behaviors, by background characteristics, Bihar, 2019-21 Note: Figures in parentheses are based on 25-49 unweight cases. An asterisk indicates that a figure is based on fewer than 25 unweight cases and has been suppressed. Total includes women and men belonging to Christian or other religions, who are not shown separately. 1Specified reasons are: she goes out without telling him, she neglects the house or children, she argues with him, she refuses to have sexual intercourse with him, she doesn’t cook properly, he suspects she is unfaithful, and she shows disrespect for in-laws. 2 Specified reasons are: knows husband has a sexually transmitted disease, knows husband has sex with other women, and is tired or not in the mood. 3Specified behaviors are: gets angry and reprimands her, refuses to give her financial support, uses force to have sex, and has sex with another woman. 4Nuclear households are households comprised of a married couple or a man or a woman living alone or with unmarried children (biological, adopted, or fostered) with or without unrelated individuals. The remaining households are non-nuclear households.

Table 4: Experience of physical and sexual violence- Percentage of women age 18-49 who have ever experienced physical or sexual violence; among those who have experienced physical violence, the person committing the violence; and among those who have experienced sexual violence, the person committing the violence the first time, by marital status, Bihar, 2019-21 Note: All women were asked about their experience of physical violence since age 15. Ever-married women were also asked about their experience of spousal physical violence at any age. An asterisk indicates that a figure is based on fewer than 25 unweight cases and has been suppressed. Na = Not applicable 1 Women can report more than one person who committed the violence.

Table 5: Experience of violence during pregnancy- Among women age 18-49 who have ever been pregnant, percentage who have ever experienced physical violence during pregnancy, by background characteristics, Bihar, 2019-21 Note: Total includes never married women, women belonging to Christian or other religions, and women who don’t know their caste/tribe, who are not shown separately.

Table 6: Forms of spousal violence-Percentage of ever-married women age 18-49 who have experienced various forms of violence committed by their husband ever and in the 12 months preceding the survey, Bihar, 2019-21 Note: Husband refers to the current husband for currently married women and the most recent husband for widowed, divorced, separated, or deserted women. 1 Includes in the past 12 months 2Any violence by women against their husband when he was not already beating or physically hurting her.

Table 7: Spousal violence by background characteristics-Percentage of ever-married women age 18-49 by whether they have ever experienced emotional, physical, or sexual violence committed by their husband, according to background characteristics, Bihar, 2019-21 Note: Husband refers to the current husband for currently married women and the most recent husband for widowed, divorced, separated, or deserted women. Total includes divorced/separated/deserted women, women belonging to Christian or other religions, and women who don’t know their caste/tribe, who are not shown separately. 1Currently married women only 2Nuclear households are households comprised of a married couple or a man or a woman living alone or with unmarried children (biological, adopted, or fostered) with or without unrelated individuals. The remaining households are non-nuclear households.

Table 8: Spousal violence by husband’s characteristics and empowerment indicator - Percentage of ever-married women age 18- 49 who have ever suffered emotional, physical, or sexual violence committed by their husband, according to his characteristics, marital characteristics, and selected empowerment indicators, Bihar, 2019-21 Note: Husband refers to the current husband for currently married women and the most recent husband for widowed, divorced, separated, or deserted women. Figures in parentheses are based on 25-49 unweight cases. 1Currently married women only 2Behaviours include: Is jealous or angry if she talks to other men, frequently accuses her of being unfaithful, does not permit her to meet her female friends, tries to limit her contact with her family, insists on knowing where she is at all times, and does not trust her with any money 3 Currently married women only. Decisions included are decisions about own health care, major household purchases, and visits to her family or relatives. 4Reasons given for which wife beating is justified include: she goes out without telling him, she neglects the house or children, she argues with him, she refuses to have sexual intercourse with him, she doesn’t cook properly, he suspects she is unfaithful, and she shows disrespect for in-laws 5Reasons given for refusing to have sexual intercourse with husband include: she knows her husband has a sexually transmitted disease, she knows her husband has sex with other women, and she is tired or not in the mood

Table 10: Help seeking-Percentage of women age 18-49 who have ever experienced physical or sexual violence by whether they have ever sought help, and among those who have sought help from any source, the source from which help was sought, according to the type of violence experienced and marital status, Bihar, 2019-21 Note: Figures in parentheses are based on 25-49 unweight cases. An asterisk indicates that a figure is based on fewer than 25 weighted cases and has been suppressed. 1 Women can report more than one source from which they sought help

Data sources/measurement

National Family Health Survey, India – available at - http://rchiips.org/nfhs/bihar.shtml

Bias

The utilization of only secondary data from NFHS-5 is a kind of bias as felt by researcher and to address this potential source of bias the researcher will compare this with previous survey data to assess the improvement or degradation in the indicators related to this research in the next version of this research study.

Study Size

38 districts of the state of Bihar from selected 35,834 households, which includes 42,483 women of age 15-49 (including 6,350 women interviewed in PSUs in the state module), and 4,897 men of age 15-54.

Quantitative Variables

Kindly see table 2 to 10.

Gender Role Attitudes

Out of total 6,386 women number of respondents and 4,545 men number of respondents 37.3 percent of women agree that a husband is justified in hitting or thrashing his wife under some circumstances and 33.9 percent men and 37.3% women agree that a husband is justified in hitting or thrashing his wife under some circumstances as per data of the survey see Table-2 and Figure-1. Maximum 23.3%women and 22.2% men respondents agreed that wife thrashing is acceptable if a woman shows disregard for her in-laws, 16.5%men and 16.7%women agreed thrashing women is acceptable if her husband doubts her of being disloyal, 10.3%men and 14.9%women agreed thrashing women is acceptable if She doesn’t cook properly, 8.4 and 10.3 percent men and women respectively agreed thrashing women is acceptable if She refuses to have sexual intercourse with him, 21.3 women and 17.6 % agreed thrashing women is acceptable if a woman argues with her husband, and 19.3 percent women and 12.8% men agreed thrashing women is acceptable if a woman neglects the house or children followed by 16.9 percent women and 12.8% men who agreed thrashing women is acceptable if a woman goes out without telling her husband and.

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87.3% of women respondents and 85.4% of men respondents agreed that a woman is defensible in refusing to have sex with her husband if she knows he has a sexually transmitted disease, 88.1% of women respondents and 77% of men respondents agreed that a woman is defensible in refusing to have sex with her husband if she knows he has intercourse with other women and 86.1% of women respondents and 76.8% of men respondents agreed that a woman is defensible in refusing to have sex with her husband if she is tired or not in the mood –see Figure-2. More than three-quarters i.e. 78.4% of men agree that if a wife refuses to have sex with her husband he does not have a right to get angry and scold her, refuse to give her financial support, use force to have sex even if she doesn’t want to, or have sex with another woman see Table-2. To reduce the length of article the researchers have elaborated important findings. For more details please view table 1 to 10.

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Impact of Education on Violence Against Women

Among women and men who have completed 12 years of schooling, 26 % of women and 23.8 % of men agree that a husband is warranted in thrashing his wife for one or more of the specified reasons, while among men and women respondents without schooling 40.5 % of women and 37.9 % of men agree that a husband is warranted in thrashing his wife for one or more of the specified reasons see table-3 and figure-3.

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Physical and Sexual Violence

In Bihar, 42.0 % of married women in 18-49 age groups have knowledgeable physical or sexual violence- see table-4. The survey data revealed that 39.6% of women have well- informed physical violence, 1.0% sexual violence and 6.7% both physical and sexual violence. For ever-married women who experienced physical violence since age 15, the most common executor was the current husband (95.1%).

Violence During Pregnancy

2.8 percent of women respondents out of 3403 surveyed between ages 18-49 have ever been pregnant and have ever experienced physical violence during their pregnancies. 5.2 percent women who are widowed, divorced, separated, or deserted, women with 10-11 years of schooling (4%), and rural women (3%), urban 1.9 % have experienced violence in pregnancy see table-5.

Spousal Violence

The data analysis of NFHS-5 revealed that 36.3% women stated to be slapped by their husband, 15.1% pushed, shaken, or having something thrown at them, or having their arm twisted or hair pulled, 12.5% reported being punched with a fist, 9.3% reported being kicked, dragged, or beaten up, 2.8% reported being choked or burned on purpose and 1.1%have been threatened or attacked with a weapon such as knife or gun see table-6, 7, 8,9. In Bihar, 39.1 percent of women age 18-49 have ever experienced physical violence, and 7.9 percent have ever experienced sexual violence while 16.8 % of women age 18-49 have ever experienced emotional violence. In total, 40 percent experienced physical and/or sexual violence and 7 percent experienced both physical and sexual violence while 42.4 % have ever experienced any form of physical and/or sexual and/or emotional violence. More than two-fifths (42.1%) of ever-married women age 18-49 in Bihar have experienced physical or sexual violence. Domestic violence is eminent among married women with 42% married only once, while women married more than once 60.5% and women who are in employment but not for cash 62.7% than women in any other group.

Impact of Alcoholism on Spousal Violence

84.4% of women whose husbands often get drunk have experienced emotional, physical, or sexual violence, compared to those who gets drunk sometimes (61.4%), drinks/never gets drunk (45.4%) and minimum 36.4% of those whose husbands do not drink -see table-8 and figure-4. The survey data analysis revealed that the drinking pattern plays a crucial role in the extent of violence against women in the state. The more the men consume liquor, the more is the domestic abuse. Nearly, 56.6% of women are afraid of their husband most of the time that have experienced spousal violence.

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Injuries to Women Due to Spousal Violence and Help Seeking

Injuries data of NHFS-5 report amongst married women revealed that most common knowledgeable physical and sexual violence in the past 12 months are cuts, bruises, or aches (40.9%), deep wounds, broken bones, broken teeth, or any other serious injury (17.8%), eye injuries, sprains, dislocations, or minor burns (16.8%), and severe burns (5.2%) see table-9 and 10. 23.4% of ever-married women age 18-49 have ever experienced physical or sexual violence reported suffering from injuries from what their husband did to them. 42.1% of women experienced both physical and sexual violence. The most common types of injuries among ever-married women who have experienced ever physical and sexual violence were cuts, bruises, or aches (38.5%); deep wounds, broken bones, broken teeth, or any other serious injury (16.8%); eye injuries, sprains, dislocations, or minor burns (15.8%); and severe burns (4.4%). Only 10.8 percent of women age 18-49 who ever experienced physical or sexual violence sought help, while 7.4 percent never sought help but told someone. 81.8% of women never sought help and never told anyone. Among women who sought help, the main sources of help were their husband’s family (45.1%), their own family (40.1%), friend (10.9%), and neighbor (8.8%). Only 3.2 percent of women sought help from a doctor/medical personnel and only 2 percent of women sought help from the police. The most dreadful is that only 10.8% women who suffered physical or sexual violence in the state of Bihar came out to seeking help while 7.4% women who suffered physical or sexual violence never sought help but told someone about the violence inflicted on them –see table-10 and Figure 5.

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The estimates of this cross sectional sample survey may be affected by non-sampling errors, and sampling errors. Non- sampling errors are due to failure to locate and interview the correct sample household, misunderstanding of the survey questions by interviewer or the respondent, and data entry errors. Non-sampling errors are very difficult to avoid and also difficult to evaluate and correct statistically. The NFHS-5 sample is a multi-stage stratified design, Jackknife repeated replication method derives estimates of complex rates from each of several replications of the parent sample, and calculates standard errors for these estimates using simple formulae. Each replication considers all but one cluster in the