Women Welfare

Violence against women is a technical term used to collectively refer to violent acts that are primarily or exclusively committed against women. Similar to a hate crime, this type of violence targets a specific group with the victim's gender as a primary motive.

The United Nations General Assembly defines "violence against women" as "any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life." The 1993 Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women noted that this violence could be perpetrated by assailants of either gender, family members and even the "State" itself.

(ii) Types of violence against women:
• Domestic violence
• Acid throwing
• Bride burning
• Sati
• Dowry death
• Honor killing
• Murder of pregnant women
• Human trafficking
• Sexual slavery
• Forced prostitution
• Sexual violence
• Rape
• Violence against prostitutes
• Breast ironing
• Female genital mutilation
• Infibulation

(iii) The status of women in India: The status of women in India has been subject to many great changes over the past few millennia. From equal status with men in ancient times[ through the low points of the medieval period, to the promotion of equal rights by many reformers, the history of women in India has been eventful. In modern India, women have adorned high offices in India including that of the President, Prime minister, Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Leader of Opposition, etc. Still we are far away from international standards. Following facts suggest that there is a strong need for empowering women in India.

• Literacy rates (age 7 and above) in 2011 in India are 82.14% for men and 65.46% for women.
• Female infant mortality rate in India is 49.14 deaths/1,000 live births.
• In India, a woman is raped every half hour and is killed every 75 minutes, according to the latest report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), based on 2004 data.
• 56,000 rape cases were pending in courts across the country in Oct 2003.
• Registered cases of eve-teasing for Mar - Aug 2003 in Indian metropolis: Delhi-744, Mumbai-27, Kolkata-30, Chennai-143.
• officially recorded dowry deaths in major cities combined (Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai): 2002-181, 2001-121