Men Report Abusing More Frequently Than Women Report Abuse - India Real Time - WSJ
http://www.icrw.org/files/publications/Masculinity Study_WEB Version.pdf
Men Report Abusing More Frequently Than Women Report Abuse
Sajjad Hussain/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
People held candles in solidarity with the young woman who was gang-raped and murdered in New Delhi in December 2012.
Men report committing sexual violence at a higher rate than women report experiencing it in some Indian states,
according to a study on masculinity and intimate partner violence aimed at uncovering the extent of under reporting of abuse against women.
A growing number of women in urban India are
coming forward to report sexual harassment to the authorities, but those living in rural parts of the country are still largely reluctant to report abuse. Overall, women’s rights groups say, the rate of abuse reported by the female population is an underestimate of the actual figure.
Researchers asked men taking part in the study whether they had perpetrated emotional, physical, or sexual violence against an intimate partner in the past 12 months. Women in the survey were asked whether they had experienced such violence at the hands of an intimate partner over the same period. The idea was to tease out reasons why women under report abuse by comparing their answers.
“Women don’t even recognize certain forms of sexual violence… they think it’s their role to have sex with their husband even if it’s coercive. They don’t even recognize the concept of marital rape,” said Priya Nanda of the
International Center for Research on Women, a research organization that carried out field research among 9,205 men and 3,158 women in the age group 18 to 49 across seven Indian states at the end of 2012 in collaboration with the
United Nations Population Fund.
Marital rape is not prohibited under Indian law, despite campaigns by women’s groups to include it in
legal reforms passed in 2013.
“The men who report that they have committed sexual violence break down and express guilt, but very often, they are products of violence and extreme social inequities themselves,” said Ms. Nanda. “We’re not excusing men for raping women, but it’s important to recognize the awful experiences they’ve been through,” she added.
The main reason that women don’t report violence is the social stigma attached to doing so, said Ms. Nanda. Her study, published in November, found that, on average, 31% of women reported experiencing violence at the hands of an intimate partner and 34% of men reported committing it in the last year.
The highest levels of reporting for both men and women were recorded in Orissa in eastern India.
In Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, men were more likely to report carrying out violence against a partner than women were to report being abused, but in Orissa, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan, the opposite was the case.
The study also found that men who had witnessed violence or discrimination against their sisters or mothers in their childhood internalize this and in some cases adopt “rigidly masculine” behaviors, including a preference for male children and tendency to carry out violence against an intimate partner. In Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Orissa, the proportion of rigidly masculine men is higher amongst those who witnessed discrimination as children, but in Punjab and Haryana the opposite is true.
Men’s ideas about masculinity need to be understood and reformed in order to change the traditional gender norms that lead to patriarchy and male dominance over women, according to the authors of the study. Men can have an influence on gender equality, said Ms. Nanda.
To challenge societal ideas of masculinity, the ICRW has started a program called
Gender Equality Movement in Schools for children between the ages of 12 and 14. The GEMS curriculum, implemented in 250 schools in Mumbai, challenges ideas about societal roles of men and women and teaches boys why they should treat girls with respect, said Ms. Nanda.
“From the earliest age, boys get cues that if they cry they are sissies, not manly enough,” said Ms. Nanda, adding that the schools where the program has been implemented have reported more gender equitable relations between pupils.
“There is just not enough being done to change the thinking, attitudes and behaviors of men,” said Ms. Nanda, whose study finds that attempts to address gender equality and the preference for male children have tended to focus on women, but most often, men are the ones who influence women’s decisions and actions.
Programs such as GEMS are part of a concerted effort international nonprofits are making to engage men in the conversation about violence against women. “We are working with all men, including those who are the perpetrators of violence, to ensure that boys and men understand what gender equality and gender relations means,” said Babatunde Osotimehin, the executive director of the UNFPA.
The UNFPA also works with the police to ensure that they take reports of violence seriously, said Mr. Osotimehin. At monthly meetings the Delhi Police Commissioner organizes for the city’s police force, the UNFPA provides voluntary guidelines on how to improve gender-sensitivity training of police officers and safety for women in public places, he added.
Over a year since the brutal gang rape of a 23-year-old student on a moving bus in Delhi, the numbers reporting violence have increased. In Delhi, for example, 1,493 rapes were reported to police in the first 11 months of last year,
more than double the number reported in the same period of 2012. Complaints of sexual harassment and other crimes against women have also risen sharply.
“In India, the cultural context prevents people from coming forward. But what has happened [in Dec. 2012] has really encouraged more people to begin to think about reporting violence against women,” said Mr. Osotimehin.
Follow Shanoor and India Real Time on Twitter @shanoorseervai and @WSJIndia.
