'Delaying marriage by even 1 year lowers domestic violence against women'

Delaying marriage by even one year could significantly reduce a young woman’s chances of being subjected to domestic violence in India, according to a new study.

Over the decade to 2016, there has been a 20-percentage-point reduction in the number of girls married off before 18 years of age in India--from 47% in 2006 to 27% in 2016, as per Unicef. But this still leaves 1.5 million girls more vulnerable to domestic violence than those marrying later in life, concluded the study which was jointly conducted by the Indian Institute of Management, Indore and the Shiv Nadar University.

Incidents of “less severe physical violence”--such as pushing, arm twisting, hair pulling or slapping--could fall from being inflicted on 25% of all women to 18% with just a one-year delay in marriage. More severe forms of physical violence--such as kicking, beating, choking, burning, threatening or attacking with a weapon--could decrease from 6% prevalence to 2%, the 2018 study found. Read Complete Article

Business Standard