54% Indian women okay with wife-beating: UNICEF Report.

Very true Bhargav, Empowerment and education is the only way.

yes, you are absolutely right. The main reason is they are dependent, and not that they consider beating as ritual, they think their husbands are god and whatever god does is good for them, what a joke! When will these stupid women realize that husbands are just another human being and nothing else, and specially those guys who do no work, just get drunk and beat up their wives for no reason, how can such useless people take the place of GOD?

dear Pupupd, Not all the time they consider their husband as god but in many cases they curse their husband from inside but then they do not show this on face as there is no other way out for them. they are fully dependent on them, and further there is nobody in their kin,s place who accept them when they go back due to poverty. So if women are economically independent they can make their own way where they are not dependent on anybody.

Sorry pupupd, things are not so easy as you say. Tell me how many house or apartment owners, will give a house on rent for a single woman. Even if the male gives it, the wife would not allow it. If the single woman is working, the co workers or her boss, tries to take advantage of her single position. Finally, if the woman has a girl, she will find it very difficult to marry her, because of the fact she comes from a broken house. It is all very well to say, that there is womans power and the woman can live all alone. That is for the western culture, as long as you are in India, the womans fate is like this. Do not think I am against woman, I have a married daughter, even if she is beaten, I cannot get angry and take action against my son in law. I may feel like killing him, but I have to keep quite, because this is INDIA.

I will differ from you on this. The fact women should be empowered does not mean that they can walk out of a marriage to escape violence. It is the prevention which is of relevance.The very possibility of equality has to act as a deterrent to domestic violence. Equality has a very large say in peer respect and this will restrict violence. Males indulge in it taking advantage of such a stigma which women in India face. More such helpless attitude more the violence.

It is against basic decency. Where has mutual respect gone? All the progress we make as a nation is nullified such attitudes.

Thats what I want, the government must take some quick actions and implement some strict laws with which the local police can't just ignore this a small crime, and give it no importance and just forget it later, the police should be forced to take action against anyone who tortures a women without any reason. They should jail such animals! Our government is equally responsible for such things, even today there is a lot of corruption going on under cover, they are very lazy and love savoring in money earned from public tax. Things which are to be done immediately are done after five years, uptil then everyone gets accustomed to the situation already. It learns to live it, and this is the reason government does not change its way of ruling, just because we people stop revolting in few days, if we keep shouting and protesting, the govt is bound to take some action very soon.

Well said, education, awareness and empowerment are the key to equality. Law enforcement should also be strict.

yes education is the most essential factor which is still lacking in rural areas and must be improved, otherwise such crimes will go on for generation after generation with no end!

Hello Vandana, Sorry to hear your story.It happens that now a days nobody comes to the rescue of others.Money is root cause of all evil.You cant even trust your right hand now , then how can you trust yoiur cousins? What has happened has happened.But be careful in future if you wanna lend money.Did you get back the money?

Hi krupesh, No - but nothing to worry. God looked after me. I am one of the stronger ones! So dont pity me. And luckily I have quite a few out in this world who would be there for me. So definitely I am not that pitiable whimpering person who is confused about whether to cross the boundaries and be scorned by society or to continue to take the beatings and be quiet about it. I have raised a voice about it, and almost everybody knows that my relatives have beaten me up. So nobody would really appreciate them coming near me, or appreciate the fact that they are anywhere in the vicinity - tomorrow it could be the turn of their children. ha ha. I have emerged a winner. They cant even in live in the same city as me. And people have over the years stopped inviting them over. That as webearn99 pointed out - is a good reason for them to be cut up with me. But all this help is a bit too late in coming. If it had come before I made a grade I would have believed it was genuine. It has come after I made a grade - after I proved my stand - all tell tale signs were there - nobody bothered to think about it. Which makes me suspect whether it is because of some expectations or because of actual belief in right and wrong that these people are now siding me. I can never trust any of my relatives again, even those who are now siding me. But I do have some good friends - some of whom have stood by me thru thick and thin. I know they will be around whenever I need help. So I have reasons to be thankful to god for giving me such support. I wish other women too get supportive friends like that, and develop confidence of walking out of abusive relationships. And please, please dont pity me. It is way too far in past to keep crying about, isn't it? And I truly want it to remain less than 20 percent of my life. So I am not going to discuss it.

I remember a discussion we had regarding this. It is unfortunate that women are considered weak and so can be manipulated by threat or violence. I have to say that overcoming the initial hurdles is the worst part. Once the Juggernaut rolls there will be no stopping it. We have to do our bit and wait patiently for the results. In your case the fact that after 30 years they still blame you shows that it hurts them and they deserve it!

Yes u are very much right. The situation is not stopped. may be reduced but still we have many places where women are beaten. and not only in poor houses but also in well to do families it happens but it never comes out. But when all of it crosses limit, the sparkles comes out and then everybody knows so somewhere educzated people also are included in this.

Step into a village my friend. The situation will come as a rude shock to you.

I could not agree with you more. We need to change social thinking. This sickness has to stop. While it is true that the head of the family has been designated 'God' and others, particularly women obey meekly, women have also been designated 'Shakti'(Power), but no one follows that! All this has been done to give a family a stable hierarchy for the family to lead a good and orderly life. The fact that one part of the hierarchical law is followed and the other ignored points to a degenerate mentality the society has developed. It is this that has to be eradicated. There is no point in being a rag in a female body.

Believe me, when a woman is being whacked all she can think is pain and help. It is the social circumstances which prevent her from asking for a better life. You are absolutely right, it is every ones responsibility to eradicate this ugly face of humanity.

Horrible it is! I wish the whole of the civilization and all of my countrymen read the report. At least then men who do this will be shamed into giving the women their worth.

What scares me is if this is the situation in India what is it in rest of the third world? If this is any sort of an indicator, more than half of women world wide have to endure this.

Eons of slavery to menfolk is making them think as they are doing now. They have been seeing and suffering wife-beating for so many generations that they feel it is somehow justified. Yes, we need to drive such notions away from their heads.

If you look at all the attention this issue has got on mylot, we are on the right track. I wish the people who matter also read the reactions and are shamed into stopping this despicable activity.

He is certainly not! He is an unmitigated coward who takes out his frustrations on women who have their hands tied in the name of social etiquette.

Poverty dictates that all members in the family work in the fields. This is the truth in rural India. If at all there is a chance of education, however rudimentary, the priority is to educate the male child. That is due to age old custom, because the girl will be married and go away in due course. So where any chance of progress exists, women are last in line.That is the fact prevailing. It is indeed an uphill task to get over all these hurdles. I join you in the hope that conditions will change for the better.

Yes it is a shameful fact. 80% of people live in rural areas where education is not considered a necessity. And then there are age old beliefs which are redundant. It is a silver lining in the cloud that at least some of them have rejected domestic violence. This should spread to finally give women their dignity.