Article Title :
Economic Perspectives on Violence Against Women During COVID-19 Crisis: A Case Study of Bihar
6 (2022)
14-25
Women , Lockdown , India , Economic Distress , Domestic Violence , COVID-19
The present study is an attempt to underline the economic aspects responsible for the rise in the cases of domestic violence against women especially in during COVID-19 crisis. The issue of domestic violence, especially in India has mostly been studied from a social and cultural perspective. There are several researchers who have highlighted the ill impact on women’s health (mental and physical) due to the obnoxious treatment they are subjected to at home. However, there has been not much focus on empirical work to study economic dimensions of domestic violence. The study aims to uncover the plausible economic causes and the probable economic consequences of domestic abuse against women in Bihar during the Covid-19 health crisis in 2020-2021.
Economics is closely related to domestic violence incidences; either it appears as one of the reasons behind violence against women or as an outcome.
Various factors such as, economic status, family budget, ethnicity, social and cultural background, women’s age and education, place of residence, gold price etc. play an integrated role in shaping the link between the economic factors and domestic violence.
Tangible cost, intangible costs, direct and indirect cost associated with the domestic abuse, which are borne by the victims, people around victims, enterprises, and the state.
The emotional factors and financial issues elevated the violence against women in Bihar. The major reason for the increase in domestic violence in Bihar during the covid-19 period was financial instability caused by job loss, exhaustion of savings, dowry demands, and loans.
Joblessness of the males, poverty, unemployment in informal sector, economic dependence of the victims, socio-economic status of the marital family, no paternal property inheritance rights to women, and relatively less income of the women are the economic aspects of domestic abuse in Bihar.
There is a positive correlation between the growing incidence of domestic violence and increasing economic uncertainties or unemployment in the informal sector in Bihar.
Béland, L.-P., Brodeur, A., Haddad, J. and Mikola, D., 2020. COVID-19, family stress and domestic violence: remote work, isolation and bargaining power. Carleton Economic Papers from Carleton University, Department of Economics (2365-9793), 2-35. Global Labor Organization (GLO).
IIPS-ICF [International Institute for population Science and ICF]. (2021). National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5), India, 2019-20: Bihar. IIPS, Mumbai
