Empowerment and domestic violence: An empirical investigation on rural women in Bankura district

Abstract

Domestic violence against women is an emerging issue of concern to social and health planner. This study has examined the impact of economic and political empowerment of women on incidence of domestic violence on women. We have formed a composite index of economic empowerment using Principal Component Analysis method. Incidence of domestic violence has been measured by the fact whether the woman suffered from physical assault in last six months from her family member. The impact of economic and political empowerment of woman along with other individual and household characteristics on the incidence of domestic violence has been traced out on the basis of a set of primary data collected from 125 ever-married women residing in the district of Bankura, West Bengal. A binary probit model has been formulated for estimation. Our cross section study reveals a negative and significant relation of economic and political empowerment of women with the incidence of domestic violence on women. This relation may be due to having increased voice and consciousness of politically and economically empowered women.