Wellbeing, occupation, money, education and knowledge: a descriptive study of NFHS-4 data comparing Maharashtra and national data on the wellbeing, occupation, money, education and knowledge parameters

Abstract

Background: ‘Women rights’ is a contentious social issue. Well-being, occupation, money, education and knowledge (W. O. M. E. N.), are the basic parameters based on which a women’s status in the society depends. Her wellbeing shows us her health, her occupation and education help us understand how she gets treated in her family and her capability to take future life decisions. Her involvement in the family money, her income, shows her economic understanding. Her knowledge, on her reproductive and sexual health, on domestic abuse shows her awareness on these issues and reflects on her personal experiences as well.Methods: A retrospective study was conducted on NFHS-4 data (with permission from DHS) using Maharashtra and India data for analysis of W. O. M. E. N.’s characteristics.Results: The results showed that p value for all W. O. M. E. N.’s characteristics in association with Maharashtra and India values was found to be highly significant.Conclusions: the 904 (19.2%) women in Maharashtra said that beating was justified when wife goes out without telling the husband, whereas compared to India statistics, 28002 (23.8%) women feel the same. In a study by Jeyaseelan et al a cross-sectional study was conducted on 9938 women surveyed, 26% reported experiencing spousal physical violence during the lifetime of their marriage