REPORT OF STUDY ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

The gender based violence against women is the pervasive social belief system that
posits male superiority over women as natural and preferred. There exists a broad
based social belief that women are inferior and that it is their role to be subservient
to men. Despite various laws enacted in the country to counter the gender based
violence and to provide remedial measures to women, the number of crimes against
women has been on the increase. The beliefs of male domination and patriarchy
pervade so much of our society and its institutions, eradicating violence against
women will require changes at the fundamental levels of the society. These changes
must eliminate policies and practices perpetuated by the male dominated culture
that sexualize women as objects, demean their values, restrict their participation in
decision making, dehumanizing them with labels, control their rights over their own
bodies and marginalize and demean their presence. This study has been conducted
in the city of Tiruchirapalli where the domestic violence against women are in the
increasing trend. The study focused mainly on the physical violence meted out to
women.