Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
2013
WOREC
Balkumari, Lalitpur
i
"Anbeshi"
Status and Dimension of Violence
against Women, Reality Revealed
All materials and data published in this book may be used with
due acknowledgement.
ISBN: 978-9937-8640-5-3
Chapter 1 introduction 10
1.1 Background 11
1.2 Limitations of the study 25
1.3 Methodology of the study 26
Chapter 5 rape 79
5.1 Rape 80
5.2 Rape and types of perpetrators 85
5.3 Rape and marital status 86
5.4 Rape and age of the survivor 86
5.5 Educational status of the rape survivor 88
5.6 Rape and ethnicity of the survivors 90
5.7 Occupation of the rape survivor 91
5.8 Impacts of rape on the survivor 92
Violence against women has reached its pervasive stage in Nepal. Decade long
conflict in the country followed by protracted transitional period leading to
very fragile law and order situation, established culture of impunity, long and
tedious court procedures and dominant patriarchal structure of governance
are few established causes leading to this. The statistics show that VAW still
prevails at homes, workplaces and public spaces.
WOREC has been publishing "Anbeshi"- an analytical year book on VAW since
2008. It has contributed in understanding the ground reality on VAW among
different stakeholders including the government. Media has become more
sensitive and supportive to highlight this issue. Moreover, it is important that
the database generated and publication of annual analytical report "Anbeshi"
is contributing for evidence based lobby and advocacy. The Constituent
Assembly Election II was held in 19th November 2013; and Nepali people
are optimistic for new constitution of Nepal. WOREC believes that the
recommendations of Anbeshi will ensure reflection of the issues in the new
constitution of Nepal. It is also anticipated that the findings of the report will
be useful to human rights and civil society orgnisations, NGOs and INGOs,
students, researchers and academician.
I would like to thank all documenters and case documentation unit of WOREC
for their regular and hard work. I would like to thank Ms. Prabina Tandukar
who was involved in the process of data entry and systematic compilation of
the vast amount of field inputs and data that the documenters from all over
Nepal made available. I would also like to extend my sincere thanks to Ms.
Shiba Satyal Banskota for her hard work in writing this report. Last but not the
least I would like to thank Dr. Binayak P. Rajbhandari for editing the language
and Mr. Ramesh Bhandari for designing the book.
AA
Year Book
Year onon
Book Violence against
Violence Women
against 2013
Women 2013
adequate safeguards against gender-based violence and
breed impunity. Through its effort the organization has been
trying to address/break the culture of silence around gender
based violence.
2. Types of VAW
a. Domestic Violence
Domestic Violence accounted for 61% (1040) of the total
cases (1703) of violence. Husbands accounted for 79%
of all perpetrators followed by family members (21%).
While domestic violence does not leave any age group
untouched, it appears to be concentrated on women in
the age group 26-35 accounting for 40%. Similarly, literate
4
women account for 81% of cases domestic violence.
b. Social Violence
The second most frequent type of violence was social
violence. A total of 297 cases or 17% of the total VAW
was under this category. 74% of social violence was
perpetrated by neighbors, 16% by family members and 10
% was reported by husband. Literate women accounted
for 67% and illiterate 33% of cases of social violence.
c. Rape
There were a total of 224 (11%) of cases of rape. This data
included 155 cases of rape, 20 cases of gang rape, 35 cases
of attempted rape and 14 cases of marital rape. In most of
the cases, the perpetrators were the neighbors or people
d. Sexual Violence
Sexual violence accounted for 52 cases (3%) of the total
cases of VAW. 58% of sexual violence was committed
by friends /intimate friends, 19% were neighbors, 15%
were strangers/no relation and 8% were family members.
Sexual violence among literate group is higher than
among illiterate group .The data for this year shows that
the literate group consisted of 92% while illiterate group
consisted of 8%. The most affected are in the 16-25 age
group accounting for 72%, followed by the 26-35 age
group accounting for 16%.
5
e. Murder
A total of 29 cases of murder were collected and analyzed.
Similarly, there were 21 cases of attempted murder. The
perpetrators were mostly husbands accounting for 54%,
family members 24%, neighbors 10%, unidentified 10%
and 2% strangers/no relation. The data for this year shows
that 83% of murdered women were literate whereas 17 %
were illiterate. The highest percentage of murder is found
among women in the age groups 26-35 accounting to 46%
followed by age group 17-25 accounting to 38% , 36 to 35
accounting to 12% and below 16 and above 56 years of age
accounting to 2 % each.
7. Impacts of VAW
Four different types of impacts were identified for this study:
social, economic, physical, and mental. The mental impact
(60%) on women is the highest under all categories of VAW,
followed by physical impact (19%), social impact (16%), and
economic impact (5%).
1.1 Background
VAW is related to women’s position in the multiple systems
of inequality and has a tendency to increase as these systems
intersect, creating layers of discrimination and exclusion for
different groups of women. Yakin Ertürk, the former UN
Rapporteur on VAW, has used the concept of ‘intersectionality’
stating that VAW takes toll upon women’s power to act
upon the oppressive conditions of their existence.2 Further,
the impunity enjoyed by the perpetuators of violence
maintains parallel and multiple structures of power, forms
of discrimination and exacerbates women’s vulnerability to
violence.
14 Nepal’s HDI value for 2011 positions the country at 157 out of
187 countries and ranks Nepal at 113 out of 146 countries in
the 2011 Gender Inequality Index.8 The structural inequality
in its various forms makes women and girls exceptionally
vulnerable to juridical and social discrimination in Nepal.
Prevailing economic and socio-cultural discriminations have
impacted the lives of women in Nepal. Some of these changes
have been positive; however, some have further strengthened
subordination and discrimination against women. Patriarchal
norms deny women the right over their own bodies, sexuality
and the right to make decisions over their own labor.
Woman’s biological and reproductive roles mostly define her
14 http://www.un.org/en/documents/charter/preamble.shtml
26
28
One day in the evening after talking to his second wife the
husband started beating Devi again and evicted her from the
house. She went to WOREC Nepal for help. Three days later,
after discussion with the local police, the husband provided
written statement to take in Devi and his daughter and
ensured that they would be cared for. However, the situation
soon started to deteriorate. One day, Devi suspecting her
husband poisoning her food, took the food to the local police
station. The police called the husband again that evening to
warn him. After that the husband told Devi that he would
take her away with him to Baitadi. Devi informed her relatives
that he was taking her and according to the relatives Devi and
her daughter were taken away that very night.
The findings again contradict the myth that women are safe
in their own houses with their own husbands and families.
While all men enjoy to some measure the advantages of
patriarchy and structures of power, all women suffer to some
degree the constraints of the same structures. As mentioned
earlier, violence while occurring largely within relationships
at home can also occur in workplace, educational environment
and social sphere. Research into the varying forms of violence
suggests that a culture of violence is now starting to permeate
many facets of our culture and society and thus the analysis
of violence should consider various structures, processes and
ideologies that continue to sustain violence in its different
manifestations.
Analysis
The data for this year again shows a shocking reality that
women in all age suffer some form of violence. It is a shameful
and disgraceful scenario that very young girls (below 16 years
of age) who do not even know that they are sexually exploited
are fallen prey to the perpetrators. The constitutional mandate
of equal legal status is yet to be realized and the laws have
not been translated into practice due to the underlying social
practices, prejudices, cultural norms which are based on
patriarchal values, etc. Women and girls continue to be doubly
disadvantaged because of the added burden of patriarchal
institutions that work against them from a very young
age and throughout their lives. These institutions impede
women’s ability to enjoy public life and limit their choices to 35
negotiate according to their own interests and needs. Violence
appears in many forms across the life course of women
arising as a result of son preference (resulting in prenatal sex
selection), early marriage, sexual exploitation, sexual abuse,
discrimination related to health and well-being. Physical,
mental and emotional problems limits their access to social,
economic and political factors and restrains their ability to
participate which again perpetuates violence, discrimination
and unequal power relations. Since they are socialized to
learn the values, attitudes, behavior considered appropriate
for them from early childhood they find it difficult to revolt
against them.
Among the literate women, 28% could just read and write,25%
had secondary education,15% had taken Adult Literacy
Classes, 14% had primary education, 14 % had higher
secondary education and 4% had education beyond higher
secondary.
37
When women are literate and aware of their rights, they speak
against injustices they face and are more prone to violence.
They seek legal and other help which is unacceptable in
a male dominated society that tries to relegate women and
punishes them for having the courage to speak up against
violence. Similarly, literate women encourage other women
to break the silence against violence which further leads to act
of retaliation from their perpetrators. However, it is important
to note that only 5% of women with education beyond
higher secondary have reported violence against them. This
could mean that these women may be in a better position to
work out strategies to deal with their problems and resort to
various other mechanisms to protect themselves. Educational
38 attainment corresponding to higher levels open up access to
earning and decreases economic dependence on husbands,
fathers and brothers which further increases confidence and
self-esteem and enhanced ability to deal with violence.
The findings again contradict the myth that women are safe
in their own house with their own husbands and families but
in reality suffer from violence through their use of power and
control. Precise information on the extent of domestic violence
is not easy to obtain because of extensive underreporting.
42 Analysis
The above data has been collected from WOREC Nepal’s
working area and thus the presence of a higher proportion
of a certain group is more likely. The norms and practices
regarding women’s sexuality vary by community and region.
Women are more vocal about sexuality and reporting violence
in some group whereas in others this could be a taboo.
Similarly, awareness as well as access to support network
play an important role in reporting. At other instance, lower
reporting could be due to the poor socio-economic conditions
and lack of political voice within certain groups. There may
be language barrier, lack of awareness, lack of access to
support networks etc. that leads to low reporting. Women in
43
sphere and are severely exploited and paid low wages than
men and their working conditions are poor. Whatever,
occupation they choose they are challenged in multiple ways.
When they start working outside, there is no guarantee that
46 they are safe and are constantly threatened and harassed.
On the other hand, their workload does not decrease as
they are over burdened with household work and gendered
expectations at home. They do not have control over their
own earning and labor and are often abused when unable to
fulfill the demand.
Analysis
Mental impact is predominant in survivors of violence.
However, it has not received so much attention as other
visible impacts of violence. The impact of violence can have
detrimental consequences in a woman’s life and her family.
It violates women’s fundamental human rights mental or
50
The next day, the husband and the other family members were
taken in by the local Lahaan police. The victim is survived by
one son and two daughters. The elder daughter who is five
58
60
61
3.9 Domestic violence and Occupation of survivors
Women engaged in agriculture (43%) reported the most
number of cases of domestic violence which is not surprising
as Nepal is predominantly an agrarian economy.
Agriculture is followed by women who do household
work(28%),labor(9%), business (7%), students(5%),housem
aids(2.2%),teachers(1.3%), Government /Non Government-
service(1.2%), Tailoring/knitting(0.7%),others(0.6%),foreign
employment(0.5%), no work(0.5%),informal sector service
(0.5%), social work (0.2%) and army/police(0.1%) (Chart 18)
Analysis
As evidenced, mental impact accounted for 30% of domestic violence.
Similarly, 22% of DV survivors suffered physical impact. Likewise,
92.5% of DV survivors were married women. It is perpetrated
by someone close to the survivor, usually her husband or
66
71
72
Chart 21 Social Violence and Types of Perpetrators
The data also found that women who were affected by social
violence were mostly women from economically deprived
section of the society.
76
5.1 Rape
Rape is a non-consensual sexual intercourse through the use
of physical force, threats or intimidation, including the rape
by a man of his wife. Thus,rape is a form of sexual violence
which has the effect of an ongoing trauma for lifetime. It
affects physical, emotional, and psychological well-being as
aftermath of rape is just as terrifying as the event itself, and
has a devastating effect on the person’s self and identity.
The first key feminist analysis on the discourse of rape was
Against Our Will by Susan Brownmiller (1975)19who defined
rape as “a conscious process of intimidation by which all
men keep all women in a state of fear”. It was argued that
rape contributes to the sexual exploitation of women and that
rape should be seen as a social and political problem rooted
in gender inequality. However, various other interpretations
80 and explanations have followed since then.
The society and the media also keeps reinforcing the myth
that rape is sexual instead of a humiliating and degrading
act of violence. It is important to discuss “rape myths” as it
has influenced the dominant understandings of rape. Rape 81
myths are the “attitudes and generally false beliefs about
rape that are widely and persistently held, and that serve to
deny and justify male sexual aggression against women”. 20
“Only bad girls get raped”; “women ask for it”; and “women
would resist” if they really wanted are some of the common
examples. These processes allow for shifting the blame from
the rapist to the rape survivor. Thus, the trend in Nepal as
elsewhere has been that the raped survivor is always blamed
for rape as it is easier to believe that the woman provoked the
attack. Police are often skeptical of the validity of a woman’s
The data for this year by WOREC Nepal showed that there
were 189 cases of rape and 35 cases of attempted rape
collected this year. The cases of rape and attempted rape
collected by media were 208 and 30 respectively. In most
82 of the cases, the perpetrators were the neighbors or people
women knew the most, including, their relatives and friends.
The data again contradicts the general supposition that rape is
committed by strangers. In most of the cases, survivors knew
their perpetrators either through blood relationship, work
relationship, as neighbors and in other ways.
When she tried calling for help they threatened her by saying
they would kill her if she did not keep quiet. The next night,
she was taken to another village. They took her to a house
where they threatened the residents with a gun and kept her
there. The kidnappers used to take her to the nearby forest
When she reached home, her father started scolding her asking
why she returned home. According to the father, the family
had already fixed a date for her engagement. Not seeing her
at home, the family thought she had eloped with someone else.
After telling the whole incident to her family, her father took
her to the police station.
The data for this year also reveals that very young girls have
been affected and the perpetrators are the people they know
98 and the incidence has many negative impacts on the young
girls. Child sexual abuse is typically perpetrated by an adult or
someone older than the child who uses their position of power
to coerce the child into sexual activity. Most perpetrators are
known to survivors and are frequently trusted caregivers
(fathers, grandfather, relatives, friends, neighbours) who take
advantage of their dominant position and the exploitation
often occurs more than once. There is increasing evidence
of child sexual abuse in Nepal. This abuse leads to disturbed
mind, lack of concentration, fear and withdrawal from school.
They are physically, mentally and psychologically affected
and the problems can persist for decades after the incident.
100
102
Chart 40 Educational Status of the survivor
103
6.7 Occupation of the Survivors
This data shows that students (32%) are most affected by social
violence followed by women involved in agriculture (25%).
Similarly of those affected, 11% were involved in business,9%
in labor, 9% in ‘other’ occupation beside the listed categories,
7% in household work, 5% in nongovernmental and 2% in
entertainment sector (Chart 43).
104
Analysis
• The most affected are in the 16-25 age groups accounting
for 72%, followed by the 26-35 age groups accounting for
16%.Likewise, below 16 years of age account for 10%, 36-
45 account for 2% of cases of social violence. The women in
16-25 catrsectegory are mostly pursuing their education or
are working outside to make their living. Girls are unsafe
in their homes and outside. The unsafe environment
restricts women’s mobility, independence and jeopardizes
their health and well being.
Again, the data for this chapter also adds to the previous
findings that targets of sexual violence are mostly young
girls. Generally at this stage, girls are pursuing their
education as well as participating in workforce. The
incident of sexual assault disturbs them emotionally
and they end up withdrawing from their activities
.There is a lack of access to legal, medical, psycho-social
counseling services and effective protection, support and
rehabilitation services for survivors of violence. Sexuality
106 education must be prioritized in school curriculum which
will appropriately educate young people about their sexual
and reproductive health as well as help them understand
their sexual and reproductive rights. These issues have not
been focused even by the progressive groups in Nepal due
to the continuous backlash by the fundamentalist views
that uphold the dominant religious discourse sexuality.
7.1 Murder
Women face multiple forms of discrimination and violence.
Factors like women’s ethnicity, caste, class, migrant or
refugee status, age, religion, sexual orientation, marital status,
disability etc. influences the forms of violence and their
experiences. Murder has been seen as an increasing category in
case of gender based violence in Nepal. In most cases women
who have a history of violence from their partners have been
murdered. However, this cannot be generalized. Increased
violence against women, particularly the unprecedented
increase of murder indicates continued violation of women’s
human rights in the country.
The example is the murder of a 14- year old girl Sarita (name
changed) in Siraha who was murdered in a very brutal way
in her village.
13%
Married
Unmarried
87%
17%
Literate
Illiterate
83%
115
Even though the police were requested to make the case public,
this has not happened. The case is being turned to blaming
the murdered woman by pointing out that their character was
bad. It is being pointed out Sunita had regular sexual contact
with a local and the day she was murdered, she was called to
the field by the same individual. However, seeing other people
116 in the vicinity and while trying to run away, she was killed.
Rama was also present there and had seen everything and she
was also murdered.
Analysis
• Vulnerability to violent crime/murder varies across the age
spectrum. The study found that the highest percentages
of murder is found among women in the age group of
26-35 (46%)followed by age group 17-25 (38%) and age
The data for this year shows that there were 14 cases of human
trafficking/transportation on women.
125
126
127
Analysis
135
140
143
27 It should be noted that one specific case of VAW may have received
numerous supports. Thus, numerically this data is greater than the
actual number of cases.
146
The media coverage does not provide the details of the cases
and only briefly discuss and highlight the issues. Based on the
highlighted issue, attempt has been made to categories and
analyzes the different components.
148
149
150
151
12.1 Conclusions
Anbeshi as a year book on VAW has attempted to analyze
the cases of VAW to draw more attention to the physical,
psychological, and sexual nature of violence against women
and to stimulate action. Although, it is considered a universal
problem shared by women all around the world, the data has
concluded that it is a structural issue which should be dealt as
a serious, contextual problem.
Similarly, social violence can have grave physical and mental 155
impact on survivors with chronic health consequences
and even death in some instances. Constant stigmatization
and ostracism is also rampant. Media can play an effective
role in disseminating information but needs to be critically
monitored. For example, in case of rape it should not reinforce
the myth that rape is sexual instead of a humiliating and
degrading act of violence on women.
A. Types of Violence
Domestic Violence
Any abusive, violent, coercive, forceful, or threatening act
inflicted by husbands or member of a family or household
on another can constitute domestic violence and can have
various physical, mental, social and economic consequences.
These include but are not limited to beating/ physical torture,
polygamy, eviction, verbal abuse and mental/emotional
torture.
Social Violence
Social violence can basically be understood as violence that
takes place due to social factors and mostly occurs outside
the family. It includes discriminatory practices that impact
women which are mostly caused by the members of the
society. Social violence includes discrimination based on caste,
acid spraying, labor exploitation, allegations of witchcraft,
164 threats, dowry related, child marriage, verbal abuse, character
assassination etc.
Sexual Violence
Conduct of a sexual or indecent nature towards a woman
that is accompanied by actual or threatened physical force or
that induces fear, shame, or mental suffering. If any person,
without consent of a woman, touches or tries to touch her
sensitive organ, forces her to touch his/her sexual organ or
uses any sexually motivated words or symbols or shows her
such photographs or drawings, teases or harasses her with
sexual motives .
Rape
Rape is generally defined as forced or nonconsensual sexual
Murder
This category includes cases of murder of women and
attempted murder.
Others
This category includes cases of kidnapping, abandonment,
suicide etc.
C. Ethnicity Of Survivor/Perpetrators
Hill Janajati: Janajati Gurung,Magar,Rai, Limbu,Kirat,
Dhami,Chhantyal, Tamang, Sherpa, Lama, Bhote,Newar,
Jirel, Thakali, Raute, Chepang, Kusunda, Danuwar etc.
Terai Janjati:
Tharu,Rajbanshi,Tajpuriya,Gangai,Singh,Dhanuk,Dhimal,Sa
nyal,Munda,Satar,Jhagar,Danuwar,Kisan,Koche, etc.
Tari Dalit:
Chamar, Harijan,Ram,Musaha ,Dusadh, Paswan, Pasi, Tatma
,Khatwe,Dhobi,Sardar,Chimidar, Dom, Halkhor, Kuswadiya,
Kalar, Khatik, Koyeri,etc.
D. Occupation Of Survivor/Perpetrator
1. Agriculture, Household Works, Labor, Business ,Non
Formal Work, Non Governmental Work, Government Service,
Social Work, Foreign Employment
E.Effects on Survivor
1. Physical Effect
2. Mental Effect
3. Economic effect
4. Social Effect
G. Education
1. Literate
2. Illiterate