Major rise in domestic violence during Covid, many gains could be reversed

In Bihar, as many as 40% of women continue to be victims of spousal violence even though the figure has come down from 43.7% in 2015-16

More than a quarter of the women surveyed in seven states said they had experienced domestic violence, data released in the first phase of the latest National Family Health Survey (NFHS) indicate.

Nine states reported an increase in the number of women who said they had faced sexual violence as children, and eight states reported a decline in their sex ratios. A marginally higher share of women said they had worked in the last year and were paid in cash--and not in kind--but the numbers could be misleading, experts say.

The National Family Health Survey is a nationally representative household survey that