Domestic Violence and the Caste System: Evaluating the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act of 2005

Abstract

The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act (PWDVA) of 2005 was implemented in October 2006 to provide women in India with more civil and legal protection. My research seeks to assess the effectiveness of the PWDVA for domestic violence survivors, specifically survivors who identify as either scheduled caste, scheduled tribe, or other backwards caste. The current study utilizes the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data to compare India’s 2005-2006 and 2015-2016 survey responses to evaluate the effect of the PWDVA. The NFHS surveys asked women and girls questions regarding their experience with, their efforts for seeking help from, and their opinions regarding domestic violence, as well as who perpetrated the violence. With the NFHS surveys being administered at the cusp of the act being put in place and again ten years later, any significant change in the data could reflect the influence of the PWDVA.