Multi-stakeholder perspectives on gender-based violence in marital relationships: A qualitative study in rural India

In India, an estimated 41% of women report experiencing domestic violence in their lifetime and up to 28% report violence during pregnancy. Our study aims to understand local perceptions/attitudes towards GBV and lived experiences of GBVvictimisation and perpetration in marital relationships in rural Rajasthan. We conducted a focus group discussion with community health workers (n = 7) and interviews with young married men (n = 17) and women (n = 21), and local government officials (n = 2). The data was analysed using thematic analysis with triangulation conducted across methods and researchers. Our findings reveal that women experience multiform violence, including physical, sexual, and economic violence. In the continuum of GBV, violence stems from everyday conditions of disempowerment produced through early marriage and reproduction, norms of hegemonic masculinity, and community norms that normalise violence against women. These conditions of disempowerment lead to women’s isolation through control of mobility and surveillance through technology, setting the stage for further violence to occur. Violence prevention efforts in the region must follow a multi-level approach to reduce child marriage through community education and improved enforcement of legislation, enhance reporting and identification alongside help-seeking behaviours through formal or informal channels, transform rigid gender norms, and leverage key actors in the family system such as the in-laws or matchmakers as potential agents of change.