Inescapable chains of women's subjugation

EVERY single day, across India, married women suffer.

- SHARANYA MANIVANNAN

EVERY single day, across India, married women suffer. Not all—that should go without saying. But many. Many experience emotional abuse, as well as financial constraints and restrictions on time, energy, and freedom of choice. Some experience physical violence. Some are raped (but marital rape is not illegal). Some are murdered, either outright or in a phenomenon known as "dowry deaths," involving mysterious kitchen incidents—or else by suicide as a result of an inescapable situation.

The abuse may come from spouses, in-laws, and in certain cases their own families of origin. It is statistically proven that the vast majority of incidents of violence against women occurs within the household. Of these, most are unreported. A small fraction makes the headlines, but very rarely creates public outcry, although violence from a stranger or a lover from a minority background may be sensationalized in order to enable further oppression.