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Coping strategies in the face of domestic violence in India
Women's Studies International Forum 74 (2019) 204–209
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Author note
Coping strategies in the face of domestic violence in India☆ Shreya Bhandari
⁎
T
Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio, United States of America
A R T I C LE I N FO
A B S T R A C T
Keywords: Domestic violence Women Coping India Abuse
The current study draws coping strategies from in-depth interviews conducted with a convenience sample of 21 low-income abused women in Mumbai, India. Data were analyzed and synthesized using a thematic analysis procedure. The qualitative analysis utilizes problem-focused and emotion-focused coping framework to report the findings. Problem-focused coping strategies of abused women from India include (a) joint meeting (b) back and forth between marital and natal home. Emotion-focused strategies include (c) spirituality/religion (d) hope, keep quiet, cry a lot and keeping busy. Implications for practice and future research in India with abused women are discussed.
1. Prevalence of domestic violence among Indian women
as well due to the shame and stigma attached to domestic violence.
The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005 defines domestic violence (DV) as physical, sexual and emotional abuse by present or past spouses and/or partners and family members. DV is cited as the cause of 40–60% of female deaths in U.S., India and Bangladesh (Garcia-Moreno, Jansen, Ellsberg, Heise, & Watts, 2005; Krug, Mercy, Dahlberg, & Zwi, 2002). National data indicate that over 30% of married women have experienced physical or sexual partner violence in India (International Institute for Population Sciences and Macro, 2007; Silverman, Decker, Saggurti, Balaiah, & Raj, 2008). Specifically in India, the prevalence rates of domestic violence vary from one state to another with estimates ranging from 6% in one state (i.e., Himachal Pradesh) to 59% in another (i.e., Bihar) (Charlette, Nongkynrih, & Gupta, 2012; Garcia-Moreno et al., 2005). A number of reporting inaccuracies exist in India, with some DV-related crimes against women being falsely labeled as ‘suicides’ or ‘accidents’ (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2011). Research thus far, has established that a significant barrier to seeking help for domestic violence is women's hesitancy to disclose abuse and often fear of being blamed or not believed for the trauma they have experienced (Garcia-Moreno et al., 2005). There are several other reasons for not disclosing abuse which include but are not limited to normalizing domestic violence as an acceptable act, fear of consequences such as revictimization by the perpetrator, or the threat of losing children (Fanslow & Robinson, 2011). The Indian culture in general acts as a barrier in disclosing abuse
2. Indian social structure It is important to realize the ubiquitousness of arranged marriage in the Indian social context. It is fairly common among Indian families to engage in arranged marriages on the basis of same caste/denomination and/or religion rather than love between two individuals (Jejeebhoy et al., 2009). Son preference is an integral part of Indian culture as sons perform the last rites, take the family name to the next generation and are the social security of the parents in their old age. The daughters on the other hand are considered ‘paraya dhan’ (someone else's wealth) and a liability whose sexuality needs to be controlled till before marriage. Even after the daughter is married off, the natal family still has ritualistic and financial obligations to provide for the groom's side of the family especially during major holidays (Rew, Gangoli & Gill, 2013). With the widespread son preference, women gain power by bearing sons and share a very close relationship with their sons, so much so that the mother finds it difficult to share her son with others. This relationship gets especially complicated when the son gets married. Patrilocality after marriage is usually the case which means that the married couple resides in the same household with the extended in-laws side of the family. Hence, the new bride needs to get along with the new groom as well as with her entire in-laws side of the family. By the time, the new bride comes in, the mother-in-law (mother of the groom) has
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This Research is supported and funded through Leader (Launching Equity in the Academy across Dayton Entrepreneurial Region) Consortium - National Science Foundation Advance Program and College of Liberal Arts Faculty Research Activity Grant (Wright State University). ⁎ Professor Department of Social Work, 271 Millett Hall, 3640 Colonel Glenn Hwy, Dayton, OH 45435-0001, United States of America. E-mail address: [email protected]. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2019.04.007 Received 12 October 2018; Received in revised form 9 February 2019; Accepted 23 April 2019 Available online 06 May 2019 0277-5395/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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organizations. The eligibility criterion to be included in the study was that the woman should have been above 18 years of age, abused by an intimate partner (i.e. husband) and then sought help in one of the four agencies serving DV victims. Upon approval from the Institutional Review Board at the author's University in the United States (see Bhandari & Hughes, 2017 for a full description of the study methods), the author contacted the agencies in India. The agency staff contacted the women whom they thought were in an emotional state to talk about their story. After explaining the study in general, these women were referred to the author. The author then explained the study in detail and sought written consent in Hindi or Marathi, a language that the participant preferred. The interviews were held at the community based organizations. In-depth interviews were conducted by the author in Hindi or Marathi depending on the preference of the participant and were tape recorded. The interviews were then transcribed and translated into English. The author gave careful consideration that women did not feel compelled to participate in the study only because the staff member from the agency had requested them to. This was assured by the author reading out the informed consent and still giving the woman the permission to opt out of the study if she would like. She was also assured that her services from the agency would not get affected if she withdrew from the study.
already gained power in the family due to bearing the son and now it is her time to ensure that her power stays intact. This is easily done by exerting power on the new daughter-in-law and keeping her under her control. The mother-in-law is also the proxy to keep the power of patriarchy intact so that the ultimate power of decision making lies with the men and the new daughter-in-law lives and abides by the rigid gender norms (Rew, Gangoli & Gill, 2013). Failure to abide by the rigid gender norms, in many instances may lead to domestic violence. It is important to examine the domestic violence in India in this socio-cultural context. There is ample evidence to show that there are benefits to disclose abuse in a supportive environment (Bennett, Riger, Schewe, Howard, & Wasco, 2004; Sullivan, 2003; Sullivan & Bybee, 1999; Ullman, 1996), but not much research has been done on how do women from India cope with violence in their lives on a daily basis. 3. Theoretical framework on coping with domestic violence There are two types of coping (a) problem-focused coping and (b) emotion focused coping (Lazarus, 1993, 1999; Lazarus & Folkman, 1984; Tamres, Janicki, & Helgeson, 2002). Problem-focused coping includes techniques to gather relief from a distressed situation by changing the stressful environment itself or taking action on the person who is causing the stress. Hence, problemfocused coping is task-oriented in nature (Lazarus, 1999; Tamres et al., 2002). Emotion-focused coping, on the other hand, is defined as altering the manner in which the relational meaning of the stressful relationship is interpreted even though the actual condition of the relationship might remain the same (Folkman & Lazarus 1990; Lazarus, 1993). Emotion-focused coping therefore entails modifying the emotions, and thereby resolving the emotional distress (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). The objective of problem-focused coping in cases of DV is to reduce the violence, and the objective of emotion-focused coping is to provide emotional energy to keep the sense of self intact (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984; Chang, 1989). Seeking help from family and friends, positive self-talk, weighing the pros and cons of the relationship, fighting back are some of the other strategies employed by women to either temporarily or permanently leave abusive situations (Campbell, 1998; Jacinto, Turnage & Cook, 2010).
6. Interview guide Based on semi-structured interview guides, questions were openended and author probed and explored the topics introduced by the participants. This qualitative information was supplemented by a short set of close-ended demographic questions. The questions included “Describe the type of violence you experienced from your partner,” “How do you cope with the violence you have experienced?” “What are the ways you resist the violence?”. 7. Data analysis Data were analyzed using a thematic analysis procedure. Thematic analysis is a method of identifying, analyzing, and reporting patterns within data and is performed in six phases: (a) familiarization with data, (b) generation of initial codes, (c) search for themes among codes, (d) review of themes, (e) creating definition and names of themes, and (f) producing the final report (Braun & Clarke, 2006). The author read the transcripts and identified initial codes/categories (e.g., Indian women's experiences of violence, coping and barriers to seeking help), and themes based on the emerging patterns in the data. For instance, the sub-themes under the theme “problem-focused coping,” reflected the strategies that women came up to deal with the problem of abuse. Common themes and sub-themes were identified across data, grouped according to emerging patterns and named accordingly (Table 1).
4. Rationale for current study The lifetime rates of prevalence of DV in India are estimated to be 40% (Kalokhe et al., 2015). These prevalence rates are consistent with the World Health Organization's (WHO's) lifetime estimate of 37.7% (95% CI: 30.9% 43.1%) in South-East Asia (defined as India, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bangladesh, and Timor-Leste) and is higher than the regional estimates provided by the WHO for the western countries including the United States of America. Most research so far has featured large quantitative studies that focus on the prevalence of DV in India (Begum, Donta, Nair, & Prakasam, 2015; Sabri, Renner, Stockman, Mittal, & Decker, 2014). Such studies fail to give a voice to the way in which women respond and cope with abuse in their daily lives. Due to the high prevalence of DV in India and the limited understanding of this understudied population, the present study focuses on the coping strategies of women in India using the problem-focused and emotion-focused conceptual framework.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Spirituality/religion Husband will change Joint meeting Trying to make the husband understand Keep quiet, cry a lot Did nothing
Table 1 Coding categories themes.
5. Method
1. Problem-focused a. Joint meeting b. Back and forth between marital and natal home 2. Emotion-focused c. Spirituality/religion d. Hope, cry, stay quiet, keep busy
Our analysis included 21 participants who were recruited from four community-based organizations that work with survivors of DV in Mumbai, India. One of the organization was a crisis based center in a peripheral hospital and the other three were community-based women's 205
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this, should not behave like this. I went back to my in-laws' house. Then after one year all this started again, this time they thrashed me and I again came back to my parents' house right at that moment (Meeta, 26 years).
7. Back and forth between marital and natal home 8. Fight back 9. Keep busy-watch comedy TV shows, cooking, etc. The next step was to divide them into problem-focused and emotion-focused on the basis of their nature. Credibility was established by utilizing a well -recognized research method, which is face-to-face in-depth interviews. The transcripts were checked for accuracy by going back to the original files. The entire process of data collection was systematic, well-organized which further enhanced the trustworthiness and credibility of analysis of the current study (Saldaña, 2012). The entire transcript of all the participants was taken into account, a sequence of steps was followed during the analysis, and the coding was checked for consistency, with elaborate documentation of how the final codes were reached (Schreier, 2012).
One of the participants who was a widow, knew that even though her abusive husband was dead, she needed to still live in the matrimonial home and not the natal home. She said, “Right now, I am living with my two brothers and two sisters-in-law, but one day they would also ask me to leave their place. I am being tortured so much that I don't eat anything and keep crying all day” (Sita, 30 years). It was usually during the time of stay in the natal home, that a woman sought help at a woman's organization for the abuse she was facing. Dependent on the expectations of the woman, such complaints resulted into joint meetings which explained in the next theme. The following comment by Anna states how her natal family will lose respect if she continues to live with them.
8. Findings
…[If ] I go to live with my parents, that will hurt the respect they [natal family] has in the society, rather than that it is better to endure the beating, after all living in my husband's house only is good for me, …how many days I would live in my mother-father's place, you will not go to your mother-father, you will go to your husband's place, …. you will go to your husband's place for ever, and your husband will take care of you. (Anna, 20 years)
8.1. Participants The mean age of respondents was 31 years (range 20–61 years). All the participants in the study were married at least once. Participants' marital status included married (n = 14), separated (n = 5), and widowed (n = 2). Fourteen participants (two thirds) reported not living with the abuser; the other seven were still living with the abuser at the time of the interview. On average, participants had been married for 12 years. The average number of years participants had endured abuse was 9. The majority of participants were employed (n = 11); one third (n = 7) were unemployed, two were in training or school, and one was retired. Among those employed, jobs included housekeeping, clerical work, cooking, teaching, patient care, and sewing. The average annual income level of participants who worked was 50,000 rupees, whereas the average annual family income was 129,000 rupees. The average level of education among participants was twelfth grade (similar to high school level in the United States). Highest levels of educational achievement ranged from third grade to partial completion of a master's degree. The religious affiliations of respondents were Hindu (n = 13), Buddhist (n = 5), Muslim (n = 2), and Christian (n = 1). The five themes that emerged from the interviews and analysis can be divided into problem-focused and emotion-focused coping strategies. Problem-focused coping strategies include (a) back and forth between marital and natal home (b) joint meeting. Emotion-focused coping strategies include (c) spirituality (d) hope the abuser will change, keep quiet, cry a lot, keep busy. Examples drawn from the transcripts describe and explain the themes. All the names associated with the comments are pseudonyms.
However, since marriages in India are arranged by parents, women rightfully go back to their natal home in case of abuse. Anna further explains this in the following comment: …if husband is not behaving properly, then I have to live in my parents' house. It's also not that I have done a love marriage, I have done an arranged marriage per my parents' wish, and I have not done per my wish also and hence I should live with him only, they [her parents] did it, I was saying no [ to the marriage], then I have to come in their place 9 [ her parents'], to whose door I should go, there nobody will take care of me also (Anna, 20 years) Another participant also explained the strategy of going to natal home in the following comment, “Whenever any altercation happened or I got afraid, I used to go to my mother's place. This time, it went beyond limits and when my mother came to rescue, he tried to beat her and said bad words to her” (Bindu, 48 years). In some situations, the woman was forced to go to her natal home and then sent divorce papers. This happened in situations where the in laws' side of the family (mostly parents) decided that their son needs to get married to somebody else. “Yes I agree, he [husband] did not want [divorce] initially, but now his family members have chosen another woman, and he is even ready to get married again” (Sulochna, 23 years).
9. Problem-focused coping 9.2. Joint meeting 9.1. Back and forth between marital and natal home Joint meeting between the woman's natal and in-laws side of the family was the most common method used to deal with the issue of abuse. From the narratives of women, the author teased out joint meetings were primarily of two types. One of the type was an informal gathering of both sides of the family at a family member's house. In such cases, parents, brothers and extended family from both sides of woman's family (natal and in-laws side) met. The goal of such meetings was to amicably resolve the conflict between the couple. In most cases, when the first type of meeting failed, then women approached the second type. The second type occurred with the involvement of a woman's organization in the premises of the agency. The meetings at women's organization occurred due to the woman complaining about her abusive situation and the agency staff then calling both sides of the family. In this meeting, along with the woman (survivor/wife) and the man (abusive husband) involved, the immediate family members like the parents of both the man and the woman would also join in. If the
Most women in the current study usually went to their natal home when abuse was beyond their tolerance levels. This back and forth between the marital and natal home is a very unique way in which women from India coped with abuse. The process of back and forth between the two homes occurred for months and at times for years with no clear resolution. In most cases, when the abuse became unbearable, or started affecting the children, women utilized going to the natal family as the last resort. The following comment highlights the process, Then I came to my parents' house and told them about this [abuse]. They had no clue that this [abuse] was happening. So a big quarrel happened and they [in-laws' side of the family] threw me out of the house. So I lived here [in natal home] for one and a half to two months, we also talked to the person who made out match. He also said to them [in-laws' side of the family] that you should not do like 206
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cope with abuse on a daily basis. The belief in Higher power and bowing down to “Him” helped several women to get through abusive times in their lives.
main parties involved were present at the meeting, then a number of terms and conditions were agreed upon by signing off on them. The following comment by Rama gives a glimpse of the level of negotiations that occured at such meetings.
Yes, I offer namaz, I pray to God and go to ‘dargah’ [mosque]. I cry in front of Him [God], he knows everything, I don't have to tell anything to Him. So then I ask them to show me the path. Help me. I don't ask help from people, I don't bow to them. I go to dargah, cry and bow in front of him. I don't ask for even a rupee from people, neither I tell them my story. I don't ask them money or food or any work. (Razia, 35 years).
We had meeting 2–4 times. In our house only. Their [in-laws'] side of the family's point was that they want divorce on the basis of mutual understanding, out of court settlement. First I was against a divorce, I said, ‘I won't divorce you’. They said we would give you money. They [Her in-laws] told my father that, ‘I would give her so much which is beyond counting.’ My father said, ‘what can you give?’ What they answered was that, ‘we'd give you 50,000 rupees.’ What will come of 50,000? We had such meetings 2-3 times at home and every time I used to refuse divorce (Rama, 28 years)
Another participant shares in the comment below as to how she prays to God to give her a happy life. When I get lots of thoughts, then I only say one thing to God that all that has happened has already happened and was that good or… I just try to convince my mind. I do go to temples and pray to God. If I had sins in my life, whatever I suffered, let it go now but give a satisfied and happy life now. This is how I try to convince myself and look for future (Reena, 29 years).
In some other cases, the negotiations were very specific and worked towards getting a resolution to day-to-day conflict between the woman and the in-laws side of the family. The following comment from one of the participant states, “I hope that I will get a partition and will be allowed to live in the upper portion. I don't bother about what happens in the lower portion and will live separately” (Sita, 30 years). On several occasions the husband or his side of the family would agree to something in front of the woman's organization but not abide by it in reality. The following comment by Meeta shows how her husband did not let her back in the matrimonial home despite agreeing to it at the women's organization.
Another participant shared, “I started having this feeling and I always prayed to god that I am seeing some changes. If there is some reason behind let me see that, let that secret come to light. So I prayed” (Sita, 30 years). Sulochana shared how her brother arranged for a ritual for her wellbeing. She stated, “I went to Govandi Temple and my brother even had a pooja prays for all well-being. There is a temple of Lord Durga in Govandi, we even had pooja (religious ritual) there” (Sulochna, 23 years). Utilizing religion/spirituality to get through difficult times was a common strategy of most women in the current study. Chanting God's name, offering prayers and doing rituals at place of worship like temple or mosque helped keep the women's minds occupied with positive thoughts.
I want to live with them [in laws side] but they don't take care of me, they don't handle me well. If you talk to them they would say okay, all right. I went to counseling for the third time. At XX [women's] organization madam gave me an address of a protection office, I went through counseling there on the 8th of December. So he [her husband] said that I would take her back with me within eight days, let her live at her parents' house for eight days. But eight days passed and he [her husband] never called. I tried to call him but he did not pick up my phone. So I again went to them and told this what was happening, that he was not picking up the phone and nothing. He said to you that he would come to take me back after eight days but he didn't come. So they advised me to file a domestic violence complaint. We did as they asked. (Meeta, 26 years).
11. Hope, staying quiet, keeping busy Hoping that the abusive husband will change, staying quiet or crying were other emotion-focused strategies that women utilized to deal with abuse in their lives. One of the participant shared, “I would cry a lot and then sit quiet, to whom I would tell that these people do like this, I would cry and then sit quiet, I was not able to do anything” (Anna, 20 years). Another participant made the following comment, “Nothing, after a quarrel, I have a meal or if I don't feel like having a meal, I just quietly go to bed, I don't say anything to anybody, I don't ask anything to anybody” (Darshana, 24 years). Another participant shared that she hoped her husband would get punished for the wrong doing. She shared, “Hope he is punished… He should be sent to jail as he doesn't have the right to ruin somebody's life. He shouldn't get married if he doesn't want to maintain relations with his wife or children” (Chitra, 24 years). The following are some examples of strategies that women utilized to keep busy so that they did not feel stressed out or remained preoccupied the whole time with thoughts of being abused. Cooking, watching entertainment sitcoms on the television, doing household work, among others were some of the strategies reported by women. For example, one participant kept herself busy with cooking and watching comedy entertainment sitcoms. She shared, “I mind my own work, I watch comedy serials, I cook food, and perform other duties. Otherwise I don't speak much, husband also doesn't like talking to me much” (Beena, 33 years). Another participant shared, “For peace of mind, means I stay calm and quiet. I don't say anything. I just cry, I feel that this should not happen, sometimes I also listen to some music, I feel good that way. I listen to sad songs or ghazals which I like” (Rama, 28 years). Thus, women utilized a number of strategies to keep themselves occupied and not think about abuse.
The abusive husbands behaving good for some time and then reverting back to abusive behavior was another trend observed. The following comment by one of the participant states, where should I go so I went to this medium [women's organization], she wrote a letter by taking my signature and sent him, after receiving the letter my husband was very frightened, then my dad called him, then madam [of the women's organization] made him understand she gave him some kind of the written words, so till one month he was being good and everyone was good at that time then again after a month he started behaving the same way. (Rani, 31 years) The main issue with these meetings was there was no way to ensure that the terms and conditions agreed upon were enforced. If the abusive husband and his side of the family violated the terms and conditions, there were no repercussions. The joint meetings were used as a means of social pressure but were not a full proof way of ensuring that the abusive husband and his family would improve or stop abusing the woman. Women hoped that the social pressure of women's organization would help to make their abusive husband and their side of family to agree upon the terms. 10. Emotion-focused coping 10.1. Spirituality/Religion Belief in God, praying and chanting God's name, or being involved in rituals were different ways in which women kept themselves busy to 207
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12. Limitations
Yalamarty, & Roy, 2018), domestic abandonment needs further investigation. It would be important to know if these women ever get their fair share of alimony when the divorce does occur. Belief in God and praying, hoping that the situation will improve were other ways in which women thought their abusive situation would improve. It is in line with coping by not just South Asian women in the US, but in many other cultures, including but not limited to Latino immigrant survivors (Brabeck & Guzm'an, 2008), South Asians (Bhandari, 2017) and non-immigrant African American survivors of domestic violence (El-Koury et al., 2004; Taft, Bryant-Davis, Woodward, Tillman, & Torres, 2009). Women in this study also knew how to prioritize and ignore matters that were not serious. Several women shared that they kept themselves busy with watching entertainment sitcoms and cooking, among other things. Thus, women utilized a combination of emotion-focused and problem-focused coping strategies to deal with abuse in their lives.
Before discussing the findings of this study, some limitations need to be noted. This study had several limitations. The small convenience sample of participants was drawn from community-based organizations in the city of Mumbai, India. Thus, generalizing the results to other populations without similar contextual factors (e.g., urban, low-income backgrounds) is limited. The interviews were conducted in two different regional languages and later transcribed and translated into English. There is a possibility that specific meanings of terms or phrases may have been lost in translation. 13. Discussion The current study examines coping strategies of Indian women experiencing domestic violence within the context of poverty, lack of resources, lack of education and barriers of shame and isolation. These contextual factors affect abused women globally, and the findings have potential implications for practice and research to women all over the world and particularly in India. With India's growing population and dearth of literature on the issue of coping with domestic violence, the author believes learning from the women in this study has relevance for clinicians, advocates, and policy makers throughout the world. Studies conducted on help seeking and coping strategies of domestic violence survivors in general have revealed that women prefer seeking help from informal sources like family and friends rather than formal sources like police and shelter (IIPS and Macro International, 2007; Naved, Azim, Bhuiya, & Persson, 2006). The utilization of joint meetings at informal level (problem-focused coping) in the current study was similar to research findings of other abused women using the network of friends and families first. Once those meetings failed, women in the current study contacted community-based women's organizations. Most marriages in India are arranged in nature and occur between two families rather than two individuals. In several cases, it is common for the woman to live with her husband's side of the family in the same household (Abraham, 2005; Jordan & Bhandari, 2016). Hence, when any problem arises in a marriage, members of extended family on both sides get together to resolve it. Sometimes these meetings occur informally in the woman's natal or matrimonial home and if those fail, they occur in women's organization. Since court battles in the Indian criminal and civil justice system are very lengthy and tedious, in several cases, informal joint meetings are preferred (Bhandari & Hughes, 2017). However, it is yet to see if the terms and conditions agreed upon in these meetings are actually followed through. Since the women's organizations do not have the power to enforce the conditions agreed upon in these meetings, it is not a surprise that the husband's side of the family does not follow through and continues to abuse the woman. The phenomenon of back and forth between the natal and marital home is also very unique to Indian culture (Bhandari & Hughes, 2017; Jordan & Bhandari, 2016). Married women are supposed to live with the husband and his family and hence living with the natal family for extended periods of time is highly stigmatized. This is true even if the husband is dead as a married woman's ‘right’ place is in her matrimonial home. Moreover, natal family becomes a space for the woman's brother and his family. Hence living with the natal family is actually impinging upon the resources that are in reality for the woman's brothers' family (Ayyub, 2000; Bhandari & Hughes, 2017). This gives a glimpse of the complexity of utilization of problem—focused coping strategies to deal with abuse in the lives of women from India. Another phenomenon that the women in the current study experienced was abandonment by their in-laws side of the family. Women were sent to the natal home under a hoax pretext and then served divorce papers. While women in all these cases would have wanted to reconcile, it was the in-laws side of the family that determined that she was an ‘unfit’ daughter-in-law and wife. While there is some research on transnational abandonment among South Asian women (Anitha,
14. Recommendations for practice The findings provide multiple recommendations for social workers and service providers working with abused women in India. Women utilize a number of problem-focused and emotion-focused strategies to cope with abuse. The service provider's approach to help women cope with abuse has to be multi-pronged in nature. One of the problem-focused strategy mentioned by the women in the current study was joint meetings involving both sides of the family at informal and formal levels. While community-based women's organizations are trying to get women's interests, there isn't an enforcing body to ensure that women's interests are not compromised. The community-based women's organizations should also not be expected to be community vigilantes taking over the law enforcement. Law enforcement needs to perform their duties and start taking domestic violence seriously. A lot of work needs to be done at preventative level to educate women about the importance of financial independence and de-stigmatizing women who leave abusive husbands due to abuse, or in general. In spite of a rise in global divorce rates, the divorce rates in a country like India are as low as 1%. These low rates clearly demonstrate that women in India tend to endure abuse for longer periods of times and do not view divorce as an option due to the stigmatization (Unified Lawyers, 2017). It is also very important to emphasize that health care providers should screen women for abuse. Both the health care providers and law enforcement needs to be trained to deal with abused women in a sensitive manner. Families need to accept that a broken marriage is not a sign of fault of the woman but a sign of courage to not tolerate any more abuse. Hence emphasizing de-stigmatization of abuse and broken marriage at the community level is very important. 15. Conclusion The findings may help agency personnel offer culturally sensitive services and also understand the ways women cope on their own and within their own belief systems. Women still depend on their natal family to care for them if their marriages turn abusive. It is extremely important to especially educate young girls and boys the importance of being financially independent and that a broken marriage is not a sign of failure. Acknowledgments This Research is supported and funded through Leader (Launching Equity in the Academy across Dayton Entrepreneurial Region) Consortium - National Science Foundation Advance Program and College of Liberal Arts Faculty Research Activity Grant (Wright State University). 208
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Author note
Coping strategies in the face of domestic violence in India☆ Shreya Bhandari
⁎
T
Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio, United States of America
A R T I C LE I N FO
A B S T R A C T
Keywords: Domestic violence Women Coping India Abuse
The current study draws coping strategies from in-depth interviews conducted with a convenience sample of 21 low-income abused women in Mumbai, India. Data were analyzed and synthesized using a thematic analysis procedure. The qualitative analysis utilizes problem-focused and emotion-focused coping framework to report the findings. Problem-focused coping strategies of abused women from India include (a) joint meeting (b) back and forth between marital and natal home. Emotion-focused strategies include (c) spirituality/religion (d) hope, keep quiet, cry a lot and keeping busy. Implications for practice and future research in India with abused women are discussed.
1. Prevalence of domestic violence among Indian women
as well due to the shame and stigma attached to domestic violence.
The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005 defines domestic violence (DV) as physical, sexual and emotional abuse by present or past spouses and/or partners and family members. DV is cited as the cause of 40–60% of female deaths in U.S., India and Bangladesh (Garcia-Moreno, Jansen, Ellsberg, Heise, & Watts, 2005; Krug, Mercy, Dahlberg, & Zwi, 2002). National data indicate that over 30% of married women have experienced physical or sexual partner violence in India (International Institute for Population Sciences and Macro, 2007; Silverman, Decker, Saggurti, Balaiah, & Raj, 2008). Specifically in India, the prevalence rates of domestic violence vary from one state to another with estimates ranging from 6% in one state (i.e., Himachal Pradesh) to 59% in another (i.e., Bihar) (Charlette, Nongkynrih, & Gupta, 2012; Garcia-Moreno et al., 2005). A number of reporting inaccuracies exist in India, with some DV-related crimes against women being falsely labeled as ‘suicides’ or ‘accidents’ (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2011). Research thus far, has established that a significant barrier to seeking help for domestic violence is women's hesitancy to disclose abuse and often fear of being blamed or not believed for the trauma they have experienced (Garcia-Moreno et al., 2005). There are several other reasons for not disclosing abuse which include but are not limited to normalizing domestic violence as an acceptable act, fear of consequences such as revictimization by the perpetrator, or the threat of losing children (Fanslow & Robinson, 2011). The Indian culture in general acts as a barrier in disclosing abuse
2. Indian social structure It is important to realize the ubiquitousness of arranged marriage in the Indian social context. It is fairly common among Indian families to engage in arranged marriages on the basis of same caste/denomination and/or religion rather than love between two individuals (Jejeebhoy et al., 2009). Son preference is an integral part of Indian culture as sons perform the last rites, take the family name to the next generation and are the social security of the parents in their old age. The daughters on the other hand are considered ‘paraya dhan’ (someone else's wealth) and a liability whose sexuality needs to be controlled till before marriage. Even after the daughter is married off, the natal family still has ritualistic and financial obligations to provide for the groom's side of the family especially during major holidays (Rew, Gangoli & Gill, 2013). With the widespread son preference, women gain power by bearing sons and share a very close relationship with their sons, so much so that the mother finds it difficult to share her son with others. This relationship gets especially complicated when the son gets married. Patrilocality after marriage is usually the case which means that the married couple resides in the same household with the extended in-laws side of the family. Hence, the new bride needs to get along with the new groom as well as with her entire in-laws side of the family. By the time, the new bride comes in, the mother-in-law (mother of the groom) has
☆
This Research is supported and funded through Leader (Launching Equity in the Academy across Dayton Entrepreneurial Region) Consortium - National Science Foundation Advance Program and College of Liberal Arts Faculty Research Activity Grant (Wright State University). ⁎ Professor Department of Social Work, 271 Millett Hall, 3640 Colonel Glenn Hwy, Dayton, OH 45435-0001, United States of America. E-mail address: [email protected]. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2019.04.007 Received 12 October 2018; Received in revised form 9 February 2019; Accepted 23 April 2019 Available online 06 May 2019 0277-5395/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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organizations. The eligibility criterion to be included in the study was that the woman should have been above 18 years of age, abused by an intimate partner (i.e. husband) and then sought help in one of the four agencies serving DV victims. Upon approval from the Institutional Review Board at the author's University in the United States (see Bhandari & Hughes, 2017 for a full description of the study methods), the author contacted the agencies in India. The agency staff contacted the women whom they thought were in an emotional state to talk about their story. After explaining the study in general, these women were referred to the author. The author then explained the study in detail and sought written consent in Hindi or Marathi, a language that the participant preferred. The interviews were held at the community based organizations. In-depth interviews were conducted by the author in Hindi or Marathi depending on the preference of the participant and were tape recorded. The interviews were then transcribed and translated into English. The author gave careful consideration that women did not feel compelled to participate in the study only because the staff member from the agency had requested them to. This was assured by the author reading out the informed consent and still giving the woman the permission to opt out of the study if she would like. She was also assured that her services from the agency would not get affected if she withdrew from the study.
already gained power in the family due to bearing the son and now it is her time to ensure that her power stays intact. This is easily done by exerting power on the new daughter-in-law and keeping her under her control. The mother-in-law is also the proxy to keep the power of patriarchy intact so that the ultimate power of decision making lies with the men and the new daughter-in-law lives and abides by the rigid gender norms (Rew, Gangoli & Gill, 2013). Failure to abide by the rigid gender norms, in many instances may lead to domestic violence. It is important to examine the domestic violence in India in this socio-cultural context. There is ample evidence to show that there are benefits to disclose abuse in a supportive environment (Bennett, Riger, Schewe, Howard, & Wasco, 2004; Sullivan, 2003; Sullivan & Bybee, 1999; Ullman, 1996), but not much research has been done on how do women from India cope with violence in their lives on a daily basis. 3. Theoretical framework on coping with domestic violence There are two types of coping (a) problem-focused coping and (b) emotion focused coping (Lazarus, 1993, 1999; Lazarus & Folkman, 1984; Tamres, Janicki, & Helgeson, 2002). Problem-focused coping includes techniques to gather relief from a distressed situation by changing the stressful environment itself or taking action on the person who is causing the stress. Hence, problemfocused coping is task-oriented in nature (Lazarus, 1999; Tamres et al., 2002). Emotion-focused coping, on the other hand, is defined as altering the manner in which the relational meaning of the stressful relationship is interpreted even though the actual condition of the relationship might remain the same (Folkman & Lazarus 1990; Lazarus, 1993). Emotion-focused coping therefore entails modifying the emotions, and thereby resolving the emotional distress (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). The objective of problem-focused coping in cases of DV is to reduce the violence, and the objective of emotion-focused coping is to provide emotional energy to keep the sense of self intact (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984; Chang, 1989). Seeking help from family and friends, positive self-talk, weighing the pros and cons of the relationship, fighting back are some of the other strategies employed by women to either temporarily or permanently leave abusive situations (Campbell, 1998; Jacinto, Turnage & Cook, 2010).
6. Interview guide Based on semi-structured interview guides, questions were openended and author probed and explored the topics introduced by the participants. This qualitative information was supplemented by a short set of close-ended demographic questions. The questions included “Describe the type of violence you experienced from your partner,” “How do you cope with the violence you have experienced?” “What are the ways you resist the violence?”. 7. Data analysis Data were analyzed using a thematic analysis procedure. Thematic analysis is a method of identifying, analyzing, and reporting patterns within data and is performed in six phases: (a) familiarization with data, (b) generation of initial codes, (c) search for themes among codes, (d) review of themes, (e) creating definition and names of themes, and (f) producing the final report (Braun & Clarke, 2006). The author read the transcripts and identified initial codes/categories (e.g., Indian women's experiences of violence, coping and barriers to seeking help), and themes based on the emerging patterns in the data. For instance, the sub-themes under the theme “problem-focused coping,” reflected the strategies that women came up to deal with the problem of abuse. Common themes and sub-themes were identified across data, grouped according to emerging patterns and named accordingly (Table 1).
4. Rationale for current study The lifetime rates of prevalence of DV in India are estimated to be 40% (Kalokhe et al., 2015). These prevalence rates are consistent with the World Health Organization's (WHO's) lifetime estimate of 37.7% (95% CI: 30.9% 43.1%) in South-East Asia (defined as India, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bangladesh, and Timor-Leste) and is higher than the regional estimates provided by the WHO for the western countries including the United States of America. Most research so far has featured large quantitative studies that focus on the prevalence of DV in India (Begum, Donta, Nair, & Prakasam, 2015; Sabri, Renner, Stockman, Mittal, & Decker, 2014). Such studies fail to give a voice to the way in which women respond and cope with abuse in their daily lives. Due to the high prevalence of DV in India and the limited understanding of this understudied population, the present study focuses on the coping strategies of women in India using the problem-focused and emotion-focused conceptual framework.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Spirituality/religion Husband will change Joint meeting Trying to make the husband understand Keep quiet, cry a lot Did nothing
Table 1 Coding categories themes.
5. Method
1. Problem-focused a. Joint meeting b. Back and forth between marital and natal home 2. Emotion-focused c. Spirituality/religion d. Hope, cry, stay quiet, keep busy
Our analysis included 21 participants who were recruited from four community-based organizations that work with survivors of DV in Mumbai, India. One of the organization was a crisis based center in a peripheral hospital and the other three were community-based women's 205
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this, should not behave like this. I went back to my in-laws' house. Then after one year all this started again, this time they thrashed me and I again came back to my parents' house right at that moment (Meeta, 26 years).
7. Back and forth between marital and natal home 8. Fight back 9. Keep busy-watch comedy TV shows, cooking, etc. The next step was to divide them into problem-focused and emotion-focused on the basis of their nature. Credibility was established by utilizing a well -recognized research method, which is face-to-face in-depth interviews. The transcripts were checked for accuracy by going back to the original files. The entire process of data collection was systematic, well-organized which further enhanced the trustworthiness and credibility of analysis of the current study (Saldaña, 2012). The entire transcript of all the participants was taken into account, a sequence of steps was followed during the analysis, and the coding was checked for consistency, with elaborate documentation of how the final codes were reached (Schreier, 2012).
One of the participants who was a widow, knew that even though her abusive husband was dead, she needed to still live in the matrimonial home and not the natal home. She said, “Right now, I am living with my two brothers and two sisters-in-law, but one day they would also ask me to leave their place. I am being tortured so much that I don't eat anything and keep crying all day” (Sita, 30 years). It was usually during the time of stay in the natal home, that a woman sought help at a woman's organization for the abuse she was facing. Dependent on the expectations of the woman, such complaints resulted into joint meetings which explained in the next theme. The following comment by Anna states how her natal family will lose respect if she continues to live with them.
8. Findings
…[If ] I go to live with my parents, that will hurt the respect they [natal family] has in the society, rather than that it is better to endure the beating, after all living in my husband's house only is good for me, …how many days I would live in my mother-father's place, you will not go to your mother-father, you will go to your husband's place, …. you will go to your husband's place for ever, and your husband will take care of you. (Anna, 20 years)
8.1. Participants The mean age of respondents was 31 years (range 20–61 years). All the participants in the study were married at least once. Participants' marital status included married (n = 14), separated (n = 5), and widowed (n = 2). Fourteen participants (two thirds) reported not living with the abuser; the other seven were still living with the abuser at the time of the interview. On average, participants had been married for 12 years. The average number of years participants had endured abuse was 9. The majority of participants were employed (n = 11); one third (n = 7) were unemployed, two were in training or school, and one was retired. Among those employed, jobs included housekeeping, clerical work, cooking, teaching, patient care, and sewing. The average annual income level of participants who worked was 50,000 rupees, whereas the average annual family income was 129,000 rupees. The average level of education among participants was twelfth grade (similar to high school level in the United States). Highest levels of educational achievement ranged from third grade to partial completion of a master's degree. The religious affiliations of respondents were Hindu (n = 13), Buddhist (n = 5), Muslim (n = 2), and Christian (n = 1). The five themes that emerged from the interviews and analysis can be divided into problem-focused and emotion-focused coping strategies. Problem-focused coping strategies include (a) back and forth between marital and natal home (b) joint meeting. Emotion-focused coping strategies include (c) spirituality (d) hope the abuser will change, keep quiet, cry a lot, keep busy. Examples drawn from the transcripts describe and explain the themes. All the names associated with the comments are pseudonyms.
However, since marriages in India are arranged by parents, women rightfully go back to their natal home in case of abuse. Anna further explains this in the following comment: …if husband is not behaving properly, then I have to live in my parents' house. It's also not that I have done a love marriage, I have done an arranged marriage per my parents' wish, and I have not done per my wish also and hence I should live with him only, they [her parents] did it, I was saying no [ to the marriage], then I have to come in their place 9 [ her parents'], to whose door I should go, there nobody will take care of me also (Anna, 20 years) Another participant also explained the strategy of going to natal home in the following comment, “Whenever any altercation happened or I got afraid, I used to go to my mother's place. This time, it went beyond limits and when my mother came to rescue, he tried to beat her and said bad words to her” (Bindu, 48 years). In some situations, the woman was forced to go to her natal home and then sent divorce papers. This happened in situations where the in laws' side of the family (mostly parents) decided that their son needs to get married to somebody else. “Yes I agree, he [husband] did not want [divorce] initially, but now his family members have chosen another woman, and he is even ready to get married again” (Sulochna, 23 years).
9. Problem-focused coping 9.2. Joint meeting 9.1. Back and forth between marital and natal home Joint meeting between the woman's natal and in-laws side of the family was the most common method used to deal with the issue of abuse. From the narratives of women, the author teased out joint meetings were primarily of two types. One of the type was an informal gathering of both sides of the family at a family member's house. In such cases, parents, brothers and extended family from both sides of woman's family (natal and in-laws side) met. The goal of such meetings was to amicably resolve the conflict between the couple. In most cases, when the first type of meeting failed, then women approached the second type. The second type occurred with the involvement of a woman's organization in the premises of the agency. The meetings at women's organization occurred due to the woman complaining about her abusive situation and the agency staff then calling both sides of the family. In this meeting, along with the woman (survivor/wife) and the man (abusive husband) involved, the immediate family members like the parents of both the man and the woman would also join in. If the
Most women in the current study usually went to their natal home when abuse was beyond their tolerance levels. This back and forth between the marital and natal home is a very unique way in which women from India coped with abuse. The process of back and forth between the two homes occurred for months and at times for years with no clear resolution. In most cases, when the abuse became unbearable, or started affecting the children, women utilized going to the natal family as the last resort. The following comment highlights the process, Then I came to my parents' house and told them about this [abuse]. They had no clue that this [abuse] was happening. So a big quarrel happened and they [in-laws' side of the family] threw me out of the house. So I lived here [in natal home] for one and a half to two months, we also talked to the person who made out match. He also said to them [in-laws' side of the family] that you should not do like 206
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cope with abuse on a daily basis. The belief in Higher power and bowing down to “Him” helped several women to get through abusive times in their lives.
main parties involved were present at the meeting, then a number of terms and conditions were agreed upon by signing off on them. The following comment by Rama gives a glimpse of the level of negotiations that occured at such meetings.
Yes, I offer namaz, I pray to God and go to ‘dargah’ [mosque]. I cry in front of Him [God], he knows everything, I don't have to tell anything to Him. So then I ask them to show me the path. Help me. I don't ask help from people, I don't bow to them. I go to dargah, cry and bow in front of him. I don't ask for even a rupee from people, neither I tell them my story. I don't ask them money or food or any work. (Razia, 35 years).
We had meeting 2–4 times. In our house only. Their [in-laws'] side of the family's point was that they want divorce on the basis of mutual understanding, out of court settlement. First I was against a divorce, I said, ‘I won't divorce you’. They said we would give you money. They [Her in-laws] told my father that, ‘I would give her so much which is beyond counting.’ My father said, ‘what can you give?’ What they answered was that, ‘we'd give you 50,000 rupees.’ What will come of 50,000? We had such meetings 2-3 times at home and every time I used to refuse divorce (Rama, 28 years)
Another participant shares in the comment below as to how she prays to God to give her a happy life. When I get lots of thoughts, then I only say one thing to God that all that has happened has already happened and was that good or… I just try to convince my mind. I do go to temples and pray to God. If I had sins in my life, whatever I suffered, let it go now but give a satisfied and happy life now. This is how I try to convince myself and look for future (Reena, 29 years).
In some other cases, the negotiations were very specific and worked towards getting a resolution to day-to-day conflict between the woman and the in-laws side of the family. The following comment from one of the participant states, “I hope that I will get a partition and will be allowed to live in the upper portion. I don't bother about what happens in the lower portion and will live separately” (Sita, 30 years). On several occasions the husband or his side of the family would agree to something in front of the woman's organization but not abide by it in reality. The following comment by Meeta shows how her husband did not let her back in the matrimonial home despite agreeing to it at the women's organization.
Another participant shared, “I started having this feeling and I always prayed to god that I am seeing some changes. If there is some reason behind let me see that, let that secret come to light. So I prayed” (Sita, 30 years). Sulochana shared how her brother arranged for a ritual for her wellbeing. She stated, “I went to Govandi Temple and my brother even had a pooja prays for all well-being. There is a temple of Lord Durga in Govandi, we even had pooja (religious ritual) there” (Sulochna, 23 years). Utilizing religion/spirituality to get through difficult times was a common strategy of most women in the current study. Chanting God's name, offering prayers and doing rituals at place of worship like temple or mosque helped keep the women's minds occupied with positive thoughts.
I want to live with them [in laws side] but they don't take care of me, they don't handle me well. If you talk to them they would say okay, all right. I went to counseling for the third time. At XX [women's] organization madam gave me an address of a protection office, I went through counseling there on the 8th of December. So he [her husband] said that I would take her back with me within eight days, let her live at her parents' house for eight days. But eight days passed and he [her husband] never called. I tried to call him but he did not pick up my phone. So I again went to them and told this what was happening, that he was not picking up the phone and nothing. He said to you that he would come to take me back after eight days but he didn't come. So they advised me to file a domestic violence complaint. We did as they asked. (Meeta, 26 years).
11. Hope, staying quiet, keeping busy Hoping that the abusive husband will change, staying quiet or crying were other emotion-focused strategies that women utilized to deal with abuse in their lives. One of the participant shared, “I would cry a lot and then sit quiet, to whom I would tell that these people do like this, I would cry and then sit quiet, I was not able to do anything” (Anna, 20 years). Another participant made the following comment, “Nothing, after a quarrel, I have a meal or if I don't feel like having a meal, I just quietly go to bed, I don't say anything to anybody, I don't ask anything to anybody” (Darshana, 24 years). Another participant shared that she hoped her husband would get punished for the wrong doing. She shared, “Hope he is punished… He should be sent to jail as he doesn't have the right to ruin somebody's life. He shouldn't get married if he doesn't want to maintain relations with his wife or children” (Chitra, 24 years). The following are some examples of strategies that women utilized to keep busy so that they did not feel stressed out or remained preoccupied the whole time with thoughts of being abused. Cooking, watching entertainment sitcoms on the television, doing household work, among others were some of the strategies reported by women. For example, one participant kept herself busy with cooking and watching comedy entertainment sitcoms. She shared, “I mind my own work, I watch comedy serials, I cook food, and perform other duties. Otherwise I don't speak much, husband also doesn't like talking to me much” (Beena, 33 years). Another participant shared, “For peace of mind, means I stay calm and quiet. I don't say anything. I just cry, I feel that this should not happen, sometimes I also listen to some music, I feel good that way. I listen to sad songs or ghazals which I like” (Rama, 28 years). Thus, women utilized a number of strategies to keep themselves occupied and not think about abuse.
The abusive husbands behaving good for some time and then reverting back to abusive behavior was another trend observed. The following comment by one of the participant states, where should I go so I went to this medium [women's organization], she wrote a letter by taking my signature and sent him, after receiving the letter my husband was very frightened, then my dad called him, then madam [of the women's organization] made him understand she gave him some kind of the written words, so till one month he was being good and everyone was good at that time then again after a month he started behaving the same way. (Rani, 31 years) The main issue with these meetings was there was no way to ensure that the terms and conditions agreed upon were enforced. If the abusive husband and his side of the family violated the terms and conditions, there were no repercussions. The joint meetings were used as a means of social pressure but were not a full proof way of ensuring that the abusive husband and his family would improve or stop abusing the woman. Women hoped that the social pressure of women's organization would help to make their abusive husband and their side of family to agree upon the terms. 10. Emotion-focused coping 10.1. Spirituality/Religion Belief in God, praying and chanting God's name, or being involved in rituals were different ways in which women kept themselves busy to 207
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Yalamarty, & Roy, 2018), domestic abandonment needs further investigation. It would be important to know if these women ever get their fair share of alimony when the divorce does occur. Belief in God and praying, hoping that the situation will improve were other ways in which women thought their abusive situation would improve. It is in line with coping by not just South Asian women in the US, but in many other cultures, including but not limited to Latino immigrant survivors (Brabeck & Guzm'an, 2008), South Asians (Bhandari, 2017) and non-immigrant African American survivors of domestic violence (El-Koury et al., 2004; Taft, Bryant-Davis, Woodward, Tillman, & Torres, 2009). Women in this study also knew how to prioritize and ignore matters that were not serious. Several women shared that they kept themselves busy with watching entertainment sitcoms and cooking, among other things. Thus, women utilized a combination of emotion-focused and problem-focused coping strategies to deal with abuse in their lives.
Before discussing the findings of this study, some limitations need to be noted. This study had several limitations. The small convenience sample of participants was drawn from community-based organizations in the city of Mumbai, India. Thus, generalizing the results to other populations without similar contextual factors (e.g., urban, low-income backgrounds) is limited. The interviews were conducted in two different regional languages and later transcribed and translated into English. There is a possibility that specific meanings of terms or phrases may have been lost in translation. 13. Discussion The current study examines coping strategies of Indian women experiencing domestic violence within the context of poverty, lack of resources, lack of education and barriers of shame and isolation. These contextual factors affect abused women globally, and the findings have potential implications for practice and research to women all over the world and particularly in India. With India's growing population and dearth of literature on the issue of coping with domestic violence, the author believes learning from the women in this study has relevance for clinicians, advocates, and policy makers throughout the world. Studies conducted on help seeking and coping strategies of domestic violence survivors in general have revealed that women prefer seeking help from informal sources like family and friends rather than formal sources like police and shelter (IIPS and Macro International, 2007; Naved, Azim, Bhuiya, & Persson, 2006). The utilization of joint meetings at informal level (problem-focused coping) in the current study was similar to research findings of other abused women using the network of friends and families first. Once those meetings failed, women in the current study contacted community-based women's organizations. Most marriages in India are arranged in nature and occur between two families rather than two individuals. In several cases, it is common for the woman to live with her husband's side of the family in the same household (Abraham, 2005; Jordan & Bhandari, 2016). Hence, when any problem arises in a marriage, members of extended family on both sides get together to resolve it. Sometimes these meetings occur informally in the woman's natal or matrimonial home and if those fail, they occur in women's organization. Since court battles in the Indian criminal and civil justice system are very lengthy and tedious, in several cases, informal joint meetings are preferred (Bhandari & Hughes, 2017). However, it is yet to see if the terms and conditions agreed upon in these meetings are actually followed through. Since the women's organizations do not have the power to enforce the conditions agreed upon in these meetings, it is not a surprise that the husband's side of the family does not follow through and continues to abuse the woman. The phenomenon of back and forth between the natal and marital home is also very unique to Indian culture (Bhandari & Hughes, 2017; Jordan & Bhandari, 2016). Married women are supposed to live with the husband and his family and hence living with the natal family for extended periods of time is highly stigmatized. This is true even if the husband is dead as a married woman's ‘right’ place is in her matrimonial home. Moreover, natal family becomes a space for the woman's brother and his family. Hence living with the natal family is actually impinging upon the resources that are in reality for the woman's brothers' family (Ayyub, 2000; Bhandari & Hughes, 2017). This gives a glimpse of the complexity of utilization of problem—focused coping strategies to deal with abuse in the lives of women from India. Another phenomenon that the women in the current study experienced was abandonment by their in-laws side of the family. Women were sent to the natal home under a hoax pretext and then served divorce papers. While women in all these cases would have wanted to reconcile, it was the in-laws side of the family that determined that she was an ‘unfit’ daughter-in-law and wife. While there is some research on transnational abandonment among South Asian women (Anitha,
14. Recommendations for practice The findings provide multiple recommendations for social workers and service providers working with abused women in India. Women utilize a number of problem-focused and emotion-focused strategies to cope with abuse. The service provider's approach to help women cope with abuse has to be multi-pronged in nature. One of the problem-focused strategy mentioned by the women in the current study was joint meetings involving both sides of the family at informal and formal levels. While community-based women's organizations are trying to get women's interests, there isn't an enforcing body to ensure that women's interests are not compromised. The community-based women's organizations should also not be expected to be community vigilantes taking over the law enforcement. Law enforcement needs to perform their duties and start taking domestic violence seriously. A lot of work needs to be done at preventative level to educate women about the importance of financial independence and de-stigmatizing women who leave abusive husbands due to abuse, or in general. In spite of a rise in global divorce rates, the divorce rates in a country like India are as low as 1%. These low rates clearly demonstrate that women in India tend to endure abuse for longer periods of times and do not view divorce as an option due to the stigmatization (Unified Lawyers, 2017). It is also very important to emphasize that health care providers should screen women for abuse. Both the health care providers and law enforcement needs to be trained to deal with abused women in a sensitive manner. Families need to accept that a broken marriage is not a sign of fault of the woman but a sign of courage to not tolerate any more abuse. Hence emphasizing de-stigmatization of abuse and broken marriage at the community level is very important. 15. Conclusion The findings may help agency personnel offer culturally sensitive services and also understand the ways women cope on their own and within their own belief systems. Women still depend on their natal family to care for them if their marriages turn abusive. It is extremely important to especially educate young girls and boys the importance of being financially independent and that a broken marriage is not a sign of failure. Acknowledgments This Research is supported and funded through Leader (Launching Equity in the Academy across Dayton Entrepreneurial Region) Consortium - National Science Foundation Advance Program and College of Liberal Arts Faculty Research Activity Grant (Wright State University). 208
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