WHO warns these unusually low figures reflect severe underreporting, particularly in countries where stigma and family pressure suppress disclosure.
Published Nov 27, 2025 | 7:00 AM ⚊ Updated Nov 27, 2025 | 7:00 AM
Violence against women. Representative image. (iStock)
Synopsis: A recent WHO report said that nearly one in three women worldwide had experienced physical or sexual violence. However, in India, they are unusually low, a pattern experts say reflects silence, stigma and structural barriers rather than safety.
Nearly one in three women worldwide has experienced physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner, or sexual violence by a non-partner, according to a new World Health Organisation (WHO) report — making it one of the most pervasive yet underreported human rights violations globally.
However, India’s numbers stand out for a different reason: They are unusually low, a pattern experts say reflects silence, stigma and structural barriers rather than safety.
Everyday experiences — unwanted advances, sexual harassment in public spaces, men behaving obscenely, strangers following women — rarely reach police stations, survey questionnaires or even family conversations. Yet, they shape how women navigate the world.
According to the WHO’s national estimates, 4.1 percent of Indian women have experienced non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime, while just 0.2 percent report such violence in the past year.
WHO warned that these unusually low figures reflect severe underreporting, particularly in countries where stigma and family pressure suppress disclosure.
The WHO report noted that “all surveys likely underestimate the actual prevalence of violence against women as there will always be women who do not disclose these experiences, especially where this violence is highly stigmatised.”
It further stated that sexual violence in particular is “heavily under-disclosed” due to stigma, fear, and poorly designed surveys.
Sexual violence outside the home, whether exposure, stalking, coercion or assault, is among the least disclosed crimes in household surveys, even though lived experiences suggest it is widespread.
The silence grows heavier when the perpetrator is a partner. In many homes, this silence is reinforced by the fear of dowry-related harassment, the taunts, demands and threats that women are expected to endure to ‘keep the marriage together,’ even when the abuse turns violent.
The lived reality of women reflects patterns documented by the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), India’s largest household survey, which found that 29.3 percent of ever-married women have faced spousal physical or sexual violence.
Most never seek help — not from family, not from institutions, and rarely from the police.
Across states, especially in South India, the numbers expose how common intimate partner violence is. Karnataka reports the highest prevalence in the region, with 44.4 percent of women saying they have experienced spousal violence.
In Tamil Nadu, the figure is 38.1 percent, while Telangana reports 36.9 percent. In Andhra Pradesh, nearly 30 percent of women say they have faced such violence, and even Kerala — often seen as more progressive — records 9.9 percent.
In each of these states, reporting remains scarce despite high prevalence, revealing a gap between women’s lived reality and institutional response.
India’s low WHO numbers, Dr Shaibya Saldanha, a consultant gynaecologist in Bengaluru, said, reflect silence — not safety. “The biggest problem is our belief that a woman’s sexuality is tied to family honour. Anything ‘sexual’ is seen as a stain, so women stay quiet. A girl will report a stolen bag but not molestation.”
Reporting becomes even harder because “the criminal justice system is heavily misogynistic. Even with women officers, it’s difficult,” she said.
Victim blaming is rampant: What were you wearing? Why were you out at night? Were you drinking? These questions silence women long before any survey reaches them.
This silence starts early. “Teenage girls are told to keep quiet. Mothers say, ‘It happened to me also.’ Children grow up seeing women being hit or humiliated and internalise it as normal.”
Inside homes, the violence is deeper and more invisible. “There is a huge amount of sexual violence within families, and refusing to criminalise marital rape means nobody even talks about it,” she said. “Women work hard to keep marriages together, even through abuse. The system and the politics behind it are deeply patriarchal.”
Support systems often fail them, too. “Mahila Kendras and helplines exist only on paper in many places. In metros, it works, but it collapses when officials change,” she added.
Dr Shaibya further said institutions don’t fare better. “Women are pushed out while perpetrators continue with impunity. Students and young scholars know they can’t fight the system.”
Breaking the cycle, she said, requires real safety nets at home. “Zero tolerance should be the rule. If a husband hits even once, the woman must walk out — and parents must ensure she always has a home.”
Economic security is key. “Families spend so much on weddings and then don’t want the daughter back. If marriages are simple, women can leave without guilt.” Property rights matter too. “Girls must know they have equal rights in family wealth. That security itself prevents violence.”
She said education alone cannot protect women. “Even in Kerala, with high literacy, domestic violence is high because family honour still rests on the woman.”
Standard categories also fail to capture reality. “Sexual violence by boyfriends or trusted men is common, but girls keep quiet, fearing they’ll be seen as ‘impure’ before marriage.”
Dr Shaibya added that police processes remain traumatic. “We need restorative justice, spaces where women can speak, be supported, and hold perpetrators accountable with community backing.”
She also reminded that violence goes beyond women. “Transgender and gender-diverse people face severe sexual violence, and no one talks about it.”
President of the All India Lawyers Association for Justice (AILAJ) Maitreyi Krishnan said the reality behind India’s low numbers begins long before a woman reaches a police station.
“Violence against women is deeply normalised in our society. The first barrier is always family pressure and social expectations, which push women to stay silent,” she noted.
She said even when women do try to report, the system often fails them. “At the police station, the tendency is to mediate or ‘settle’ the issue instead of treating it as a crime. Women have to repeatedly justify themselves just to get an FIR registered,” she added.
She further said that the weakening of legal protection deepened the crisis. “The dilution of Section 498A has made the law weaker, and the refusal to recognise marital rape as an offence only compounds these barriers.”
In her view, these structural failures create a cycle where violence continues unchecked because reporting remains low — and offenders face no real consequences.
The WHO report calls for “decisive government action and funding” to address the crisis, outlining four priorities: scaling up evidence-based prevention programmes, strengthening survivor-centred health, legal and social services, investing in better data systems, and enforcing laws and policies that empower women and girls.
WHO also highlighted the urgent need for improved survey methods and stronger support structures so that women feel safe enough to disclose violence and seek help, warning that progress will remain stalled unless systemic silence is broken.
Even as India’s numbers reveal how deeply violence shapes the everyday lives of women, global health leaders say the crisis demands far more than data alone.
In the WHO’s official statement, Global health leaders said the numbers demand far more than acknowledgement.
WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described violence against women as one of humanity’s oldest injustices, one so deeply embedded that societies often fail to recognise its scale.
“No society can call itself fair, safe or healthy while half its population lives in fear,” he said, reminding people that behind every statistic is a woman or girl whose life has been irrevocably altered.
The urgency of that message is echoed across the UN system. Dr Sima Bahous, Executive Director of UN Women, framed the moment as one requiring collective resolve rather than statements of intent.
In her words, “Advancing gender equality is how we build a more equal, safer world for everyone, where every woman and every girl can live a life free from violence.” Her emphasis on courage and commitment aligns with the report’s call for decisive government action.
The WHO statement also highlighted how early patterns of abuse begin. Catherine Russell, Executive Director of UNICEF, pointed to the millions of adolescent girls who face their first experience of partner violence in their teens, often while younger siblings watch.
“Many children grow up watching their mothers being pushed, hit or humiliated, with violence a part of daily life,” she noted — a cycle that, unless interrupted, passes from one generation to the next.
Their warnings place India’s reality within a much larger, worldwide pattern of neglect — one that can no longer be ignored.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil.)
