Spousal Violence Against Women in India: Influence of Female Current Working Status, Occupations and Higher Education

Aim of this paper is to investigate (i) whether working women are likely to experience more spousal violence; (ii) whether working women with higher education or husbands have a high level of education are less prone to spousal violence compared to women engaged in domestic activities only. To examine above mentioned hypotheses, we have used data from the fifth round of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) in India. This study shows that women in nearly all occupations have a higher chance of facing spousal violence. Nevertheless, when working women possess a minimum of 12 years of schooling, or husbands possess at least 12 years of education, they have a lower probability of experiencing spousal violence compared to non-working women, irrespective of their job categories. Nonetheless, this beneficial effect of higher education disappears as we control the influence of other variables like the household’s wealth and place of residence.