40% of women who commit suicide globally are Indians
Early marriage, male violence driving them to take fatal decision
The numbers are disturbingly high: two out of five women in the world who commit suicide are from India, according to a report published in the UK medical journal Lancet.
The researchers noted that the suicide rate among Indian women was three times higher than what might be predicted for a country with similar geography and socioeconomic indicators. Data also shows that the maximum number of suicides by women continue to be committed in the age group of 15 to 39.
What is driving these women to take such a fatal decision?
According to Poonam Muttreja, executive director of the Population Foundation of India, who calls this trend a public health crisis, early marriage — one-fifth of Indian women still marry before the age of 15 — along with male violence against women and other symptoms of a deeply entrenched patriarchal culture, are among the causative factors.
Lack of greater public awareness and united action across all communities heightens the problem, according to Dr Vinesh D. Chandramaniya, mental health expert, Sahajanand Mind Point Mental Wellness Clinic, Mumbai.
30% of married women in India experience spousal violence
India’s suicide rates constitute a public health crisis, with nearly two in every five women in the world who kill themselves being Indian.
Though the rate of Indian women who die by suicide has fallen since 1990, the decline is not as rapid as elsewhere in the world, and now represents 36.6 per cent of global female suicide deaths, according to a study published in the British medical journal Lancet. The suicide rate among Indian women was three times higher than what may be predicted for a country with similar geography and socio-economic indicators, researchers said.
Indian women who commit suicide were more likely to be married, to be from more developed states and, by a large margin, aged below 35. “It shows girls in India are in serious trouble,” said Poonam Muttreja, executive director of the Population Foundation of India, a New Delhi-based public health group. She and other specialists blamed the trend on early marriage: One-fifth of Indian women still marry before the age of 15. Besides, violence against women and other symptoms of a deeply entrenched patriarchal culture are also to blame.
Shalina Mehta, social anthropologist and a retired professor of Punjab University in Chandigarh, said: “A large number of suicides happen in India because of the family’s reluctance to get their daughter back, even though she is suffering in a bad marriage. While the daughter is perceived as a liability, parents view the son as an asset. They do not welcome even an independent working daughter home, if she is in an unhappy marriage.”
Dr Vinesh D. Chandramaniya, mental health expert at Sahajanand Mind Point Mental Wellness Clinic in Mumbai, said: “As a society, we lack greater public awareness and united action across all communities. We have very less local support and community mental health schemes to prevent suicides. There is an urgent need for targeted responses for high-risk groups and shared responsibility across government, private and non-government sectors to build mentally healthy workplaces.”
As India struggles with other problems such as malnutrition and infant mortality, suicide prevention has ranked lowest in its priority, say experts. It is only recently that under the Mental Health Act 2017, suicide was de-criminalised. It’s time families and communities came in support of women and prevented them from committing suicide.
A large number of suicides happen in India because of the family’s reluctance to get their daughter back, even though she is suffering in a bad marriage.”
Shalina Mehta |
Social anthropologist
“It [Indian women who died by suicide were more likely to be married, to be from more developed states and, by a large margin, aged below 35] shows girls in India are in serious troubles.”
Poonam Muttreja | Executive director of Population Foundation of India