NILIMA JAHAN

Women in Bangladesh are three times more likely to be physically abused and over 14 times more likely to suffer sexual violence from their husbands than from others, according to a Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics survey on violence against women.

Over half of all women surveyed (54 percent) have reported physical and/or sexual abuse by their husbands at some point in their marital lives.

The Violence Against Women Survey 2024 -- based on interviews with 27,476 women -- reveals that intimate partner violence (IPV) remains widespread, with 70 percent of respondents experiencing at least one form of abuse, including physical, sexual, emotional, economic violence, or controlling behaviours, at some point in their lives.

In the past 12 months, 41 percent of women reported being abused by their intimate partners.

In comparison, the figures were 73 percent for lifetime prevalence and 55 percent for past-year prevalence in the 2015 survey.

The survey stresses that intimate partner violence is more prevalent than non-partner violence. For the purpose of this survey, “intimate partners” are defined as current or former husbands, and “non-partners” are those other than a current or former husband with whom the respondent has had contact since the age of 15.

BBS Project Director Iftekhairul Karim presented the study, prepared in collaboration with UNFPA, yesterday at the BBS auditorium in the capital’s Agargaon.

According to the study, 76 percent of women in rural areas and 75.6 percent in urban areas

SEE PAGE 7 COL 1