Infliction, Acceptance and Resistance: Containing Violence on Women in Rural Haryana

This study seeks to determine the effect of property ownership and economic independence of women on the reduction of violence, especially spousal violence, in rural Haryana – a state well known for its violent past and equally violent present towards women. Based on extensive fieldwork, the paper argues that the rapidly changed and changing political economy of this region has thrown up certain contradictions in society which have come to pose a challenge to the hitherto established cultural norms that decree infliction and widespread acceptance of violence upon women. Through individual life experiences of rural women, it highlights women's understanding of violence, their self-assertion and resistance as well as the importance given by them to different options in handling or containing violence.