"Close to 40 Percent" of Women Who Commit Suicide Are Indian

According to a medical study, 36.6 percent of women who commit suicide worldwide are Indian. This means that out of every five women who commit suicide, two are from India. The British newspaper The Guardian reports that this study, published in the latest issue of the medical journal "Lancet," states that early marriage, male violence against women, and patriarchal culture are the main factors behind these suicides. The British journal Lancet is considered one of the most prestigious medical journals in the world. According to this research, although the rate of suicide among women in India has been decreasing since 1990, this decline is not as rapid as in other countries. The study indicates that women who die by suicide are usually married and under 35 years old. Poonam Mutreja, director of the "Population Foundation of India," an organization active in public health, says, "This research shows that Indian girls are facing a serious problem." Some experts in this field believe that early marriage is one of the main factors contributing to this issue. One in five Indian women marries before the age of 15. The researchers of this article suggest that the connection between suicide and early marriage is due to the imposition of motherhood responsibilities at a young age, the low social status of these women as wives, their lack of financial independence, and domestic violence. These researchers also attribute the high rate of suicide among women to patriarchal culture. Ms. Mutreja states, "Our social norms are very regressive. In villages, a girl is first her father's daughter, then becomes her husband's wife, and when she has a son, she becomes the mother of her son." According to Ms. Mutreja, 62 percent of the women surveyed by her foundation believe that their husbands have the right to beat them. Researchers who prepared the study published in the Lancet say that the rate of suicide among women in India is three times higher than in countries with similar geographical, political, and social conditions. They emphasize that the issue of women's suicide has become a public health crisis.