In this article in The Hindu, Sonalde Desai and Ragini Saira Malhotra write about the importance of collecting and disseminating accurate data on sexual violence. Excerpts:

"We live in a world awash in statistics. We know what proportion of India’s population owns mobile phones and what proportion is overweight. We even know how many people defecate in the open. Yet when it comes to our knowledge about how many women experience sexual harassment and violence, we are at a loss. If we don’t know the contours of violence, how can we address it?

"These experiences have an insidious effect on women’s lives and ability to participate in educational, work and/or social activities. IDFC Institutes’ survey of over 20,000 households in four cities asked households when they start worrying about the safety of men and women within their families who may be outside the home and unaccompanied. In Delhi, the city where perhaps fear is most prevalent, almost no household worries that a male member is outside at 7 p.m., but about 20% of the households start worrying about a female member. By 9 p.m., the proportion of households worrying increases to 40% for men and a whopping 90% for women..."

Read the whole article here.