Abstract
BACKGROUND: Almost one-third of ever-married women in India experience physical, psychological or sexual violence by their husbands or partners. In this study, we examined the associations of universal primary education with long-term intimate partner violence (IPV) rates and attitudes condoning IPV among women in India. METHODS: We used data from the National Family Health Survey 2019-2021 and compared women who were eligible for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA)-a national programme of universal primary schooling implemented in 2001-with women who were older and not eligible for SSA. We employed a quasi-experimental method of propensity score matching and fixed effects regression analyses, accounting for a rich set of background socioeconomic and demographic characteristics as covariates. RESULTS: Intervention group women who were originally eligible for SSA in 2001 (4 years below the primary to secondary transition age of 14 years) were 16%-31% less likely to justify IPV or experience emotional violence than control group women who were not eligible for the programme (4 years above the age cut-off). There were no statistically significant associations between SSA eligibility and the rates of physical IPV experienced by women. The results were robust to a series of sensitivity analyses and alternate model specifications. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that universal access to primary schooling may play an important role in reducing IPV and improving gender equality in India and similar low-income and middle-income countries.