A Comparative Analysis of the Causes of Gender-Based Violence Against Women Between Low and High-Income Households in Manicaland Province of Zimbabwe

Abstract

There is a general perception that poverty and/or low income are the root causes of GBV in Zimbabwe. Efforts have been made to economically empower women in a bid to fight poverty and ultimately GBV, but research findings from Zimbabwe noted that GBV against women continues to rise in all societies, regardless of income levels. There is a paucity of literature comparing the causes of GBV among women in low- and high-income households in Zimbabwe. Therefore, the significance of this study is to close the information gap and proffer recommendations aimed at alleviating GBV against women. The study was conducted in Manicaland Province. The target population constituted men, women and adolescents aged 15 years and above. A semi-structured questionnaire-based survey was used to gather primary data. In Stata version 15.0, binary logit regression was used to analyze quantitative data, and narrative analysis was used to analyze qualitative data. Marginal effects were then used to interpret logistic regression results. The results showed that age at marriage (ME = 0.22), access to media (ME = 0.12) and alcohol-drinking partner (ME = 0.24) were risk factors of GBV among low-income households. However, age (low-income-ME = 0.01; high-income-ME = 0.01); and spouse controlling behaviour (low-income-ME = 0.27; high-income-ME = 0.24) were significant causes of GBV for both low- and high-income households. Based on these findings, it is recommended that law enforcement agencies be capacitated to enhance enforcement of child marriage-related statutes, stiffer penalties and fines are instigated for people who cause violence under the influence of alcohol and communities be conscientious, especially through media against age and gender discrimination.