Men’s and women’s views on acceptability of husband-to-wife violence and use of corporal punishment with children in 21 low- and middle-income countries

Abstract

BackgroundMonitoring violence against women and children, and understanding risk factors and consequences of such violence, are key parts of the action plan for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015. ObjectiveWe examined how men’s and women’s views about the acceptability of husband-to-wife violence are related within households and how views about the acceptability of husband-to-wife violence are related to beliefs in the necessity of using corporal punishment to rear children and to reported use of corporal punishment with children.Participants and Setting:We used nationally representative samples of men and women in 37,641 households in 21 low- and middle-income countries that participated in UNICEF’s Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey. MethodsWe conducted a series of logistic regression models, controlling for clustering within country, with outcomes of whether participants believe corporal punishment is necessary in childrearing, and whether a child in their household experienced corporal punishment in the last month. ResultsIn 46 % of households, men, women, or both men and women believed husbands are justified in hitting their wives. Children in households in which both men and women believe husbands are justified in hitting their wives had 1.83 times the odds of experiencing corporal punishment as children in households in which neither men nor women believe husbands are justified in hitting their wives (95 % CI: 1.12, 2.97). ConclusionsWorking toward the realization of SDG 5 and SDG 16 involving prevention of violence against women and children, respectively, should be complementary undertakings.