Wife beating refusal among women of reproductive age in urban and rural Ethiopia

Eshetu Gurmu,Senait Endale

doi:10.1186/s12914-017-0115-5

Abstract

BackgroundWife beating is the most common and widespread form of intimate partner violence in Ethiopia. It results in countless severe health, socio-economic and psychological problems and has contributed to the violation of human rights including the liberty of women to enjoy conjugal life. The main purpose of this study is to assess the levels and patterns of wife beating refusal and its associated socio-cultural and demographic factors in rural and urban Ethiopia.MethodsThe 2011 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS) data based on 11,097 and 5287 women in the reproductive age group (i.e. 15–49 years) living in rural and urban areas, respectively,were used in this study. Cronbach’s alpha was used to assess the internal consistency of the measure of women’s attitudes towards wife beating. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences was applied to analyze the data. A binary logistic regression model was fitted to identify variables that significantly predict respondents’ refusal of wife beating. Separate analysis by a place of residence was undertaken as attitude towards wife beating vary between rural and urban areas.ResultsThe likelihood of refusing wife beating in Ethiopia was significantly higher among urban women (54.2%) than rural women (24.5%). Although there was a significant variations in attitude towards refusing wife beating among different regions in Ethiopia, increasing educational level, high access to media, age of respondents were associated with high level of refusal of wife beating. In contrast, rural residence, being in marital union, high number of living children, being followers of some religions (Muslim followers in urban and Protestants in rural) were associated with low level of refusal of wife beating.ConclusionThe findings of this study reveal that wife beating in Ethiopia is a function of demographic and socio-cultural factors among which age and educational attainment of respondents, number of living children, religious affiliation, marital commitment and region of residence play significant roles. As factors governing perceptions and behaviours of individuals and institutional settings appear to shape knowledge and attitude towards gender equity and equality, awareness creation and behavioural change initiatives should be considered to abolish violence against women.

Highlights

Wife beating is the most common and widespread form of intimate partner violence in Ethiopia
23% of women living in urban Somali, 37.4% of urban Amhara and 42.9% of urban Gambella had refused wife beating (Table 1 Panel III)
This study revealed that region of dwelling, a proxy variable for differences in socio-cultural setting and commitment to ensure gender equity and equality, level of education, access to media, the number of living children, religion and marital status can explain attitudes towards wife beating in rural and urban Ethiopia

Summary

Introduction

Wife beating is the most common and widespread form of intimate partner violence in Ethiopia. It results in countless severe health, socio-economic and psychological problems and has contributed to the violation of human rights including the liberty of women to enjoy conjugal life. Violence against women by an intimate partner is identified as one of the most common and widespread forms of gender based violence ( forth, GBV) in the world [3]. Global survey on violence against women conducted by World Health Organization revealed that 30% of women (at least one in three) who had been married to or otherwise partnered with had experienced either physical or sexual violence by intimate partners [4]. About 35% had experienced at least one form of severe physical mistreatment, inter alia, being hit with a fist or something else, hard kicked, forcefully dragged, beaten, flogged, chocked, burnt, threatened with weapons [5, 6]

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