Women’s Perception and Attitude towards Male Dominancy and Controlling Behaviors

Tazeen Saeed Ali Noureen Karamali

doi:10.4172/2151-6200.s1-004

Abstract

Introduction/Background: The study was conducted in urban Karachi, Pakistan to investigate women’s perceptions and attitudes towards male dominancy, female autonomy, and controlling behavior of husbands. Method: This was investigated in a population based study with a cross-sectional design, involving married women aged 25 to 60 years. A Structured questionnaire developed by World Health Organisation (WHO) on violence was used. Community midwives interviewed these married women living in pre-selected low, middle and upper socio-economic areas of urban Karachi, Pakistan. Findings: This study revealed women’s overall perception regarding male dominancy and controlling behavior and highlighted this attitude, as being acceptable to women. It was found that 96.7% (n=734) of females perceived their husband as authority figure in the family and 99.2% (n=753) consider themselves as good wives by being obedient to their husbands. Not only this, 88.9% (n=675) females perceived performing sex unwillingly with their husbands as an obligation. Conclusion: Perceptions of women regarding gender discrimination and male dominancy play a vital role in accepting gender discrimination. This study identified the declining status of women as compared to men in marital life due to various socio-cultural and religious beliefs, which promote controlling behaviour by the male partner. This is the result of learned behaviour and social norms in a patriarchal society adapted by women.

Highlights

Introduction and BackgroundInequality in gender roles and relationships are deeply rooted in the societal norms which give rise to discriminations against women
Perceptions of women regarding gender discrimination and male dominancy play a vital role in accepting gender discrimination
This is the result of learned behaviour and social norms in a patriarchal society adapted by women

Summary

Introduction

Inequality in gender roles and relationships are deeply rooted in the societal norms which give rise to discriminations against women. Gender refers to men and women’s socially determined roles and responsibilities [1,2]. Gender analysis examines how being a woman (or a man) may place an individual at more or less risk for developing certain behaviors, such as autonomy, dependency and dominancy etc. Gender analysis determine how certain attitudes like violence can affect diagnosis and treatment of different health conditions. There are other factors like race, socioeconomic status and education that leads to gender based discrimination. There is a great need to perform gender sensitive analysis for better understanding of these factors especially on women’s autonomy, authority figures in the family and women’s acceptance of husband’s behaviour

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Discussion

Conclusion