Women’s attitudes towards spousal abuse

Some women think it’s acceptable to be hit by a spouse under certain circumstances. Photo/FILE

What you need to know:

  • According to Unicef, domestic or intimate partner violence may take many forms including physical, sexual, emotional and verbal abuse.
  • The countries with the highest percentage of women aged 15-49 who felt that a husband or partner was justified in hitting his spouse are Mali (87 per cent), Guinea (86 per cent) and Central African Republic (80 per cent).

A critical glance at Unicef’s data on the attitudes of women in Africa towards domestic violence is quite an eye opener.

According to Unicef, domestic or intimate partner violence may take many forms including physical, sexual, emotional and verbal abuse.

It may also involve neglect, deprivation or, in the most severe cases, death.

The body also notes that looking at the issue from a point of gender inequality, the different responses of women towards abuse may be a reflection of the limited options they have to make changes in their abusive relationships or to protect themselves and their children.

The survey sought to find out how many women felt that a partner was justified to hit his spouse in at least one of the following situations: If she burns the food, argues with him, goes out without telling him, neglects the children or refuses to have sexual relations.

COUNTRIES WITH HIGHEST PERCENTAGE

The countries with the highest percentage of women aged 15-49 who felt that a husband or partner was justified in hitting his spouse are Mali (87 per cent), Guinea (86 per cent) and Central African Republic (80 per cent).

The countries where the data was encouraging were Malawi (13 per cent), Cape Verde (17 per cent) and Sao Tome & Principe (20 per cent), the lowest rates in Africa.

Central Africa, with the fewest number of countries in the region, has the most worrying data.

Over 60 per cent of all the women surveyed felt spousal gender based violence was justifiable for at least one of the reasons mentioned above.

The available data on the East African countries surveyed indicates that South Sudan has the highest percentage of women (79 per cent) who think domestic violence is justifiable in some situations.

It is followed by Somalia, Burundi and Eritrea.

Djibouti has the fewest women in the region that feel the same way. Data on Tanzania, however, is unavailable.

The data is less worrying in Southern Africa. Some 62 per cent of Zambia’s women think spousal abuse is sometimes excusable.

The attitudes in West Africa are varied. Mali’s highest in Africa contrasts sharply with Cape Verde’s mere 17 per cent. However, the majority of women, over half in eight of the West African countries, think gender-based violence is sometimes justified.

It is also interesting to note that countries with the highest percentage of women who feel domestic violence is sometimes justified are some of the poorest as well.

Another interesting observation is that Malawi, Sao Tome and Cape Verde, with the lowest percentages of women who think abuse is sometimes justified, are some of the smallest countries.

This article first appeared in the East African