Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health
Volume 20, Issue 3, 2018, Pages 603-611
Women’s Decision-Making Autonomy and their Attitude towards Wife-Beating: Findings from the 2011 Ethiopia’s Demographic and Health Survey (Article)
Ebrahim N.B.* ,
Atteraya M.S.
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a
Department of Public Health, Keimyung University, 1095 Dalgubeol-Daero, Dalseo-Gu, Daegu, 42601, South Korea
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b
Department of Social Welfare, Keimyung University, 1095 Dalgubeol-Daero, Dalseo-Gu, Daegu, 42601, South Korea
Abstract
The study examined the extent of wife-beating acceptance and factors that influence women’s attitude towards wife-beating in Ethiopia from a nationally representative sample of 11,658 participants in the 2011 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey. Multivariate logistic regressions were fitted to investigate the relationships between women’s attitude towards wife-beating and women’s decision-making autonomy after controlling for socio-demographic factors. The majority (56%) of women agreed that wife-beating is justified when wife neglects children, 53% when wife burns the food, 50% when wife argues with husband, 48% when wife goes out without telling husband, and nearly 45% when wife refuses to have sex with husband. Overall, 51% of women had shown highly favorable attitude towards wife-beating. Women’s place of residence, household wealth quintiles, educational levels, marital status, and husband/partner’s employment status have shown significant association with women’s attitude towards wife-beating. Women’s decision-making autonomy was also a significant predictor of women’s attitude towards wife-beating. The odds of having highly favorable attitude towards wife-beating deceased significantly as the level of decision-making autonomy of women improved. Given the widespread acceptance of wife-beating among Ethiopian women, social policies that empower women could serve as a positive force in changing attitudes towards wife-beating and violence against women. © 2017, Springer Science+Business Media New York.
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Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85018347919&doi=10.1007%2fs10903-017-0592-6&partnerID=40&md5=cf8743ddd29218a5a47c832726e16b23
DOI: 10.1007/s10903-017-0592-6
ISSN: 15571912
Cited by: 3
Original Language: English