| Effect of justification of wife-beating on experiences of intimate partner violence among men and women in Uganda: A propensity-score matched analysis of the 2016 Demographic Health Survey data |
| Authors: |
Damazo T. Kadengye, Jonathan Izudi, Elizabeth Kemigisha and Sylvia Kiwuwa-Muyingo |
| Source: |
PLOS ONE , 18 |
| Topic(s): |
Gender
Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)
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| Country: |
Africa
Uganda
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| Published: |
APR 2023 |
| Abstract: |
Introduction: In some communities, rationalization of men’s controlling attitudes is associated with the justification of gender norms such as wife-beating as a method of correcting spouse behaviour. In this quasi-experimental study, we investigate the causal effects of the acceptability of gender norms justifying wife-beating on experiences of sexual, emotional, and physical intimate partner violence (IPV) among Ugandan men and women.
Methods and materials: We analysed the 2016 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey data using propensity-score matching. The exposure variable is the acceptability of gender norms justifying wife-beating measured on a binary scale and the outcomes are the respondent’s lifetime experiences of sexual, physical, and emotional IPV. We matched respondents who accepted gender norms justifying wife-beating with those that never through a 1:1 nearest-neighbour matching with a caliper to achieve comparability on selected covariates. We then estimated the causal effects of acceptability of gender norms justifying wife-beating on the study outcomes using a logistic regression model.
Results: Results showed that a total of 4,821 (46.5%) out of 10,394 respondents reported that a husband is justified in beating his wife for specific reasons. Among these, the majority (3,774; 78.3%) were women compared to men (1,047; 21.7%). Overall, we found that men and women who accept gender norms justifying wife-beating are more likely to experience all three forms of IPV. In the sub-group analysis, men who justify wife-beating were more likely to experience emotional and physical IPV but not sexual IPV. However, women who justify wife-beating were more likely to experience all three forms of IPV.
Conclusions: In conclusion, the acceptability of gender norms justifying wife-beating has a positive effect on experiences of different forms of IPV by men and women in Uganda. There is, therefore, a need for more research to study drivers for acceptance of gender norms justifying wife-beating to enable appropriate government agencies to put in place mechanisms to address the acceptability of gender norms justifying wife-beating at the societal level. |
| Web: |
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0276025 |
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