Demographic and Health Survey 2009-10 - Timor-Leste Ministry of ...

Table 15.7.2 Attitude toward refusing sexual intercourse with husband: Men
Percentage of all men age 15-49 who believe that a wife is justified in refusing to have sexual intercourse with her
husband in specific circumstances, by background characteristics, Timor-Leste 2009-10
Wife is justified in refusing
intercourse with her husband if she:
Knows Knows
Percentage Percentage
husband has husband has
who agree who agree
a sexually intercourse Is tired or with all of the with none of
Background
transmitted with other not in the specified the specified Number of
characteristic
Age
disease women mood reasons reasons men
15-19 58.3 55.7 58.3 39.6 28.0 994
20-24 72.4 68.7 75.0 53.7 13.6 643
25-29 75.4 76.4 82.4 55.8 6.3 586
30-34 80.4 78.6 82.7 59.6 4.8 439
35-39 74.6 78.5 83.9 56.9 4.7 553
40-44 78.9 80.1 83.7 62.0 5.4 462
45-49
Employment (past 12 months)
79.3 76.3 78.3 57.7 6.7 400
Not employed 66.7 56.0 69.6 45.1 19.3 538
Employed for cash 76.0 77.2 83.0 55.7 5.6 973
Employed not for cash
Marital status
71.5 71.9 73.6 53.5 13.4 2,564
Never married 64.0 60.2 65.5 44.1 21.3 1,865
Married or living together 78.7 80.2 84.0 60.6 4.6 2,158
Divorced/separated/widowed
Number of living children
75.9 80.0 72.2 54.6 9.1 53
0 64.8 61.7 66.5 45.1 20.2 2,009
1-2 81.3 81.0 85.2 62.4 3.9 638
3-4 76.6 81.7 84.4 59.3 3.6 720
5+
Residence
79.1 77.8 82.4 60.1 6.2 709
Urban 75.0 65.1 78.5 51.0 9.8 1,102
Rural
District
70.9 73.3 74.2 53.7 13.2 2,974
Aileu 54.9 50.2 47.8 37.3 34.9 181
Ainaro 74.1 68.3 78.8 62.9 17.2 217
Baucau 65.3 85.9 79.9 51.3 6.4 415
Bobonaro 68.6 67.3 44.0 11.6 1.7 357
Covalima 86.7 90.1 89.6 78.2 1.8 236
Dili 70.3 60.4 78.6 45.4 11.2 797
Ermera 71.2 71.5 71.9 67.3 25.3 491
Lautem 91.4 73.4 92.8 68.4 2.5 308
Liquiçá 73.9 39.3 61.9 30.2 21.2 252
Manatuto 99.2 99.2 99.4 98.9 0.6 190
Manufahi 95.2 95.3 88.0 87.2 3.4 137
Oecussi 92.5 94.3 95.9 87.2 1.6 235
Viqueque
Education
14.8 57.7 60.3 9.0 30.8 260
No education 66.9 70.0 72.3 49.1 13.6 791
Primary 70.0 68.2 69.2 48.2 15.4 1,046
Secondary 74.3 72.3 78.9 55.9 10.9 2,009
More than secondary
Wealth quintile
78.2 77.5 83.3 62.4 5.8 230
Lowest 68.0 72.1 74.4 52.5 13.8 728
Second 67.9 70.1 70.3 50.4 16.2 781
Middle 73.9 73.2 75.4 54.3 11.0 786
Fourth 73.0 73.2 75.8 53.6 11.4 849
Highest 76.0 67.3 79.9 53.7 9.7 932
Total 15-49 72.0 71.1 75.4 53.0 12.3 4,076
Note: Total includes one man missing information on employment status.
Twenty percent of women and 12 percent of men agree with none of the reasons. The two
most accepted reasons for refusing to have sex, among women and men, are if the wife knows her
husband has a sexually transmitted disease and if a wife is tired or not in the mood. Though not
significant, for both women and men, the least acceptable reason for a wife to refuse sex is when she
knows that her husband has intercourse with other women.
218 | Women’s Empowerment and Demographic and Health Outcomes