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

230 | Domestic Violence
on their male partners for their livelihood, and therefore this role reversal may subject them to greater
violence.
Formerly married women (divorced, separated, or widowed) are more likely to have ever
experienced physical violence since age 15 than currently married and never-married women
(53 percent, compared with 42 and 29 percent, respectively). Formerly married women are also more
likely to have experienced physical violence often in the past 12 months (8 percent) than currently
married women (1 percent), perhaps indicating the vulnerable position of women who have lost their
spouse and become dependent on others for their basic needs.
Women with no living children are the least likely to have experienced physical violence in
the past 12 months. There is no clear pattern of rates of physical violence experienced by women with
children.
Urban women are more likely to have ever experienced physical violence since the age of 15
compared with rural women (49 percent compared with 35 percent). This is corroborated by the fact
that more than half of the women in Dili district, which is primarily urban, reported experiencing
physical violence since the age of 15 years. Women in Manufahi (76 percent) are most likely to report
having ever experienced physical violence. Experience of physical violence in the past 12 months is
highest among women in Manufahi (65 percent) and lowest in Ainaro (8 percent).
The proportion of women who have ever experienced physical violence is highest among
women with more than secondary education (46 percent) and those belonging to households in the
highest wealth quintile (45 percent). This supports the assumption that highly educated women are
usually from wealthier households, primarily located in urban areas and more likely to have access to
cash earnings. These women may be victims of spousal violence because they have broken the
cultural norms in a patriarchal society. On the other hand, it is also possible that educated, wealthier,
and urban women are more likely to report any violence because they recognize that any form of
violence is unacceptable, in contrast to their counterparts, who may be more accepting of violence
against women as part and parcel of life and hence less likely to report their experience.
16.3 PERPETRATORS OF PHYSICAL VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
Table 16.2 identifies the perpetrators
of physical violence, by women’s current
marital status. The percentages do not sum to
100 because respondents could have
experienced violence at the hands of several
people. Among ever-married women who have
ever experienced physical violence, 74 percent
reported that a current husband or
partner committed the physical violence
against them, while 6 percent reported that
they experienced physical violence by a
former husband/partner. Other perpetrators
commonly reported by ever-married women
were mother/stepmother (34 percent) and
father/stepfather (26 percent), sisters and
brothers (11 percent), and other relatives
(6 percent).
Table 16.2 Persons committing physical violence
Among women age 15-49 who have experienced physical
violence since age 15, percentage who report specific persons
who committed the violence, according to the respondent’s
marital status, Timor-Leste 2009-10
Person
Marital status
Ever
married
Never
married Total
Current husband/partner 73.8 na 55.2
Former husband/partner 6.3 na 4.7
Current boyfriend 0.0 0.4 0.1
Former boyfriend 0.5 0.0 0.4
Father/ stepfather 25.7 59.1 34.2
Mother/ stepmother 34.2 64.5 41.9
Sister/brother 11.3 26.7 15.2
Daughter/ son 0.4 1.6 0.7
Other relative 5.9 8.2 6.5
Mother-in-law 0.2 na 0.2
Father-in-law 0.4 na 0.3
Teacher 1.4 12.8 4.3
Employer/ someone at work 0.0 1.2 0.3
Other 1.1 1.0 1.1
Number of women 842 284 1,126
na= Not applicable