National Research on Domestic Violence Against Women in

the percentage of those respondents who confirm thatthey need husbands’ permission before getting medicalhelp decreases.A higher percentage of rural residents and respondentswho do not earn money by themselves also admit thatthey need their husband’s permission before going to adoctor compared to representatives of other respectivegroups.Of all the women interviewed, some say that every reasonindicated in the questionnaire justifies a man beatinghis wife. The largest number of respondents (onethird) thinks that insulting woman physically is justifiedif a husband “finds out that she has been unfaithful”; acertain part of the interviewees think that this behaviouris justified if a husband is jealous (one in 15) or ifhis wife does not obey him (approximately one in 18).Compared to representatives of other respective groups,a higher percentage of rural residents, respondents whohave incomplete secondary education and women whodo not earn money by themselves think that “she doesnot complete her household work to his satisfaction”,“she disobeys him”, “she refuses to have sexual relationswith him”, “she asks him whether he has other girlfriends”,“he suspects that she is unfaithful”, are goodreasons for hitting a wife.Compare to the representatives of other groups, a farlower percentage of Tbilisi residents, respondents withhigher education and those who have independent incomethink that “if he finds out that she has been unfaithful”is a good reason for a husband to hit a wife.Of the respondents who have a husband/partner, one in24 says this partner has done something causing physicalharm to her; an almost identical account was confirmedin the groups distinguished after social-demographic indicators.Most interesting here was that all age groupsshowed similar percentages of who have been victimsof physical violence - that is to say that the incidents ofabuse begin from the very first years of the marriageand remain approximately at the same level until theend. In practice this means that the age factor does notinfluence whether physical violence will happen or not.Instances of men insulting their wives verbally are quitefrequent. One in five of the interviewees say they haveexperienced this. This picture does not change significantlybased on social-demographic indicators.One in 28 of the interviewees say their husband hascommitted the following acts against her: public humiliation,verbal threats of divorce or physical violence; onein 20 women say her husband has refused to give hermoney; one in 25 women say her husband prevents herfrom working; one in 40 women said her husband hadforced her to have sex.Hence we can say that there is a whole spectrum oftypes of violence (physical verbal, financial, sexual),which some (sometimes many) women endure; socialdemographicindicators do not usually play an importantrole in this regard.Respondents think that the main reasons for differentdiscriminative behaviours are husband’s drunkennessand material problems (e.g. financial problems, unemployment).One of the frequently mentioned answersis “he had no reason”. One in six or seven women wasexposed to violence by her husband for “disobedience”or because he suspected she was unfaithful.When it comes to place of residence, in the case of Tbilisiresidents two of the five most commonly cited reasonsare related to a relationship between a man and awoman, whereas with rural respondents material factorsand housewife’s obligations are more accentuated(this is borne out by the fact that “if things are not tidiedup at home” is seventh on the list of reasons). Similarpeculiarities are revealed in the group of women withincomplete secondary education.The spectrum of reasons given for men to engage in coercivebehaviour was broader than that of restrictive orother discriminatory behaviour. This means that a considerablenumber of women who are victims of violenceendure it due to several different reasons; the problemof drunkenness is most frequently cited (by over half ofinterviewees), while the second was “no reason”; thisselection of women tends to highlight reasons relatedto the relationship between husband and wife (jealousy/ he is sure she is not faithful, she refuses to have sexwith him / due to some problems in sexual relations, shedoes not obey).In their respective groups, Tbilisi and urban residents,women who do not have their own income and womenwith higher education, were more likely to share theirthoughts on the reasons why husbands attack theirwives.NATIONAL RESEARCH ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN GEORGIA85