NMICS 2010 Report - Central Bureau of Statistics

NMICS 2010, Mid- and Far Western RegionsAttitudes toward domestic violenceA number of questions were asked of women aged 15–49 years to assess whether they believe thata husband is justified in hitting or beating his wife/partner in a variety of scenarios. These situationstend to be associated with cultural perceptions that condone violence against women by theirhusbands/partners. The assumption here is that women who agree with statements indicating thathusbands/partners are justified in beating their wives/partners in the situations described tend to beabused by their own husbands/partners. Table CP.8 shows the responses to these questions.Overall, 48 percent of women aged 15–49 years in the MFWR felt that a husband/partner is justifiedin hitting or beating his wife/partner for at least one of the suggested reasons. Some 26 percentagreed that violence is justified if a woman goes out without telling her husband/partner, 41 percentagreed that violence is justified if a woman neglects her children, and 19 percent agreed thatviolence is justified if a woman argues with her husband/partner. Fewer believed that violence isjustified if a woman refuses to have sex with her husband/partner (two percent) or if she burns thefood (six percent). There was little variation by region or urban/rural area. Subregionally, the highestpercentage of agreement with at least one reason was in the Far Western Hills (64 percent) and thelowest was in the Far Western Terai (40 percent). Younger women tended to show lower agreementthan older women: 35 percent of women aged 15–19 years agreed with at least one reasoncompared to 55 percent of women aged 45–49 years. Women who had never married (33 percent)were much less likely to agree than women who were currently or formerly married (both 51percent). Women with no education (54 percent) were more likely to agree with at least one reasonthan women with at least secondary education (34 percent). Acceptance decreased with an increasein household wealth status: 56 percent of women from the poorest quintile agreed compared to 41percent from the richest quintile.160