Malawi 2015-16

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE 17
Key Findings
• Experience of violence: Thirty-four percent of women
have experienced physical violence since age 15, and
20% have experienced sexual violence. Five percent of
ever-pregnant women report experiencing physical
violence during any pregnancy.
• Marital control: Twenty-four percent of ever-married
women have experienced at least three types of specified
marital control behaviours by their husbands. In contrast,
29% have never experienced any marital control
behaviours by their husbands.
• Spousal violence: Forty-two percent of ever-married
women have experienced spousal violence. The most
common type of spousal violence is emotional violence
(30%), followed by physical violence (26%) and sexual
violence (19%).
• Injuries due to spousal violence: Thirty-four percent of
ever-married women who have experienced spousal
violence report experiencing physical injuries; this
includes 11% with serious injuries such as deep wounds,
broken bones, and broken teeth.
• Help seeking: Less than half of women (40%) who have
experienced any physical or sexual violence have sought
help to stop the violence, and about half (49%) have
never sought help and never told anyone about the
violence.
G
ender-based violence against women has been acknowledged worldwide as a violation of basic
human rights. Increasing research has highlighted the health burdens, intergenerational effects, and
demographic consequences of such violence (United Nations 2006). This chapter focuses on
domestic violence, a form of gender-based violence. This is defined by the United Nations as any act of
violence that results in physical, sexual, or psychological harm or suffering to women, girls, men, and
boys, as well as threats of such acts, coercion, or the arbitrary deprivation of liberty.
In Malawi, domestic violence is widely acknowledged as a great concern, not only from a human rights
perspective but also from economic and health perspectives. To address this issue, Malawi has enacted a
series of legislative acts. The 2006 Prevention of Domestic Violence Act was crafted “to ensure the
commitment of the State to eliminate gender based violence occurring within a domestic relationship, and
to provide for effective legal remedies and other social services to persons affected by domestic violence.”
Five years later came the Deceased Estates (Wills, Inheritance, and Protection) Act of 2011 designed “for
the protection of deceased estates.” In 2013, the Gender Equality Act was passed to “promote gender
equality, equal integration, influence, empowerment, dignity, and opportunities for men and women in all
functions of society, to prohibit and provide redress for sex discrimination, harmful practices, and sexual
Domestic Violence • 279