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Women's “Justification” of Domestic Violence in Egypt
Authors: Yount, KathrynM.; Li, Li
Source: Journal of Marriage and Family, Volume 71, Number 5, December 2009 , pp. 1125-1140(16); DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2009.00659.x
Topic(s): Domestic violence
Gender
Women's status
Country: Africa
  Egypt
Published: DEC 2009
Abstract: We explored the influences of women's social learning, marital resources and constraints, and exposure to norms about women's family roles on their views about wife hitting or beating among 5,450 participants in the 2005 Egypt Demographic and Health Survey. One half justified wife hitting or beating for some reason. Women from rural areas who were exposed to domestic violence more often justified such acts. Dependent wives whose husbands had more schooling, were blood relatives, and were coresident more often justified such acts. In settings where women tended to marry at older ages, women less often justified such acts. Women's resources and constraints in marriage accounted for the largest share of the variability in their attitudes about domestic violence against women.