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A Survey Experiment of Women’s Attitudes About Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in Rural Bangladesh

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  • Kathryn Yount

  • Nafisa Halim
  • Sidney Schuler
  • Sara Head

Abstract

According to the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) in poorer countries, 50 % of women of reproductive age report that wife hitting or beating is justified. Such high rates may result from structural pressures to adopt such views or to report the perceived socially desirable response. In a survey experiment of 496 ever-married women aged 18–49 years in rural Bangladesh, we compared responses to attitudinal questions that (1) replicated the 2007 Bangladesh DHS wording and portrayed the wife as transgressive for unstated reasons with elaborations depicting her as (2) unintentionally and (3) willfully transgressive. The probabilities of justifying wife hitting or beating were consistently low for unintended transgressions (.01–.08). Willful transgressions yielded higher probabilities (.40–.70), which resembled those based on the DHS wording (.38–.57). Cognitive interviews illustrated that village women held diverse views, which were attributed to social change. Also, ambiguity in the DHS questions may have led some women to interpret them according to perceived gender norms and to give the socially desirable response of justified. Results inform modifications to these DHS questions and identify women for ideational-change interventions. Copyright Population Association of America 2013

Suggested Citation

  • Kathryn Yount & Nafisa Halim & Sidney Schuler & Sara Head, 2013. "A Survey Experiment of Women’s Attitudes About Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in Rural Bangladesh," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 50(1), pages 333-357, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:demogr:v:50:y:2013:i:1:p:333-357
    DOI: 10.1007/s13524-012-0143-7
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Mohammad Niaz Asadullah & Nazmul Chaudhury, 2009. "Reverse Gender Gap in Schooling in Bangladesh: Insights from Urban and Rural Households," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(8), pages 1360-1380.
    2. Uthman, Olalekan Abdulrahman & Moradi, Tahereh & Lawoko, Stephen, 2009. "The independent contribution of individual-, neighbourhood-, and country-level socioeconomic position on attitudes towards intimate partner violence against women in sub-Saharan Africa: A multilevel model of direct and moderating effects," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(10), pages 1801-1809, May.
    3. Michael Koenig & Saifuddin Ahmed & Mian Hossain & A. Mozumder, 2003. "Women’s status and domestic violence in rural Bangladesh: Individual- and community-level effects," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 40(2), pages 269-288, May.
    4. Arland Thornton, 2001. "The developmental paradigm, reading history sideways, and family change," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 38(4), pages 449-465, November.
    5. Kathryn Yount & Nafisa Halim & Sara Head & Sidney Schuler, 2012. "Indeterminate Responses to Attitudinal Questions About Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in Rural Bangladesh," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 31(6), pages 797-830, December.
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    3. Reitmann, Ann-Kristin & Goedhuys, Micheline & Grimm, Michael & Nillesen, Eleonora E.M., 2020. "Gender attitudes in the Arab region – The role of framing and priming effects," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    4. Nillesen, Eleonora & Grimm, Michael & Goedhuys, Micheline & Reitmann, Ann-Kristin & Meysonnat, Aline, 2021. "On the malleability of gender attitudes: Evidence from implicit and explicit measures in Tunisia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    5. Mitra, Aniruddha & Bang, James T. & Abbas, Faisal, 2021. "Do remittances reduce women’s acceptance of domestic violence? Evidence from Pakistan," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    6. Dhamija, Gaurav & Mookerjee, Mehreen & Ojha, Manini & Roy, Sanket, 2024. "Attitudes and norms about intimate partner violence: What makes women more impressionable?," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1486, Global Labor Organization (GLO).

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