Exposure to violent conflict and attitudes toward wife-beating in Africa

Despite growing attention being paid to the societal impacts of violent conflict, little is known about how exposure thereto shapes gender attitudes, particularly in Africa. This study addresses that gap by examining the relationship between exposure to violent conflict and attitudes toward wife-beating using data from Rounds 7 and 9 of the Afrobarometer surveys, spanning 39 African countries (n ≈ 100,000). Exposure to conflict is operationalized as the number of such incidents occurring within a 30-kilometer radius of each respondent's dwelling. Attitudes toward wife-beating are assessed based on answers to a question asking whether it is ever justifiable for a man to beat his wife. Contrary to expectations, regression analysis reveals a robust negative association: individuals exposed to more violent conflict are significantly less likely to justify wife-beating. This relationship persists across gender- disaggregated subsamples. These findings suggest that direct or proximate experience with violence may foster greater awareness of its harms, thereby reducing normative support for interpersonal violence. Additionally, conflict-affected areas may be more likely to host peacebuilding or gender-focused interventions that contribute to attitudinal changes. By highlighting the ways in which exposure to collective violence can influence individual out- looks on gender-based violence, this study contributes to broader theoretical debates on norm transformation, post-conflict reconstruction, and the global gender-security nexus.