Economic Empowerment and Tolerance of Domestic Violence Among Married Women: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

We evaluated whether markers of economic empowerment are associated with a tolerant attitude toward spousal physical violence (SPV) among employed married women in Nigeria. Cross-sectional analyses of responses to the 2013 Nigeria Demographic Health Survey by a nationally representative sample of 3,999 women aged 15 to 49 years who reported being employed and married. Tolerance for SPV was defined as supporting statements with justifications for wife-beating. Logistic regression assessed the associations of reporting tolerance for SPV with educational attainment and interspousal equivalency in income, controlling for previous exposure to domestic abuse. The prevalence of tolerance for SPV among the sample was 37%. Women with tertiary education had lower odds of tolerance for SPV relative to their counterparts without formal education (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 0.22, 95% confidence interval [CI] = [0.12, 0.40], p < .0001). Compared with women with similar income levels as their partners, women who either earned more (aOR = 2.77, 95% CI = [1.36, 5.62], p = .005) or earned less income relative to their spouses (aOR = 1.93, 95% CI = [1.14, 3.26], p = .02) had higher odds of tolerance for SPV. Odds of tolerance for SPV were also higher among women reporting previous spousal abuse than among their counterparts without such a history (aOR = 1.55, 95% CI = [1.14, 2.12], p = .006). A history of nonspousal abuse was associated with lower odds of tolerance for SPV (aOR = 0.56, 95% CI = [0.37, 0.84], p = .005). Lower educational attainment and interspousal differences in income may contribute to tolerance of SPV. Efforts to increase economic empowerment should be combined with education to recognize cultural norms that foster SPV and build skills to exit violent relationships.

The Impact of Financial Inclusion on the Association between Government Cash Transfers and Violence Against Women

“…Age and its quadratic term (AGEsquare) show mixed results corresponding to a potential nonlinear relationship between age and VAW (Salas-Wright et al, 2016;Katerndahl et al, 2021). Marital status (MS) suggests a negative association with VAW, indicating that being married is linked to less VAW (Eze-Ajoku et al, 2022;Rahme et al, 2021). Female business empowerment (BE) has a protective effect and a negative link with VAW, suggesting that women's economic participation results in lower likelihood of their experiencing violence (Ranganathan et al, 2021;Aggarwal et al, 2018).…”

Protective factors for the risk of suffering intimate partner violence in help-seeking women survivors from a social organization in Chile

“…Decision to abandon the legal procedure correlates with less social support ( Abarca, 2013 ). Being ashamed of failure, developing tolerance towards violent behavior and psychological or economic dependence can contribute to this risk ( Eze-Ajoku et al, 2022 ; Johnson et al, 2022 ; Mañas et al, 2023 ). Perceived support is strongly associated with better mental health ( Matud et al, 2009 ; Ogbe et al, 2020 ).…”