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Association of spousal violence and women’s empowerment status among the rural women of sub-Saharan Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 November 2021

Asibul Islam Anik Open the ORCID record for Asibul Islam Anik [Opens in a new window] ,
Muhammad Ibrahim Ibne Towhid  and
M Atiqul Haque
Asibul Islam Anik*
Affiliation:
Department of Public Health and Informatics, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), Dhaka, Bangladesh
Muhammad Ibrahim Ibne Towhid
Affiliation:
Department of Public Health and Informatics, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), Dhaka, Bangladesh Center for Language Studies (CLS), University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB), Dhaka, Bangladesh
M Atiqul Haque
Affiliation:
Department of Public Health and Informatics, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), Dhaka, Bangladesh
*
*Corresponding author. Email: anikra93@gmail.com
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Abstract

Spousal violence (SV) is a global problem for women and its elimination is one of the prime targets of Sustainable Development Goal-5. Data from the Demographic and Health Surveys of seventeen countries, representing two sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) regions (East and Southern Africa [ESA] and West and Central Africa [WCA]), were used to examine the relationship between all types of SV and women’s empowerment status among rural married women aged 15–49 years. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to explore adjusted associations, and a relative index of inequality (RII) and slope index of inequality (SII) were used to measure the inequality in experiencing SV by rural women based on their overall empowerment position. Within the period 2015–2019, the reported rate of SV was higher in the ESA (physical SV: 33.55%; sexual SV: 16.96%; any type of SV: 46.14%) than the WCA countries (physical SV: 27.80%; sexual SV: 7.63%; any type of SV: 40.83%), except for emotional SV (WCA: 31.28% vs ESA: 29.35%). In terms of overall empowerment status, rural WCA women were slightly ahead of their counterparts in the ESA region (46.09% and 44.64%, respectively). For both ESA and WCA countries, women who didn’t justify violence and who had access to health care (except physical SV in WCA) showed negative but significant association with all types of SV in the adjusted analysis. Conversely, economic empowerment significantly increased the odds of experiencing physical and any type of SV in both regions. The significant risk ratios obtained from RII, for any SV were 0.83 and 1.09, and the β-coefficients from SII were –0.082 and 0.037 units, respectively, in ESA and WCA. Multi-sectoral microfinance-based intervening programmes and policies should be implemented regionally to empower women, especially in the economic, socio-culture, health care accessibility dimensions, and this will eventually reduce all types of spousal violence in rural SSA.

Keywords

Spousal violenceWomen empowermentSub-Saharan Africa
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 55 , Issue 1 , January 2023 , pp. 55 - 73
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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