Background and Importance: Domestic violence against women is a global problem that has major effects on the well-being of women and children. Yet, research on the causes of such violence in non-Western settings is lacking. Some scholars have argued that the socioeconomic conditions of the community in which a person lives can reduce or increase a womans risk of domestic violence. Other scholars have argued that force is a resource in unions, which men may use when they lack other economic resources to control their partners. Others have argued that women who depend on a partner because they have children or few economic alternatives may be more tolerant of partner abuse. Still others have argued that differences in the resources of partners that threaten mens standing in the household may lead men to use force to reassert their dominance. Finally, others have argued that cross-cultural studies should consider the local characteristics of family and early-life experiences that encourage or discourage domestic violence.
Research Questions: In this project, we tested, in community and regional context, the effects of household economic status, womens dependency or status inconsistency in marriage, family organization, and early-life experiences on the physical abuse of married women in Egypt, and on their reactions to such abuse. Analyses of womens attitudes about 1) wife beating, 2) divorce seeking, 3) violence as a form of manliness, 4) status differences in marriage, and 5) womens work will inform findings about domestic violence.
Data and Methods: The analysis makes use of a nationally representative sample of roughly 6,535 married women aged 15-49 years in Egypt who provided information about their socio-economic situation and experiences of abuse. A summary measure for assets often owned by men captures household economic status. Number of living sons, number of living daughters, and measures of a womans personal economic resources represent a wifes absolute socioeconomic dependence on marriage. Measures for the relative age, education, and occupational standing of each woman vis a vis her husband represent her relative socioeconomic dependence or status inconsistency in marriage. Measures of family organization include the womans age at marriage, say in the choice of her spouse, type of marriage, early residence with marital relatives, and frequency of contact with blood relatives. Measures of early-life experience include each womans childhood residence, the relative education and occupational standing of her parents, and her experience of female genital cutting. Statistical methods appropriate for each outcome are used to assess the net effects of community and family characteristics on physical abuse in the prior year. In-depth interviews with 24 married women and 24 married men from 2 Northern and 2 Southern Egyptian settings were conducted to inform the main analysis. Interviews focus on local opinions about 1) status differences between spouses, 2) ways of showing manliness, 3) the proper treatment of wives and women, and 4) domestic violence.
Social Value and Impact: This project makes use of the only publicly available, nationally representative dataset from the Arab Middle East that includes data on womens socio-economic status, early childhood, experiences of domestic violence, and attitudes about gender and violence. Thus, the findings of this project documents the scale of domestic violence in this setting, its family and community causes, and attitudes about violence against women. Findings inform the development of cross-cultural theories about the multilevel causes of domestic violence against women. Results also will be disseminated widely to scientists, academics, and students in the fields of Sociology, Womens Studies, Public Health, Nursing, and Violence Studies. The project also had a training component, in that a graduate student participated in the analysis and the fieldwork in Egypt, and presented project findings. The PI also presented findings in Egypt at the Social Research Center, American University in Cairo and provided briefs of the findings to Atlanta- and Cairo-based organizations that participate in policy discussions and programs that address womens issues and human rights. Findings are shared with Egyptian policy-makers who can propose changes in family law and to Egyptian activists who can implement public programs to assist the survivors of domestic violence.
