Domestic Violence against Married Women in Cambodia
March 20, 2013 Leave a comment
Yount, Katherine.M and Jennifer S. Carerra. 2006. “Domestic Violence against Married Women in Cambodia.” Social Forces 85(1):355-387
In this article, the authors seek to analyze the effects of resources and early life experiences on the prevalence of and attitudes regarding domestic violence among 2,074 married women in Cambodia. This article looks at four major theories to explain domestic violence.
One, resource theory where violence is one another resource for men. When they lack other material resources, they use violence to demonstrate their power. The author cites several studies that state that domestic violence is more prevalent in low income households.
Second, scholars have emphasized the importance of including women’s dependence on men for increasing prevalence of domestic violence and women’s tolerance of abuse. Some other studies show that status inconsistencies is correlated with increased domestic violence i.e. men inflicting violence on women when they have higher incomes than the men.
Thirdly, scholars have also studied women’s family organizations to explain how that affects the presence of domestic violence. Whether the woman lives close to her husband’s family or her own natal family does influence the prevalence of domestic violence.
Fourth, scholars have also examined early life experiences to explain how women view domestic violence. Scholars suggest that witnessing violence as a child, may teach children to normalize violence. Moreover, experience of violence may also reduce self esteem among women and increase their tolerance of violence.
The authors arrive at five hypotheses:
- H1: Women in poorer households will have higher odds of experiencing domestic violence.
- H2: Women who have more children and are economically dependent on marriage will have higher odds of experiencing
domestic violence and of justifying abuse against wives. - H3: Women with more schooling than their husbands will have higher odds of experiencing domestic violence.
- H4: Women who married at a younger age, and who lack contact with natal kin, will have higher odds of experiencing
domestic violence. - H5: Women who report that their father beat their mother will have higher odds of experiencing domestic violence
and of justifying abuse against wives
Data:
This paper is based on data from Cambodia 2000 Demographic and Health survey. Women aged 15-49 were eligible for participation. 99% of women were interviewed for the survey. A sub-sample of 25% households were identified to administer domestic violence module. This interview was held under caution to ensure that the women were not put under any major risk. The DVM included a modified Conflicts Tactics Scale and also included questions about physical violence perpetuated by others. This included 2078 married women.
Dependent variables:
- Experience of any physical or sexual or psychological violence in the previous year
- Agree whether the husband is justified to beat his wife.
Independent variables:
Measures of early life experiences are:
- Childhood residence (urban,rural)
- Father’s schooling
- Whether father ever beat her mother
Measures of family organization:
- Whether father and mother were alive
- Number of living siblings
- Age at time of first marriage
- Whether husband or parents-in-law were residing with the woman
- Whether anyone from the natal family lived close by
House hold standard of living:
- Assets and amenities in the household
Results:
Women with lower standard of living had higher odds of experiencing domestic violence. Women who had fewer opportunities than their husbands because they had 8-13 fewer years of schooling more often experienced physical and psychological domestic violence. (H2). Women with more living children also more often experienced physical domestic violence and reported that wife
beating is justified (H2). Third, women who may have challenged status expectations in marriage by having more schooling
than their husbands had higher odds of experiencing psychological, but not physical domestic violence (H3). Unexpectedly (H4), neither a woman’s age at first marriage nor the survival status or proximity of her natal kin was associated with her odds of experiencing domestic violence. Finally, women who reported father-to-mother violence in their childhood had higher
odds of experiencing physical and psychological domestic violence, but did not more often justify wife beating (H5).