Attitudes toward domestic violence

ATTITUDES TOWARD DOMESTIC VIOLENCE Refers to domestic violence against women and children Refers to type of violence (psychological, physical, sexual), by perpetrator (husband/partner, parents, other persons), by time of occurrence (ever, last years, last 6 months) Not a lot of systematic knowledge but enough information to know about its undesirability Explicitly included in CEDAW and lately more actively discussed and considered as part of the MDGs and the WFfC documents. It is not possible for example to reach the MDGs as long as womens and childrens are abused

Goals and Indicators Different definitions, measurements and reporting indicators MICS3 to measure attitudes only Proportion of women indicating the conditions under which her husband/partner is justified in hitting or beating her

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Methodological issues Measurement of practices of violence against women, although, possible, raised serious ethical and methodological issues Possible via long modules that ultimately compete with other modules of equal importance The attitudinal indicator has been found to be highly associated with the prevalence of domestic violence It can be used then as proxy for violence and to advocate for the need to change, at the societal level, attitudes that perpetuate its existence