Predicting gender disparities in attitudes towards intimate partner violence against women: a case study from Rwanda

Predic'ng Gender Dispari'es in A1tudes Towards In'mate Partner Violence Against Women: A Case Study from Rwanda METTE ALBÈR , M ING YU WONG, URŠA KRENK & STAN DERU I JTER

Mo#va#on > Hypotheses & Methodology > Results & Discussion > Further Research & Conclusion

Background

• Implica(ons of In(mate-‐Partner Violence Against Women (IPVAW): ◦  Health implica(ons ◦ Millennium Development Goal: Eradicate Gender Inequality

• Commonly socially and culturally acceptable norm in Sub Saharan African countries

• Data: The Demographic Health Survey Program -‐ household level survey

• Mo(va(on ◦ Magnitude ◦  Gender disparity ◦  Rwanda: 31% (absolute disparity in jus(fica(on)



Literature Review & Contribu'on

Exis(ng literature has largely focused on three areas: 1.  Predictors of women’s acceptance of IPVAW

◦  Yodanis (2004) ◦  Uthman et al. (2010)

2.  Individual percep(on and socio-‐demographics ◦  Rani et al. (2005)

3.  Associa(on between the incidence of violence and acceptance of violence ◦  Mosavi et al. (2005)

 Household and Regional dynamics enable policy interven(on



Theory

No clear theore(cal doctrine due to complex dynamics

Social-‐Cogni#ve Learning Theory: ◦ Bandura (2001) ◦ Observe and reenact others in society ◦ Social norms remain for genera(ons ◦ Start ques(oning as a result of external exposure



Hypotheses


Educa#on • Higher Educa(on ! Less dependence on husbands ! Less accep(ng of IPVAW • Hypothesis: Higher Educa(on ! Smaller gap Access to Media • Diffuses new styles of behavior ! Mo(vates ques(oning of norms • Hypothesis: More frequent Access ! Lower gap Religion • Intra-‐household religious discordance. • Hypothesis: Different Religion ! Higher gap

Polygamy • Patriarchal ideologies / Male superiority • Hypothesis: Increases BOTH men and women’s acceptance of IPVAW Effect on gap ! ambiguous


•  Binary Outcome Variable Generated

Measuring IPVAW Acceptance


Regional Level



Regional Level



Regional Level


Dependent Variable:

•  District-‐level Absolute Gap

(% Women Accep(ng IPVAW -‐ % Men Accep(ng IPVAW within district)

•  Predictors: Wealth Index, % Secondary educa(on, etc.

•  Method: OLS

Variable n Mean SD Min Max

Absolute Gap 30 0.307 0.181 -‐0.02 0.639


Household Level


Dependent Variable: IPVAW Acceptance for the woman in the household

Predictors: Men’s / Women’s Educa(on Level, TV-‐viewing Frequency, etc.

Method: Mul(variate Logis(c Regression


 Polygamy: Significant with a nega(ve associa(on of -‐3.1

 Religion: Posi(ve associa(ons, though not significant at low levels

 Educa9on: No consistent pafern, hard to interpret

 No other significant predictors

District Level Results

> Results & Discussion > Further Research & Conclusion


 Women´s Educa9on: Nega(ve associa(on for secondary, MFX -‐0.225

 Frequency of Watching TV: Not consistent across categories or genders

 Wealth Index: Nega(ve associa(on

 Polygamy: Nega(ve, MFX of -‐.112

Household Level Results



 Women´s Educa9on: Nega(ve associa(ons, MFX of -‐.042, -‐.198, -‐.422

 Frequency of Watching TV: Nega(ve for women, MFX of -‐.042, -‐.166

 Wealth Index: Nega(ve, highly significant

 Employment: Nega(ve, but small MFX of -‐.009, -‐.123, not significant

Household Level Results



Discussion

From the results, three primary conclusions can be reached:

1)  Many factors beyond na(onal-‐ or district-‐level characteris(cs account for varia(on in IPVAW acceptance across genders

2)  This is evidenced by discrepancies in results from district and household level analyses

3)  The above analyses provide new insights into household level dynamics which are significant correlates of IPVAW acceptance dispari(es across genders



1) More granular predictors of IPVAW acceptance rates

•  IPVAW is fundamentally a household level issue

•  Higher order analyses may aggregate out granular effects

•  This may obscure true rela(onships between IPVAW jus(fica(on and explanatory variables

•  One novel mode of analysis, is presented here:

•  Seek to uncover the nature of intra-‐household level dynamics which predict gaps in IPVAW acceptance

•  Further stra(fying the analysis can help befer contextualize the predictors of IPVAW jus(fica(on for women



2) Discrepancies between household and district level analyses

•  Evidence from this paper reflects that household level analyses can provide significant insights into the predictors of IPVAW acceptance gaps

•  One example is educa(on:

o Educa(on levels were not found to be a significant predictor of the gap at the district level

o Significant predictor of intra-‐household differences in IPVAW acceptance

o Women’s educa(on has greater associa(on with decreased IPVAW acceptance when men do not jus(fy IPVAW



3) Household level predictors of the IPVAW gap

•  Women’s educa(on especially was found to be among the most significant predictors of a decrease in women’s acceptance of IPVAW

•  Other examples: frequency of watching TV and household asset levels

•  Could be interpreted as indicators of a women’s empowerment

•  Frequency of TV watching could be proxy for access to outside media sources

•  Household asset level could be indicator of women’s intra-‐household decision making power



Limita'ons

•  Limited causal inference due to endogeneity issues:

◦  Omifed variable bias ◦  Two-‐direc(onal rela(onship between predictors and the dependent variable

•  Response Bias: Phrasing of Ques(ons Mafers (e.g. Yount & Li, 2009)

•  Recent legisla(ve changes might not fully be taken into account by the survey



Further Research


•  Collec(on of Panel Data

•  Study how percep(on of violence changes over (me

•  The impacts of the 1994 Genocide on the percep(on of violence


Conclusion

•  Need for targeted household-‐level research into the correlates of the IPVAW

•  Results demonstrate that na(onal-‐ and region-‐ level results do not fully capture household and inter-‐personal dynamics

•  Policy interven(ons based on household-‐specific characteris(cs could be more effec(ve than broader interven(ons


Ques'ons?

Economy & Finance

Predicting gender disparities in attitudes towards intimate partner violence against women: a case study from Rwanda