Women’s Decision-Making Autonomy and their Attitude towards Wife-Beating: Findings from the 2011 Ethiopia’s Demographic and Health Survey

The study examined the extent of wife-beating acceptance and factors that influence women’s attitude towards wife-beating in Ethiopia from a nationally representative sample of 11,658 participants in the 2011 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey. Multivariate logistic regressions were fitted to investigate the relationships between women’s attitude towards wife-beating and women’s decision-making autonomy after controlling for socio-demographic factors. The majority (56%) of women agreed that wife-beating is justified when wife neglects children, 53% when wife burns the food, 50% when wife argues with husband, 48% when wife goes out without telling husband, and nearly 45% when wife refuses to have sex with husband. Overall, 51% of women had shown highly favorable attitude towards wife-beating. Women’s place of residence, household wealth quintiles, educational levels, marital status, and husband/partner’s employment status have shown significant association with women’s attitude towards wife-beating. Women’s decision-making autonomy was also a significant predictor of women’s attitude towards wife-beating. The odds of having highly favorable attitude towards wife-beating deceased significantly as the level of decision-making autonomy of women improved. Given the widespread acceptance of wife-beating among Ethiopian women, social policies that empower women could serve as a positive force in changing attitudes towards wife-beating and violence against women.