A recent survey released in Fiji found that women are more likely to justify wife-beating than men under five circumstances.
According to Fiji’s Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MCIS), the country’s first, 24 percent women and 21 percent men aged between 15 and 49 years felt that a husband is justified to beat his wife if she goes out without telling him or if she neglects the children, she argues with him, she refuses sex with him, or if she burns the food.
Released in Suva last week, while the survey found that both men and women living in the poorest households and in rural areas were more acceptive of domestic violence, the same sentiments were shared in rich households and in urban areas, with more women than men saying it was okay for the husbands to beat their wives for any of the five reasons.
By age group, 18 percent of girls and 15 percent of boys aged between 15 and 17 years sided with the grounds for wives to be beaten by their husbands. The notion differed slightly in the latter teenage grouping with 26 percent of boys compared to 25 percent of girls responding in the affirmative.
