“Tigist, I am really sorry for what happened to you, but honestly, it’s okay, not a big deal. I understand it’s not the first time, but you’re not the first nor the last wife to be beaten by her husband.

You can cry and react but at the end of the day these are the norms my dear and do not expect your mother, sister, or other women to defend you, this is fine to them.”

Am I surprising you? Well, welcome to Africa!

A woman’s attitude toward wife-beating is a proxy for her perception of her status. Globally, 1 in 3 women have been subjected to intimate partner violence, non-partner sexual violence, or both at least once in their life. Many women still consider such violence as ‘justifiable’.

The majority of countries located in in Africa reported the highest average percentage of women justifying a husband beating his wife compared to other countries as shown in the map below.

What were the most justified reasons for domestic violence?
Among the 5 reasons for wife beating listed in the below dashboard, women mostly justified a husband beating his wife when she neglected the children. But, the range of these percentages is quite different when comparing Africa with other continents. There are very high violence acceptance rates across all reasons for Africa whether because she went out without telling him, argued with him, refused to have sex, or even burnt the food.

Unfortunately, Africa still has a long way to go since the gap between the percentage of women justifying wife beating and women making their own informed decisions on sexual relations, contraceptive use, and reproductive health care is significant and positive in the rest of world and has been improving over time while this is completely the opposite case in Africa.

So, what can be done?
Well, here comes the major role of education whereby education helps young people know their rights and change social norms. In this regard, providing children and youth a safe space that is free of fear, violence, and exclusion is essential.

The below dashboard validates the positive effect of primary educational attainment for females on wife beating perception through a significant negative correlation between the two factors. With higher primary educational attainment, less women tend to justify wife beating.

We can also confirm this when looking at how investment in primary educational attainment for females in Turkey improved wife beating perception over time (inverse case in Cambodia, Africa).

In conclusion, we need support from international NGOs to promote and enhance education in under-developed countries and attract funding. Direct awareness on women rights through field work and local campaigns is also key for better self – perception by women.

Finally, what happened to Tigist is not fine and we need the rest of the society to believe this as well as a start…