More than a quarter of Africans, including women support wife-beating – Afrobarometer report

An Afrobarometer survey on gender equality in Africa has shockingly revealed that more than one in four Africans, including women, regard wife-beating as justifiable, ABC News can report.

While a sizeable majority (71%) of Africans say it is “never justified” for a man to beat his wife, 28% – including 24% of women – see wife-beating as “sometimes” or “always” justified.

The report, which sampled respondents from 34 different African countries, including Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Niger, Nigeria, Mali, and Senegal, found that in some countries, up to 7 in 10 citizens endorse domestic violence.

Acceptance of violence against women, according to the report, is particularly widespread in Central and West Africa and among respondents with no formal education.

Key findings

The key findings of the survey suggest that more than one in four Africans (28%) – including 24% of women and 31% of men – regard wife-beating is “sometimes” or “always” justified.

However, tolerance for violence against women, it indicated, is far higher in some countries, reaching seven in 10 citizens in Gabon (70%) and Liberia (69%), while many also see domestic violence as an acceptable practice in Niger (60%), Mali (58%), Guinea (58%), Cameroon (53%), and Burkina Faso (53%).

In contrast, no more than one in 20 respondents in Cape Verde, Madagascar, eSwatini, and Malawi are willing to countenance domestic violence.

“In most countries, women are less likely than men to consider wife-beating justified, including double-digit gaps in 11 countries, led by Senegal and Kenya (16 percentage points each) and Côte d’Ivoire and Togo (14 points each).

“But in Liberia and Niger, women and men differ little in their high levels of acceptance of violence against women,” the report found.

Meanwhile close to half of Africans in Central and West Africa accept domestic violence, more than twice as common as it is in North, East, and Southern Africa, indicating that the menace is prevalent in the latter regions.

“Citizens with no formal education (41%) are significantly more likely to endorse wife-beating than those with primary, secondary, or post-secondary schooling (23%-25%),” the report found.

These findings from national surveys in 34 countries are part of a soon-to-be-released PanAfrica Profile analysis based on a special gender-equality survey module.

The new report will also examine popular support for gender equality, government performance on women’s rights, and persistent gender gaps in education, employment, control over key assets, and access to technology.

The Afrobarometer is a pan-African, independent, non-partisan research network that measures public attitudes on economic, political, and social matters in Africa.

Afrobarometer surveys are conducted in more than 30 African countries and are repeated on a regular cycle.