According to a resurfaced Demographic and Health survey taken in 2018 by the National Institute of Population Studies (NIPS), around 40 per cent men agreed that a husband is justified in beating his wife.
However, the reasons for beating were as follows: If she burns his food, goes out without his permission, neglects his children or refuses to have sex with him. Surprisingly, 42 per cent women had also agreed with the statement. Around 34 per cent women, the report reveals, had experienced spousal violence, whether it was physical, sexual or emotional.
The report states that 28 per cent married women had experienced physical violence since the age of 15, and 15 per cent women had experienced violence in the past year.
Up to seven per cent married women admitted that they experienced violence during their pregnancy.
On experiencing sexual violence, six per cent married women had experienced sexual violence and the most common perpetuator was revealed to be the husband, while 14 per cent women who were divorced, seperated or widowed had experienced sexual violence.
Moving on to financial stability and empowerment, the survey reported that only 19 per cent married women had been working in the past 12 months, compared to 98 per cent married men.
Half of the married women who are employed and earned an income, made independent decisions on how to spend their earnings, while 41 per cent made joint decisions with their husband. 76 per cent of working women reported making less money than their husband.
The survey also found that only three per cent of ever-married women owned a house, alone or jointly, compared to 72 per cent ever-married men.
The survey sampled from all four provinces including Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, including Azad Jammu Kashmir and FATA. A total of 12,364 women between the ages of 15-49 and 3,145 men had participated in the survey.
