Women in Private Spaces

The SWMENA survey asked about experience with marital conflict and attitudes towards domestic violence in Morocco.

Married survey respondents were asked about how they resolved disagreements in their household. 

Women and men were asked, “To what extent would you say that domestic violence or the physical abuse of wives on behalf of their husbands is generally tolerated or rejected by people in your neighborhood/area?”

Figure 10 shows that there are large differences in attitudes toward domestic violence by gender.

The survey asked respondents to provide the reasons that explain why a husband might physically abuse his wife, and open-ended responses were coded into categories. Up to five reasons could be provided by a single respondent. The top ten most frequently cited reasons by women and men are shown in Table 2.

Three in ten Moroccan men report that they personally find it acceptable for a husband to beat his wife, whereas less than one in ten Moroccan women (9%) share this sentiment (Figure 11).

In addition to asking a general question about whether respondents found it personally acceptable for a husband to beat his wife, the survey asked if respondents found such behaviors justified when framed in terms of six specific situations:

Figure 12 shows three of these reasons by gender. The pattern is similar for the other three reasons offered by the interviewer. Interestingly, when respondents are asked the same question within the context of a specific situation, women and men are more likely to justify domestic violence.

Figure 13 shows three of these reasons for women who responded by educational attainment. The pattern is similar for the other three reasons offered by the interviewer.