Deconstructing the gender gap in Vietnam: Why do women agree with reasons for wife hitting more often than men? Open Access

Abstract

Background: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is pervasive and has serious implications for the health of women and their children. In Vietnam, 31% of women report lifetime exposure to physical IPV. Yet, in historically patriarchal societies such as Vietnam, women paradoxically agree with more good reasons for "wife hitting" than do men.

Objective: We compare men's and women's rates of finding good reason for wife hitting and assess whether childhood experiences and social and economic resources and constraints in adulthood account for observed differences.

Methods: Probability samples of married men (n=513) and women (n=512) were surveyed in My Hao district, Vietnam. We estimated frequencies of agreement with reasons for wife hitting in 10 situations overall and by gender. Ordered logit models (never justified, justified in 1 - 4 situations, justified in 5 - 10 situations) were estimated to assess women's proportional odds relative to men's of justifying wife hitting, unadjusted and adjusted sequentially for childhood experiences, socio- economic resources and constraints, and their interactions with gender.

Results: In all situations, women found good reason to hit a wife more often than did men (3.1% - 88.2% versus 0.5% - 66.1%, respectively). In models accounting for interaction with gender, age, number of children ever born, experience of violence in childhood and experience of violence as an adult all had differential effects on men's and women's attitudes towards violence.

Discussion: In Vietnam, women more often than men agree with good reasons for a husband to hit his wife. However, the differences in men's and women's childhood experiences and resources and constraints in adulthood do not solely account for the gender gap in attitudes towards violence. Instead, the gap is chiefly explained by the differential experiences men and women have in response to these experiences, specifically in regards to age, number of children, and experience of violence in childhood as well as adulthood.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction 10
Overview 10
Study Setting 12

Chapter 2: Comprehensive Review of the Literature 13
Prevalence of IPV 14
Consequences of IPV 14
Men's and Women's Attitudes towards IPV 15
Gender Norms 16
Social Learning Theory 17
Constrained Resource Theory 17
IPV in Vietnam 18
Prevalence 18
Consequences 19
Gender Norms 19
Social Learning Theory 20
Constrained Resource Theory 21
Objectives 22

Chapter 3: Manuscript 23
Abstract 23
Introduction 24
Background 24
Gender norms 25
Social Learning Theory 25
Constrained Resource Theory 26
IPV in Vietnam 27
Objectives 30
Methods 30
Study Setting 30
Sample and Data Collection 31
Variables 32
Data Analysis 33
Results 34
Characteristics of Sample 34
Distributions of "good reasons" for hitting a wife 35
Ordered Logistic Regression models 35
Discussion 37
Strengths and Limitations 39
Conclusions 39
Future research 40
References 41
Tables 43

Chapter 4: Conclusions and Recommendations 46
Strengths and Limitations 48
Conclusions 48
Future research 49
Public Health Implications 49
References 51

Table of Figures and Tables
FIGURE 1. MAP OF VIETNAM WITH STUDY DISTRICT CIRCLED IN RED 13
TABLE 1. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SAMPLE 43
TABLE 2. ATTITUDES ABOUT IPV AGAINST WOMEN. 44
TABLE 3. ORDERED LOGISTIC MODELS OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GENDER, CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES, AND SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC RESOURCES AND CONSTRAINTS. 45

About this Master's Thesis

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• Permission granted by the author to include this thesis or dissertation in this repository. All rights reserved by the author. Please contact the author for information regarding the reproduction and use of this thesis or dissertation.

School	Rollins School of Public Health
Department	Hubert Department of Global Health
Degree	MPH
Submission	Master's Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Health Sciences, Public Health
Keyword	intimate partner violence constrained resources gender gap social learning theory attitudes Vietnam
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Yount, Kathryn, Emory University
Committee Members	VanderEnde, Kristin E, Emory University
Partnering Agencies	Emory University schools, faculty or affiliated programs

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