The Threat of Domestic Violence and Women Empowerment: The Case of West Africa

Marcel Voia and Saikou Amadou Diallo ()
Additional contact information
Saikou Amadou Diallo: Health Canada, http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/index-eng.php

No 13-05, Carleton Economic Papers from Carleton University, Department of Economics

Abstract: In this paper we assess the significance of a set of threats of domestic violence in ten West African countries that we argue limit the potential of women in particular and the development of society. Our data consists of the most recent year of a country-specific Demographic and Health Survey (DHS), conducted in the same way for each participating country. The risk of domestic violence and the intensity of its threat are assessed using different probabilistic model specifications together with an assessment of how heterogeneous/homogenous are these effects across the set of countries. The overall results suggest that religion has played a significant role in relation to domestic violence in most countries, the exceptions being Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. Area of residence has played an important positive role in Benin, Ghana, Guinea, Senegal and Sierra Leone while the level of well-being and/or household’s level of wealth have a significant negative impact on the threat of domestic violence in Benin, Ghana, Nigeria, and Senegal. Finally, the factor that we feel has been most important in reducing the threat of domestic violence has been improvement in the status and/or autonomy of women. This is characterized in our sample by the fact that wife is working, plays a decision making role in the family, is sexually active and has a higher level of education.

Keywords: “threat” of domestic violence; women empowerment; West Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I24 I25 I31 J12 J16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 39 pages
Date: 2013-09-22, Revised 2015-12-14
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr, nep-dev and nep-hap
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Published: Carleton Economic Papers

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Related works:
Journal Article: The Threat of Domestic Violence and Women Empowerment: The Case of West Africa (2016)
Working Paper: The Threat of Domestic Violence and Women Empowerment: The Case of West Africa (2016)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:car:carecp:13-05

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