In Summary
- Those who agree that a partner is justified to beat them for refusing to have a sexual intercourse with him is one out of 10.
- Surprisingly a lower number of only three out of 10 men agreed that they are justified to beat their women
At least four out of 10 Kenyan women aged between 15 to 49 years agree that a husband or partner is justified in hitting or beating them.
The Kenya Demographic Health Survey 2022 Report released by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics states all of these women gave specific reasons as to why they feel that their husbands or partners are justified to beat them.
Two out of 10 women believe that men are justified to beat them for neglecting children, another one out of 10 women believes that she should be beaten for burning food and another two out of eight agree that men are justified to beat them for arguing with him.
Only one woman out of 10 agreed that her partner is justified to beat her for refusing to have a sexual intercourse with him.
The report also revealed that more women in rural areas justified their husbands beating them as compared to women in urban areas wit 51 percent and 30 percent respectively.
Surprisingly a lower number of only 35 percent of men agreed that they are justified to beat their women.
Forty percent of those who agreed that they are justified to beat their partners are from the rural areas while only 20 percent of those interviewed are from urban areas.
Turkana County Takes The Lead
Turkana county had the biggest percentage of persons who agree that men are justified to beat their women with 84 percent, followed by Marsabit at 82 percent, Wajir at 78 percent Isiolo 80 percent, Pokot 71 percent and Mandera County at 70 percent.
The KDHS 2022 report was launched on Monday by Treasury Cabinet Secretary Professor Njuguna Ndung’u and other partners.
Data was collected from February 17 to July 31, 2022. The sample for the 2022 KDHS report was drawn from the Kenya Household Master Sample Frame (K-HMSF).
The sample size was computed at 42,300 households, with 25 households selected per cluster, which resulted in 1,692 clusters spread across the country, 1,026 clusters in rural areas, and 666 in urban areas.
It was also done through a questionnaire where they used the household questionnaire, the woman’s questionnaire, the man’s questionnaire, and the biomarker questionnaire.
