Social Clustering of Physical Intimate Partner Violence Acceptance in South-Central Ethiopia

Mhairi Gibson, University of Bristol
Eshetu Gurmu, Addis Ababa University
Alexandra Alvergne, Universite de Montpellier
Sarah Myers, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

Changing social norms, the shared belief about what is acceptable is a key focus of global campaigns to end intimate partner violence (IPV) towards women. In Ethiopia it is estimated that one in four women have been assaulted by a male partner and over half the population hold attitudes supportive of this form of violence. To date, efforts to change people’s attitudes towards IPV have been hindered by uncertainty over how social norms are shaped and transmitted. Here we show how people’s acceptance of IPV towards women is maintained through social influence, using large-scale sociocentric social network data from 5163 Arsi Oromo farmers in South-Central Ethiopia. Bayesian analyses reveal that IPV-acceptance clusters within social networks. People are more likely to accept IPV if the people they chat to, respect, or live with, do too. This ‘contagion’ appears driven by same-gender connections. However, having IPV-accepting social ties of the opposite gender is predictive of a person rejecting IPV. Exploration of relationships between social ties suggest IPV (non)acceptance exists independently among genders, transmitting along gender lines vertically within families, obliquely from respect figures, and horizontally among peers, with women’s attitudes potentially switching post-violence. Interventions should target both genders to eradicate IPV norms.

Keywords: Biodemography and genetics, Gender Dynamics

See extended abstract.