Determinants of violence against women in Central Uganda

Abstract

This study aimed at establishing the determinants of violence against women in the Central region of Uganda. The study used the data from the 2011 Uganda Demographic and Health survey women data file which consisted of a total of 464 women in their reproductive age group 15-49 years. Analysis was done at two levels that is univariate and bivariate. The results showed that age and place of residence had no significant association with violence against women in central region of Uganda. The results showed that more rural women in Central region of Uganda experienced violence (57.1%) as compared urban women (51.2%). Age also showed violence against women among the respondents in central region of Uganda showed that the percentage of those who experienced violence varied according to the age brackets. During the time of the survey, 56.5 percent of the women aged 25-34 experienced violence as compared to those who were aged 35-49 (56.2%) and 50.7 percent aged between 15-24. On the other hand the results show that violence and the selected factors; marital status (P-value=0.005), employment status (P-value=0.026), wealth index (P-value=0.003), education level (P-value=0.011), alcohol use (P-value=0.001), children ever born (P-value=0.011) in the Central region of Uganda had a significant relationship. The results showed that more women in the poor wealth quintile (71.4%) had experienced violence compared to those in middle wealth quintile at 64.0 percent and about half (50.0%) of the women in the rich quintile had experienced violence during the time of the survey, the majority of the women that had attained primary level education (61.6%) had experienced violence as compared to those who had no education (52.1%). Higher and secondary level of education (47.0%) significantly reduces experience of violence because of empowerment. According to the findings from the study, most of the factors remain strong in determining violence against women in the central region of Uganda. Therefore, the study showed that the prevalence of violence against women in central region of Uganda still remained high and is significantly attributed to a number of the factors. From the results of the study the researcher recommends various remedies and strategies like provision of toll free domestic violence number, community intervention through empowering women and girls and also engaging the men have to be undertaken by the government of Uganda and organizations to reduce on the rates of violence against women in the central region of Uganda.