Changes in Attitude toward Intimate Partner Violence in Rapidly Developing Countries: The Case of Indonesia

Abstract

Male-perpetrated intimate partner violence (IPV) is a severe human rights violation that negatively affects women’s well-being worldwide. Although many studies have examined the factors influencing IPV, few have investigated the changes in attitudes toward IPV during rapid economic growth. Therefore, this study aimed to clarify changes in attitudes toward husband-on-wife violence by gender, from 2007 to 2017, using individual data from the Indonesia Demographic and Health Surveys. The estimation results revealed that, despite being more accepting of IPV, young women, women living in rural areas other than Java and Bali, and women belonging to lower social classes have significantly increased their negative attitudes toward IPV over the past decade. Although negative attitudes toward IPV have increased significantly among men living in eastern Indonesia, men in their teens, 20s, and 30s and those living in Sumatra have become more accepting of IPV. This suggests that the overall awareness of IPV resistance among men has not increased. The acceptance of IPV is more prevalent among employed women in the middle and lower socioeconomic strata than among their unemployed counterparts. However, the reverse trend has become clearer among women in the upper strata over the past decade.