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Wife beating, a form of intimate partner violence that is used as a tool to correct wives' behavior, is not acceptable in most parts of the world. Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is a global health problem and is far more than a dilemma; it is a systemic form of abuse that is the third major cause of death around the world. Despite it being unacceptable in most parts of the world, in its different forms, wife beating is still a commonly practiced pattern of behavior that pervades all societies, patriarchal ones in particular. This is a problem in the patriarchal Pakistani society. The present study aims to investigate the acceptance and justification of violence (wife beating) among women. The present research uses secondary data from the Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey (PDHS) conducted by the National Institute of Population Studies (NIPS) in 2012-13. The results show that attitudes towards wife beating, either justified or unjustified, vary with differing socio-demographic factors, such as age, region, area of residence, education, and wealth index. Education and wealth index variables show a highly significant relationship in determining justification of wife beating. More than half of the respondents did not justify wife beating in any given circumstance. The study divulges a significant relationship between socio-demographic factors and the justification of wife beating in different circumstances. These justifiable circumstances include: beating if a wife goes to the market or any other place without her husband's permission; if she ignores her children; if she confronts or tries to reason with him; if she declines to have sex; and if she burns food. Attitudes regarding whether certain circumstances are justifiable or not varies with socio-demographic factors such as age, region, area of residence, education, and wealth index. More than half of the respondents do not justify wife beating under any given circumstances. The most widely accepted reason for wife beating in Pakistan is arguing with one's husband, while the most unacceptable reason for wife beating is burning food. Keywords: Women, IPV, PDH survey, Wife violence, Justifiable beating., Introduction Gender-based violence brings significant, burdensome outcomes, in terms of violating basic human rights, in the fields of health culture and socio-economic life. Wife beating as intimate partner violence is [...]

Women in India experience high rates of intimate partner violence (IPV) and low rates of adherence to World Health Organization (WHO) breastfeeding guidelines, contributing to poor maternal and child health outcomes. However, there is little evidence for how IPV might influence ability to adhere to these guidelines in India. This study examines how different forms and severity levels of IPV are associated with current infant feeding behavior throughout the first year of life in an effort to begin to fill this gap in the literature and provide information to improve infant feeding programs. Data are analyzed from the 2015 Indian National Family Health Survey. The sample comprised women who reported initiating breastfeeding in the past 12 months and who were selected for the Domestic Violence Module (n = 6812). Two outcome variables were created to measure current adherence to the WHO breastfeeding guidelines for mothers of 1) infants 6 months and younger and 2) infants 7 to 12 months. Two logistic regression models were fit to measure associations between the outcome variables and non-severe physical violence, severe physical violence, and sexual violence. Less than one-third of women reported adhering to WHO breastfeeding guidelines. Only severe physical violence was significantly associated with lower odds of current exclusive breastfeeding among mothers of infants 0 to 6 months. This analysis advances the understanding of how IPV is associated with suboptimal breastfeeding behavior by categorizing the severity of violence and including infants through the first year of life. The results suggest it may be crucial to focus intervention efforts on mothers with younger infants if the negative health effects of early weaning are to be avoided. Additional study of IPV in mothers of older infants should focus on the temporality of violence, which may elucidate additional findings regarding IPV and breastfeeding in this population., Author(s): Nicholas Metheny [sup.1] [sup.2] , Rob Stephenson [sup.1] [sup.2] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.214458.e, 0000000086837370, University of Michigan School of Nursing, , 400 North Ingalls St, 48109, Ann Arbor, MI, [...]