Participation in household decision making and justification of wife beating: evidence from the 2018 Mali Demographic and Health Survey

Background We assessed the association between women's participation in household decision making and justification of wife beating among married women ages 15–49 y in Mali. Methods We employed a cross-sectional study design among 7893 women of reproductive age involving a two-stage sampling technique using version 6 of the Mali Demographic and Health Survey (MDHS) data, which was conducted in 2018. Results Approximately 37% participated in at least one household decision while 23.4% reported that they would not justify wife beating in any of the stated circumstances. Women who participated in at least one household decision had lower odds (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 0.834 [confidence interval {CI} 0.744 to 0.935]) of justifying wife beating. With respect to the covariates, we found that women 45–49 y of age had lower odds of justifying wife beating compared with those ages 15–19 y (AOR 0.569 [CI 0.424 to 0.764]). Women with higher education (AOR 0.419 [CI 0.265 to 0.662]) and those whose husbands had secondary education (AOR 0.825 [CI 0.683 to 0.995]) had lower odds of justifying wife beating. Women who lived in urban areas were less likely to justify wife-beating (AOR 0.328 [CI 0.275 to 0.390]) compared with those who lived in rural areas. Conclusion This study suggests that participation in household decision making is associated with a significantly lower rate of justifying wife beating in Mali. These results underscore the need for various interventions to empower women to increase women's participation in decision making to reduce justification of domestic violence.