Geography and Population Department, Mahendra Ratna Campus Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal.
BMC Womens Health. 2010 Oct 28;10:31. doi: 10.1186/1472-6874-10-31.
Sexual coercion is an important public health issue due to its negative association with social and health outcomes. The paper aims to examine the prevalence of sexual coercion perpetrated by husbands on their wives in Nepal and to identify the characteristics associated with this phenomenon.
The data used in this paper comes from a cross-sectional survey on "Domestic Violence in Nepal" carried out in 2009. A total of 1,536 married women were interviewed and associations between sexual coercion and the explanatory variables were assessed via bivariate analysis using Chi-square tests. Logistic regression was then applied to assess the net effect of several independent variables on sexual coercion.
Overall, about three in five women (58%) had experienced some form of sexual coercion by their husbands. Logistic regression analysis found that the literacy status of women, decision-making power regarding their own health care, husband-wife age differences, alcohol consumption by the husband, and male patriarchal control all had significant associations with women's experience of sexual coercion. Literate women had 28% less chance (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 0.72) of experiencing sexual coercion by their husbands than did illiterate women. Women who made decisions jointly with their husbands with regard to their own health care were 36% less likely (aOR = 0.64) to experience sexual coercion than those whose health care was decided upon by their mothers/fathers-in-law. On the other hand, women whose husbands were 5 or more years older than they were more likely to report sexual coercion (aOR = 1.33) than were their counterparts, as were women whose husbands consumed alcohol (aOR = 1.27). Furthermore, women who experienced higher levels of patriarchal control from their husbands were also more likely to experience sexual coercion by their husbands (aOR = 7.2) compared to those who did not face such control.
The study indicates that sexual coercion among married women is widespread in Nepal. Programs should focus on education and women's empowerment to reduce sexual coercion and protect women's health and rights. Furthermore, campaigns against alcohol abuse and awareness programs targeting husbands should also focus attention on the issue of sexual coercion.
性胁迫是一个重要的公共卫生问题,因为它与社会和健康结果有负面关联。本文旨在探讨尼泊尔丈夫对妻子实施性胁迫的普遍程度,并确定与这种现象相关的特征。
本文使用的数据来自于 2009 年进行的“尼泊尔家庭暴力”横断面调查。共采访了 1536 名已婚妇女,并通过卡方检验进行了二元分析,以评估性胁迫与解释变量之间的关联。然后应用逻辑回归评估了几个自变量对性胁迫的净效应。
总体而言,约五分之三的女性(58%)曾遭受过丈夫的某种形式的性胁迫。逻辑回归分析发现,女性的文化程度、对自身医疗保健的决策权、夫妻年龄差异、丈夫饮酒以及男性家长制控制等因素均与女性遭受性胁迫的经历存在显著关联。受过教育的女性遭受丈夫性胁迫的可能性比未受过教育的女性低 28%(调整后的优势比(aOR)=0.72)。在医疗保健方面与丈夫共同决策的女性遭受性胁迫的可能性比由其公婆决定的女性低 36%(aOR=0.64)。另一方面,丈夫比妻子年长 5 岁或以上的女性报告性胁迫的可能性更高(aOR=1.33),而丈夫饮酒的女性报告性胁迫的可能性也更高(aOR=1.27)。此外,丈夫对妻子实施的家长制控制程度越高,妻子遭受丈夫性胁迫的可能性也越大(aOR=7.2)。
该研究表明,尼泊尔已婚女性中普遍存在性胁迫现象。应关注教育和妇女赋权,以减少性胁迫,保护妇女的健康和权利。此外,针对丈夫的反酗酒运动和提高认识计划也应关注性胁迫问题。