Investigation on knowledge about domestic violence among married women in rural area of China

ObjectiveTo understand the knowledge about domestic violence among married women in rural area of China.MethodProbability to Proportional Size(PPS)sampling method was employed to select the 3998 women from Jilin, Anhui and Chongqing,who were aged 18 years old and elder.All selected women were interviewed using uniform questionnaire during Nov.2004～Jan.2005.ResultsIt was as high as 51.4% for women to agree that domestic violence is a private issue,which should be discussed only with family members.The proportion of women who agreed thathusband was justified to beat wife in some condition was 68.6%.About 85.2% women did not know the conception of domestic violence.Knowledge about domestic violence behaviors was not related with education level.In general,there was some wrong perception about domestic violence among respondents.ConclusionKnowledge about domestic violence is poor among married women in rural area of China.More efforts should be taken to publicize it,and domestic violence may be introduced into primary education.