Women's Employment Before Marriage and Attitudes Toward Domestic Violence: Evidence from Pakistan

This article uses Pakistan’s 2017–18 Demographic and Health Survey to analyze the understudied relationship between employment of women before marriage and attitudes toward wife beating of husbands and wives in rural and urban areas. It also examines how the relationship varies by husbands’ and wives’ education, their education disparities, household wealth, and husbands’ household authority. Probit estimates show that women’s employment before marriage is associated with increased acceptance of wife beating among rural husbands and wives. Yet, education of men and their wives and household wealth are correlated with decreased approval of violence among rural women who worked before marriage. Hence, policies aimed at solely fostering economic participation among women may inadvertently coincide with an increase in acceptance of violence, while anti-violence policies that enhance educational attainment of women and men and ameliorate the living standard of impoverished households in rural areas can be effective at reshaping perceptions toward violence. HIGHLIGHTS Pre-marital employment is positively linked to acceptance of violence in rural areas in Pakistan. Education and household wealth reduce tolerance of violence. No correlation between employment and violence acceptance in urban areas. Employment policies should include measures to lower rural violence tolerance.