Does Women’s Labor Force Participation Reduce Domestic Violence? Evidence from Jordan

Figures & data

Table 1 Incidence of domestic violence in Jordan (%)

Type of violence
Wife’s age	Emotional	Physical	Sexual	Domestic violence
15–29	14.91	16.98	7.31	25.14
30–39	19.05	19.63	8.49	28.86
40–49	20.07	18.54	8.35	30.55
Overall	17.79	18.49	8.07	28.11

Note: Sample size N = 2,283.

Table 2 Incidence of domestic violence by wife’s working status in Jordan (%)

Type of violence	Not working (wife’s working status = 0)	Working (wife’s working status = 1)
Emotional violence	18.16	16.81
Physical violence	18.41	19.00
Sexual violence	8.14	7.64
Domestic violence	28.14	27.95

Note: Sample size N = 2,283.

Table 3 Incidence of domestic violence in Jordan by background characteristics (%)

	Type of violence
Variables	Emotional	Physical	Sexual	Domestic violence
Wife’s education
0 years of schooling	26.74	25.63	13.37	37.33
1–6 years of schooling	19.36	21.63	8.48	31.31
6–12 years of schooling	17.10	14.72	6.93	24.46
12–18 years of schooling	12.97	12.76	6.02	21.47
Husband’s education
0 years of schooling	19.44	20.37	9.26	26.85
1–6 years of schooling	22.32	21.87	11.39	33.49
6–12 years of schooling	18.55	20.05	8.50	29.79
12–20 years of schooling	14.02	12.66	5.09	21.34
Spousal age difference
Wife older	16.83	19.80	9.90	28.71
Wife is same age	13.20	17.26	5.08	24.37
Wife is 1–4 years younger	17.68	18.16	7.34	27.73
Wife is 5–9 years younger	17.46	17.14	8.49	27.08
Wife is 10 + years younger	21.41	21.73	8.82	31.86
Wealth quintile
Lowest	20.89	22.49	9.25	31.96
Second	16.84	18.96	8.01	28.15
Middle	16.18	18.24	10.00	27.21
Fourth	17.38	14.58	5.42	25.23
Highest	17.78	13.70	5.54	24.49
Kinship marriage
Kinship marriage = 0	19.66	20.56	8.35	29.82
Kinship marriage = 1	17.39	18.28	8.66	27.84
Spousal education difference
Husband better educated	20.14	20.59	9.94	31.15
Wife better educated	17.71	18.96	8.23	29.02
Both equally educated	15.40	14.78	5.22	22.36

Note: Own calculations, sample size N = 2,283.

Table 4 LPM of experiencing domestic violence

	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)
	Dep. var. = domestic violence	Dep. var. = emotional violence	Dep. var. = physical violence	Dep. var. = sexual violence
	coeff.	coeff.	coeff.	coeff.
Variable	(S.E.)	(S.E.)	(S.E.)	(S.E.)
Intercept	0.249***	0.221***	0.116**	0.0710**
	(0.0548)	(0.0474)	(0.0488)	(0.0359)
Working status	0.0755***	0.0384*	0.0751***	0.0167
	(0.0245)	(0.0211)	(0.0213)	(0.0157)
Husband’s	0.0220***	0.0122*	0.0148**	0.00550
education	(0.00832)	(0.00720)	(0.00735)	(0.00580)
Husband’s	−0.00143***	−0.000804**	−0.000898**	−0.000380
education squared	(0.000416)	(0.000355)	(0.000364)	(0.000278)
Husband employed	−0.0401*	−0.0264	−0.00273	−0.0164
	(0.0222)	(0.0190)	(0.0191)	(0.0145)
Wife’s education	0.00244	−0.00166	0.00448	−0.00556
	(0.00738)	(0.00651)	(0.00659)	(0.00527)
Wife’s education squared	−0.000632	−0.000387	−0.000656*	0.000186
	(0.000402)	(0.000350)	(0.000348)	(0.000276)
Age difference	0.00112	0.000710	0.000527	0.000311
	(0.00151)	(0.00133)	(0.00135)	(0.00101)
Household size	0.00915***	0.00133	0.00963***	0.00625***
	(0.00334)	(0.00279)	(0.00294)	(0.00225)
Wealth	−1.11e-07	4.01e-08	−3.09e-07***	−8.63e-08
	(1.08e-07)	(9.46e-08)	(9.08e-08)	(5.67e-08)
Urban	−0.0326*	−0.0150	−0.0297*	−0.0132
	(0.0180)	(0.0152)	(0.0154)	(0.0108)
Badia region	−0.0109	−0.0149	−0.00120	0.0152
	(0.0251)	(0.0214)	(0.0221)	(0.0160)
Amman	0.0738***	0.0853***	0.0549**	0.0123
Number of co-wives	0.133***	0.145***	0.124***	0.0691**
	(0.0383)	(0.0363)	(0.0366)	(0.0287)
	(0.0257)	(0.0234)	(0.0226)	(0.0153)
Kinship marriage	−0.0264*	−0.0261*	−0.0279**	0.00414
	(0.0159)	(0.0135)	(0.0136)	(0.00972)
R^2	0.033	0.030	0.033	0.017
Number of observations	3,283	3,283	3,283	3,283

Notes: Robust standard errors in parentheses. ***, **, * denote statistical significance at the 1, 5, and 10 percent levels, respectively. LPM coefficients are shown in columns 1–4. However, probit regression models yield similar results.

Source: Department of Statistics of Jordan and ICF Macro (2007).

Table 5 2SLS – Probability of experiencing domestic violence, instrumental variable estimation: second stage estimates

	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)
	Dep. var. = domestic violence	Dep. var. = emotional violence	Dep. var. = physical violence	Dep. var. = sexual violence
	coeff.	coeff.	coeff.	coeff.
Variable	(S.E.)	(S.E.)	(S.E.)	(S.E.)
Intercept	0.278***	0.235***	0.106	0.146**
	(0.0951)	(0.0811)	(0.0817)	(0.0637)
Working status	−0.0808	−0.0391	0.132	−0.388
	(0.423)	(0.360)	(0.363)	(0.283)
Husband’s education	0.0208**	0.0116	0.0152**	0.00244
	(0.00876)	(0.00747)	(0.00753)	(0.00587)
Husband’s	−0.00137***	−0.000775**	−0.000920**	−0.000225
education squared	(0.000448)	(0.000382)	(0.000385)	(0.000300)
Husband employed	−0.0466*	−0.0297	−0.000343	−0.0334*
	(0.0278)	(0.0237)	(0.0239)	(0.0186)
Wife’s education	−0.00553	−0.00561	0.00739	−0.0262*
	(0.0226)	(0.0193)	(0.0195)	(0.0152)
Wife’s	7.39e-05	−3.65e-05	−0.000914	0.00202
education squared	(0.00195)	(0.00166)	(0.00167)	(0.00130)
Age difference	0.000576	0.000440	0.000725	−0.00110
	(0.00208)	(0.00178)	(0.00179)	(0.00140)
Household size	0.00901***	0.00127	0.00968***	0.00590***
	(0.00331)	(0.00282)	(0.00285)	(0.00222)
Wealth	−7.14e-08	5.96e-08	−3.23e-07**	1.54e-08
	(1.52e-07)	(1.29e-07)	(1.30e-07)	(1.02e-07)
Urban	−0.0297	−0.0135	−0.0308*	−0.00564
	(0.0201)	(0.0171)	(0.0172)	(0.0134)
Badia region	−0.00896	−0.0139	−0.00191	0.0203
	(0.0255)	(0.0218)	(0.0219)	(0.0171)
Amman	0.0670**	0.0819***	0.0574**	−0.00537
	(0.0310)	(0.0264)	(0.0266)	(0.0207)
Number of co-wives	0.141***	0.149***	0.121***	0.0902***
	(0.0414)	(0.0353)	(0.0356)	(0.0277)
Kinship marriage	−0.0265*	−0.0262*	−0.0279**	0.00383
	(0.0160)	(0.0137)	(0.0138)	(0.0107)
R^2	0.022	0.026	0.031	0.028
Number of observations	3,283	3,283	3,283	3,283
First-stage results-instrument
F-test of joint significance	11.58	11.58	11.58	11.58
Cluster average working status	0.140***	0.140***	0.140***	0.140***
	(0.0413)	(0.0413)	(0.0413)	(0.0413)

Notes: Robust standard errors in parentheses. ***, **, * denote statistical significance at the 1, 5, and 10 percent levels, resp0065ctively. The coefficients of cluster average working status don’t change in the first-stage, as the sample size remains the same for all regressions. The first stage additionally includes all covariates included in the second stage. Full first-stage results are available on request.

Source: Department of Statistics of Jordan and ICF Macro (2007).

Table 6 2SRI – domestic violence separated by each type of violence (emotional, physical, or sexual)

	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)
Probit
	Dep. var. = domestic violence	Dep. var. = emotional violence	Dep. var. = physical violence	Dep. var. = sexual violence
Variable	Marginal effects (S.E.)	Marginal effects (S.E.)	Marginal effects (S.E.)	Marginal effects (S.E.)
Wife’s working status	0.0110	0.00814	0.0733	−0.253**
	(0.199)	(0.172)	(0.172)	(0.120)
Husband’s education	0.0216***	0.0116*	0.0155**	0.00350
	(0.00836)	(0.00700)	(0.00725)	(0.00509)
Husband’s	−0.00144***	−0.000792**	−0.000964**	−0.000302
education squared	(0.000432)	(0.000362)	(0.000380)	(0.000267)
Husband employed	−0.0402*	−0.0247	−0.00151	−0.0253*
	(0.0224)	(0.0189)	(0.0193)	(0.0132)
Wife’s education	0.00134	−0.00104	0.00648	−0.0141**
	(0.0108)	(0.00912)	(0.00914)	(0.00632)
Wife’s	−0.000479	−0.000377	−0.000786	0.00109**
education squared	(0.000859)	(0.000734)	(0.000730)	(0.000511)
Age difference	0.000835	0.000514	0.000543	−0.000658
	(0.00160)	(0.00134)	(0.00138)	(0.000974)
Household size	0.00880***	0.00112	0.00931***	0.00515***
	(0.00321)	(0.00273)	(0.00271)	(0.00187)
Wealth	−9.32e-08	5.09e-08	−3.22e-07***	−3.06e-08
	(1.20e-07)	(1.02e-07)	(1.06e-07)	(6.77e-08)
Urban	−0.0319*	−0.0153	−0.0304*	−0.00902
	(0.0186)	(0.0159)	(0.0159)	(0.0111)
Badia region	−0.00904	−0.0131	−0.00128	0.0161
	(0.0246)	(0.0209)	(0.0207)	(0.0139)
Amman	0.0682***	0.0762***	0.0531**	0.00101
	(0.0255)	(0.0209)	(0.0222)	(0.0155)
Number of co-wives	0.121***	0.117***	0.0999***	0.0657***
	(0.0350)	(0.0284)	(0.0294)	(0.0197)
Kinship marriage	−0.0271*	−0.0266*	−0.0291**	0.00259
	(0.0159)	(0.0137)	(0.0137)	(0.00956)
Residual	0.0339*	0.0416*	0.258**	0.737**
	(0.0116)	(0.0278)	(0.107)	(0.325)
Number of observations (N)	3,283	3,283	3,283	3,283
Pseudo R^2	0.028	0.029	0.036	0.031
First-stage results-instrument
Cluster average working status	0.112***	0.112***	0.112***	0.112***
	(0.0373)	(0.0373)	(0.0373)	(0.0373)

Notes: Bootstrapped standard errors in parentheses. ***, **, * denote statistical significance at the 1, 5, and 10 percent levels, respectively. The coefficients of cluster average working status do not change in the first stage, as the sample size remains the same for all regressions. The first stage additionally includes all covariates included in the second stage. Full first-stage results are available on request.

Source: Department of Statistics of Jordan and ICF Macro (2007).

Appendix Table 1 Summary statistics

	Mean	Std. Dev.	Min.	Max.
Domestic violence	0.28	0.45	0	1
(Domestic violence = 1)
Wife’s working status	0.14	0.35	0	1
(Wife working = 1)
Wife’s education (in years)	10.57	4.04	0	18
Wife’s age	34.11	7.77	16	49
Husband employed	0.82	0.39	0	1
(Husband employed = 1)
Husband’s education (in years)	10.35	3.84	0	20
Husband’s age	39.85	9.57	15	91
Age difference	5.95	5.53	−31	49
Household size	6.16	2.54	1	26
Number of children aged <3 years	0.56	0.67	0	4
Wealth	7820.70	88499.36	−345913	467690
Number of co-wives	0.071	0.29	0	3
Kinship marriage	0.422	0.48	0	1
(Kinship marriage = 1)
Urban	0.307	0.46	0	1
(Urban = 1, Rural = 0)
Badia region	0.14	0.35	0	1
(Badia region = 1)
Amman	0.119	0.324	0	1
(Amman = 1)
Cluster average of working status	0.14	0.13	0	1

Note: Sample size N = 3,283.

Sources: Department of Statistics of Jordan and ICF Macro (2007), own calculations.

Appendix Table 2 Frequency distribution of selected background characteristics (%)

	Percentage	Frequency
Household size
1	0.03	1
2–5	42.48	1,393
6–8	40.59	1,331
9–14	16.50	541
15+	0.40	13
Number of children aged <3 years
0	52.03	1,706
1	38.12	1,250
2	9.55	313
3	0.27	9
4	0.03	1
Spousal age difference
Wife older	6.16	202
Wife is same age	5.98	196
Wife is 1–4 years younger	31.53	1,034
Wife is 5–9 years younger	37.72	1,237
Wife’s 10 + years younger	18.60	610
Wealth quintile
Lowest	26.68	875
Second	25.86	848
Middle	20.74	680
Fourth	16.29	534
Highest	10.43	342
Number of co-wives
0	93.90	3,079
1	5.34	175
2	0.55	18
3	0.21	7
Kinship marriage
Kinship Marriage = 1	42.09	1,380
Kinship Marriage = 0	57.91	1,899

Note: Sample size N = 3,283.

Sources: Department of Statistics of Jordan and ICF Macro (2007), own calculations.

Department of Statistics of Jordan and ICF Macro. 2007. Jordan Demographic and Health Survey/Population and Family Health Survey 2007. Ref JOR_2007_DHS_ v01_M. Dataset. www.measuredhs.com.

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Department of Statistics of Jordan and ICF Macro. 2010. Jordan Population and Family Health Survey 2009. Calverton, MD: Department of Statistics and ICF Macro.

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