53% of teenage girls in Pakistan believe domestic violence is justified: report

Around 53 per cent of teenage girls in Pakistan and India believe a husband is justified in beating his wife for at least one reason, according to a United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) report.

Refusing sex is one of the reasons girls aged 15-19 believe a husband is justified in beating his wife.



United Nations Population Fund

The report, titled, ‘Sexual and Reproductive Health of Young People in Asia and the Pacific’, also states that over 30 per cent of girls aged 15-19 had experienced physical or sexual violence in Pakistan.



Further, data from Cambodia, India, Bangladesh and Nepal indicate that permissive attitudes regarding violence against women are also common among adolescent boys: between 25% and 51% reporting that wife beating was justified.

Low educational attainment, unemployment and a family history of violence were positively associated with acceptance of violence.

The report also says Pakistan is one of the countries where the greatest number of adolescents (10-19 years) live with HIV. India (120,000) has the largest population of HIV-positive adolescents followed by Indonesia (46,000), Thailand (11,000), Myanmar (7,700), Pakistan (7,000), Cambodia (3,500), Iran (3,200), Viet Nam (2,600) and Nepal (1,200).

Moreover, only 28% of young men aged 15-24 years in Pakistan and less than half of 15-24 year old females know that condoms can prevent HIV. Also, half of adolescent girls rely on short-acting methods (pills and condoms).