Effects of education on Gender-Based Violence in Egypt

This paper studies Identify the effects of education on violence against Egyptian women, using data from three surveys in Egypt: ‘Demographic & Health Survey' 1995 and 2005; and ‘Work, Attitudes & Spending' 2005-6. We consider claims by El-Zanaty & Way (2006), that the prevalence of domestic violence tends to be more common among poorer households, and among less educated households. We confirm their claim that education is associated with lower prevalence of violence; but conclude that the association between wealth and violence is probably an artefact of the data, resulting from the strong correlation between education and wealth. The education levels of men and women are both important: Educated men are less likely to be violent and educated women are less likely to be victims. Attitudes to Gender-Based Violence are also related to education. The study suggests the possibility that at least part of the effect of education on domestic violence is due to the effect of education on communication between spouses.