How do Georgians perceive women’s sexual freedom?

Note: This article first appeared on the Caucasus Data Blog, a joint effort of CRRC-Georgia and OC Media. This article was written by Katharine Khamhaengwong, an International Fellow at CRRC Georgia, and Makhare Atchaidze, a researcher at CRRC Georgia. The views expressed in this article are the authors’ alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views of CRRC Georgia, the Europe Foundation, or any related entity.

Data CRRC has collected shows that there have been significant changes in the attitudes of Georgians towards women’s sexual freedoms since 2013, especially among Muslims, who have seen a large decrease in rates of disapproval, although this has not translated to a significant increase in approval.

The data was collected as part of  the Knowledge of and Attitudes towards the European Union in Georgia survey, carried out for the Europe Foundation between 2013 and 2023.

According to the resulting statistics, the share of Georgians reporting it is always or sometimes justified for a woman to have premarital sex increased from 22% in 2013 to 36% in 2023. Similarly, in 2013, only 32% of Georgians said it was always or sometimes justified for a woman to have a baby outside of marriage, compared with 51% in 2023.These numbers show that attitudes towards sex are loosening, particularly with regard to women. But whose attitudes are changing?

In 2013, 87% of Muslims said that it was never justified for a woman to have sex before marriage, compared to 67% of Armenian Apostolic Christians and 66% of Orthodox Christians. Ten years later, only 58% of Muslims said it was never justified, compared to 68% of Armenian Apostolic Christians and 50% of Orthodox Christians.

However, while the number of Muslims saying that pre-marital sex was never justified fell dramatically, this was not accompanied by a proportionate increase in Muslims saying pre-marital sex was justified. Indeed, there was only an increase from 6% of Muslims reporting that pre-marital sex was sometimes or always justified in 2013 to 15% in 2023. During this same period, the number of Muslims who refused to answer the question went up from only 1% in 2013 to 18% in 2023.

In contrast, the decrease in opposition to pre-marital sex by Orthodox Christians came with a notable increase in the percentage that believed pre-marital sex was always justified — in 2013, only 3% of Orthodox Christians agreed that pre-marital sex was always justified, compared to 13% in 2023. The numbers for pre-marital sex being sometimes justified also went up, from 21% to 26%. The answer refusal rate for this group did not change significantly.This pattern is repeated with attitudes toward having children outside of marriage.

In 2013, 84% of Muslims said this was never justified, while in 2023 only 55% reported the same. In this case, the number of Muslims who said a child outside of marriage was always justified did move from 0% in 2013 to 5% ten years later, but again the biggest change was in those who refused to answer, going from 2% in 2013 to 16% in 2023.The percentage of Muslims who said pre-marital sex was never acceptable decreased by 29 points, as did the percentage of those who said children outside of marriage was never acceptable. The numbers for Orthodox Christians were similarly consistent, both declining by 16 points.

The Armenian Apostolic community differed, however — while their views of pre-marital sex for women were quite consistent, the percent who said having a child outside of marriage was always unjustified went from 80% in 2013 to 60% in 2023. Unlike the case with changing Muslim views, this decrease largely came from Armenian Apostolic Christians saying that children outside of marriage were sometimes (17% to 30%) or always (0% to 5%) justified. The share of refusals did not change significantly.

Meanwhile, Orthodox Christians showed the biggest changes in full approval of pre-marital sex, as well as full approval of having children out of wedlock.Opposition to women having children outside of marriage and to women having premarital sex decreased in Georgia from 2013 to 2023.

Some of the biggest decreases came from Georgian Muslims, who are among the religious groups most disapproving of these behaviours. However, this decrease in opposition does not coincide with an increase solely in approval — instead, in addition to a degree of greater acceptance, Muslims increasingly refused to answer questions about sex.

The data used in this article is available here.

Georgians overwhelming see gender equality as important to country’s future success

Note: This article first appeared on the Caucasus Data Blog, a joint effort of CRRC-Georgia and OC Media. This article was written by Nino Lobzhanidze, a Junior Researcher at CRRC Georgia. The views presented in this article are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of CRRC Georgia, UN Women, or any related entity.

A recent UN Women and CRRC Georgia study has found that the vast majority of Georgians find it important to work towards a more equal society.

The survey focused on a wide range of issues related to gender equality in Georgia, from the need for quality childcare services to women’s representation in politics and business.

According to the data collected, between 79%–98% of respondents believed that improvements in social and police rights, more equal sharing of domestic work, and a greater representation of women in leadership positions were important for Georgia’s future.

Looking at the role of women in leadership positions specifically, 79% believed that more opportunities for women in business was important; 77% believed the same for women in politics; and 75% believed it was important for women to have more opportunities in decision-making roles writ large.

The survey also assessed attitudes toward fundamental rights and social policies. A large majority (83%) considered improved access to higher education for women important. A similarly large majority (84%) supported affordable healthcare for women. The idea that respect for women’s rights in all areas is essential for the country’s success had 91% agreement.

Attitudes toward the workplace and family equality were also assessed. When addressing workplace equality, 96% of respondents supported equal pay for equal work, regardless of gender. A large majority (87%) also agreed on the importance of an ‘equal distribution of unpaid housework between spouses or partners’.

Overall, 65% of the public agreed with all nine of the above statements. A regression analysis suggests that gender was the only statistically significant predictor of whether a person agreed with all of the statements or not, with 73% of women agreeing with all nine statements compared to 56% of men, controlling for other factors. The data showed no significant differences on this account when it came to age, ethnicity, settlement type, education level, or employment status.

It is clear that a large majority of the public agrees that improving women’s rights is important for the country’s future, including the importance of equal pay and the fair distribution of household labour. Perhaps unsurprisingly, women were more likely to support all of these things than men, but still, a clear majority of both men and women believe these issues are important to Georgia’s future.

The regression analysis used in this article included the following variables:  age (16–24, 25–34, 35–44, 45–54, 55+); sex (male or female); settlement type (Tbilisi, other urban, rural); education level (secondary or lower; vocational; and completed or uncompleted higher education); ethnicity (ethnic Georgian or ethnic minority); and employment status (employed or not working).

Is domestic violence acceptable in Georgia?

Note: This article first appeared on the Caucasus Data Blog, a joint effort of CRRC-Georgia and OC Media. It was written by Salome Dolidze and Kristine Vacharadze. The views expressed in the article are the authors’ alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views of CRRC Georgia, or any related entity.

According to a new UN Women and CRRC Georgia study, while most Georgians believe domestic violence against a partner is unacceptable, fewer are certain that their community believes the same.

The 2023 UN Women and GEOSTAT National Study on Violence against Women in Georgia found that one in four women (23%) experienced intimate partner violence at some point in their lives.

Additionally, half of women aged 15–69 had experienced at least one of seven types of violence — child sexual abuse before the age of 18; physical and/or emotional child abuse before the age of 18; any type of intimate partner violence; non-partner physical violence since the age of 15; non-partner sexual violence since the age of 15; sexual harassment; and stalking — asked about on the survey.

Clearly, domestic violence is a substantial problem in Georgia. One method for reducing its occurrence is through informing people that social norms view domestic violence as unacceptable.

In the latest UN Women and CRRC Georgia study, published on 18 March, only 6% of respondents stated that there were acceptable circumstances for someone to hit their partner or spouse, with 7% of women and 3% of men expressing this view.

In turn, 91% of respondents stated that there are no acceptable circumstances for hitting a partner.

However, fewer people (78%) agreed that their society would view things the same. The data showed that 13% were uncertain about the perceived social norm, but only 4% were uncertain about their own view.

A significant minority, 23%, responded that violence between husband and wife was a private matter and that others should not interfere. This view was shared by 19% of women and 27% of men.

While 74% personally disagreed with the view that spousal violence is a private matter, only 59% responded that they believe society as a whole holds the same view, with 16% uncertain over society’s views, compared to 3% uncertain of their own view.

Regarding physical violence, individuals under 45, those who are employed, and those with vocational education are less likely to agree that there are acceptable circumstances for hitting a spouse or partner compared to younger individuals, those who are not working, or those with lower education levels. This perception did not vary by sex, settlement type, ethnicity, or education level when controlling for other factors.

When asked whether violence between a husband and wife is a private matter and others should not intervene, men were more likely than women to agree with this statement. However, other demographic factors, such as age, settlement type, education level, ethnicity, or employment status, did not show any statistically significant differences.

The main difference between personal attitudes and social norms was uncertainty. Individuals aged 25–34, those with higher education, and ethnic minorities were more likely to respond with ‘don’t know’ when asked whether most people in their community believe there are acceptable circumstances for hitting a partner. This contrasts with younger individuals, those with secondary or lower education, and ethnic Georgians. This perception did not vary by sex, settlement type, or employment status.

Regarding the community’s perception that violence between a husband and wife is a private matter and others should not intervene, ethnic minorities were more likely than ethnic Georgians to respond with ‘don’t know’. However, this attitude did not significantly vary by sex, age, settlement type, education level, or employment status.

According to the above data, most people in Georgia disapprove of domestic violence, and only a small share believe it is justified to hit a partner. However, fewer people believe that their communities share these anti-violent views, with the gap largely made up of uncertainty about social norms. This presents an opportunity for campaigners to inform Georgians that indeed, the vast majority of the public are against domestic violence.

The data used in this article is available here. The regression analysis used in this article included the following variables:  age (16–24, 25–34, 35–44, 45–54, 55+); sex (male or female); settlement type (Tbilisi, other urban, rural); education level (secondary or lower, vocational, completed or uncompleted higher education); ethnicity (ethnic Georgian or ethnic minority); and employment status (employed or unemployed).

Perceptions of the problems faced by women in Georgia

People in Georgia consistently name unemployment as the main problem the country faces. Women, compared with men, report having a job less often. Based on CRRC/NDI December 2017 survey findings, this blog post presents the population’s perceptions of some of the issues that women in Georgia face that may partially explain women’s lower labor force participation rate.

During the survey, several issues were evaluated from the point of view of whether these represent a problem for women in Georgia or not. Approximately half of Georgia’s population considers a lack of kindergartens to be a problem for women, followed by bad maternity leave conditions, which are perceived to be slightly worse in the private sector than in the public sector. Quite a large share of the population (39%) reports that in their opinion, employers prefer to hire men over women, although 50% do not think so. Similarly, more people disagree than agree with the opinion that women are not being hired in Georgia for leadership positions. The chart below lists both the issues and the assessments.



Note: Distribution of answers “Don’t know” and “Refuse to answer” is not shown in the charts through this blog post. 

Interestingly, men and women answer very similarly regarding kindergartens and employers’ gender preferences. There are, however, some differences when it comes to maternity leave conditions and women not being hired for leadership positions. Slightly more women than men name these as problems.



Note: Only the share of positive answers is shown in this chart. 

People living in different settlement types answer these questions slightly differently. A lack of kindergartens is perceived to be much more problematic in Tbilisi than in rural settlements. Compared to the urban population, a slightly larger share of people living in villages and ethnic minority settlements report that employers prefer to hire men over women as a problem. Women not being hired for leadership positions is also more often perceived as a problem in villages and ethnic minority settlements.


Note: Only the share of positive answers is shown in this chart. 
This blog post illustrates some of the potential obstacles for women’s employment in Georgia, as perceived by the population. Do you think that these issues help explain why relatively few women participate in the labor force in Georgia? Share your thoughts with us on Facebook or Twitter.

To explore the data used in this blog post further, visit our Online Data Analysis platform.

43% of the Georgian public support more women in parliament

In Georgia, women are in few political decision making positions. Following the October 2016 elections, women hold 16% of the seats in parliament, the highest percent in the country’s history. Nonetheless, Georgia ranks 119th in the world when it comes to women’s representation in parliament.

Since 2014, there have been debates in Georgia about the introduction of a gender quota for electoral lists. In 2015, parliament started to discuss a proposal by the Task Force on Women’s Political Participation. Although the initiative was ultimately voted down in December 2016, the results of CRRR/NDI surveys conducted in March and June 2016 suggest that approximately equal shares of the population believe that increasing the number of female members of parliament (MPs) would either have a positive impact on the country (43%), or will have no impact (39%).

There is nearly no differences by gender in the responses.

The differences between the opinions of people living in different settlement types are within the average margin of error. Approximately equal shares of the residents of the capital, other urban settlements, rural settlements and ethnic minority settlements report that having more women in parliament will have a positive impact on Georgia. At the same time, shares of those choosing other answer options vary, especially so in ethnic minority settlements.

A majority (71%) think the best proportion of men and women in parliament would be higher than at present.

Many in Georgia think that having more female MPs will have a positive impact on the country, although almost the same share of the population believes that this will have no impact. Nearly equal shares of men and women think that increasing the number of women in parliament would have a positive impact on the country. This belief is consistent in different settlement types.

All the above, taken together, suggests that the Georgian public would likely support, or at least not oppose, more women in parliament. Given that the government committed itself to further electoral system reform and the Georgian public wants more women in parliament, the government should continue to consider the inclusion of gender quotas in electoral lists.

To explore the data in greater depth, visit CRRC’s Online Data Analysis tool.

Reported attitudes towards domestic violence in Georgia

Recently, there have been reports of homicides of spouses, children, siblings, and parents in Georgia. The October 2014 CRRC/NDI survey provides insights into what the population of Georgia thinks about domestic violence in general.

A majority (64%) of people in Georgia agree that non-physical violence that happens within the family (such as pressure, restrictions, and verbal abuse) should be resolved within the family, while 39% say the same about physical violence. People living in rural settlements are more likely to say that both physical and non-physical violence should be resolved within the family, compared to people who live in the capital.

Compared to older people, the younger generation is slightly less likely to agree that either physical or non-physical violence are issues that should be resolved within the family. Fifty eight percent of people aged between 18 and 35 years old agree that non-physical violence should be resolved within the family, while 68% of people 56 and older state the same. As for physical violence, 35% of the population between the ages 18 and 35 agree that it should be resolved within the family. Among those who are 56 and older, 45% say the same.

When it comes to gender differences, women are slightly more likely to disagree that physical violence should be resolved within the family (59% of women compared to 48% of men). People with tertiary education are more likely to disagree that physical violence should be resolved within the family, compared to people with secondary or lower education. Forty-five percent of people with secondary or lower education agree that physical violence should be resolved within the family, while only 32% of people with tertiary education state the same. There are no significant gender or education-level differences in relation to attitudes towards non-physical violence.

The survey also asked which groups of people and/or institutions should be authorized to intervene in cases of domestic violence, although the type of violence (physical vs non-physical) was not specified in this case. A large majority of the population thinks family members should be authorized to intervene. Smaller shares, though still a majority, think the courts, patrol police, psychologists, priests or relatives should be authorized to intervene. Notably, people are least likely to say that social workers, friends or neighbors should be authorized to intervene.

Note: A separate question was asked for each group/institution.

Compared to men, women were more likely to say that each of the groups and institutions asked about should be authorized to intervene.

Younger people and residents of Tbilisi report more often that these groups or institutions should be authorized to intervene in cases of domestic violence. Compared to those who are older, younger people are more likely to think that courts (75%), psychologists (74%), priests (69%) and social workers (62%) should be authorized to intervene in cases of domestic violence. Among people who are 56 and older, respectively, 67%, 62%, 62%, and 55% report the same. Similarly, people living in the capital are more likely to think courts (78%), the patrol police (77%), psychologists (75%), priests (74%), social workers (65%) and friends (63%) should be authorized to intervene in cases of domestic violence, while, respectively, 67%, 67%, 68%, 63%, 55%, and 56% of the rural population report the same.

A majority of the population of Georgia reports that non-physical violence is an issue that should be resolved within the family. When it comes to physical violence, people are less likely to agree that it should be resolved within the family. People living in the capital and younger people are less likely to agree that any type of domestic violence should be resolved within the family, compared to those residing in rural settlements and older people. Women and people with tertiary education are more likely to disagree that physical violence is an issue that should be resolved within the family, while there is no difference between males and females, as well people with different educational attainment when it comes to non-physical violence. A majority of people think that family members, courts and patrol police, among other individuals and institutions, should be authorized to intervene in cases of domestic violence.

To explore the CRRC/NDI survey findings, visit CRRC’s Online Data Analysis portal.

Why Georgian women need rights instead of flowers

[Note: This post was written by Natia Mestvirishvili, a Nonresident Senior Fellow at CRRC-Georgia and a Researcher at the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD). The post was co-published in English with Eurasianet and in Georgian with Liberali.]

International Women’s Day is celebrated on March 8th. In Georgia many women receive flowers on this day. Instead, some are asking for protection of their rights.

This data highlights the situation of and attitudes towards women in Georgia, based on official statistics and public opinion research:



Gender based violence starts in Georgia even before a girl is born: 

• While 76% of the population of Georgia say abortions are never justified, people tend to act differently if a girl is expected. As a result of sex selective abortions in 1990-2010, 25,000 girls are estimated to be missing in Georgia.
• If a family is to have only one child, every fourth person prefers a boy while only one in ten prefer a girl. 

If and when she is born, she grows up in a society where:

• 22% consider a university degree to be more important for a boy than for a girl;
• 57% believe that it is not acceptable for a woman of any age to drink hard alcohol such as vodka or brandy;
• 81% think that it is not acceptable for a woman of any age to smoke tobacco;
• 56% think that it is not acceptable for a woman of any age to live apart from their parents before marriage;
• 69% believe that it is never justified for a woman to have sexual relationships before marriage; 
• 57% believe that it is never justified for a woman to give birth to a child without being married.

Then she gets married and hears that:

• A man should normally be the only the breadwinner in the family; 
• He should also be the main decision maker in the family;
• Women cannot be as successful in their career as men because of the household responsibilities they have;  
• Taking care of the home and family satisfies a woman as much as a paid job. 

She will then become a mother in a country where:

• The maternal mortality rate is the worst in Eastern European and neighboring countries;
• 65% of people believe that “it is better for a preschool aged child if the mother does not work”;
• One in three disagree that “employed mothers can be as good caregivers to their children as mothers who do not work”;
• 74% believe that a woman is more valued for her family than for success in her career.

If she perseveres and gets a job, she will:

• Earn 39% less than men, on average.
• Have difficulties in career progression since one in five people think that women are not as good at decision making as men and nearly one in five men would feel uncomfortable with a woman as their immediate boss.

If she ever has problems with her husband:

• Every other compatriot would tell her that in order to preserve the family, a woman should endure a lot from her spouse; 
• Initiating divorce will only be justified to others if she is physically abused by her husband. If her husband is being unfaithful, psychologically abusive, or if she is no longer in love with him, these simply are not good enough reasons for a women to initiate divorce;  
• If her husband is psychologically abusive, most people will simply ignore her problems, since it is widely believed that non-physical violence is a matter that should only be dealt with in the family. And 39% of the population think the same about physical violence.

All these findings, and the sexism that underlies them, are likely accountable for the fact that there have been more than 60 gender-based murders or attempted murders of women in the past two years in Georgia. But the human rights committee of the parliament of Georgia has rejected a proposal that would define femicide as a premeditated murder of a woman based on her gender.

And still, every fifth person in the country says there is gender equality in Georgia.

The list of issues presented above is by no means exhaustive, but rather provides an overview of data which contributes to an understanding of perceived gender roles in Georgia.

Georgian parliamentary elections 2016 - Gender and ethnic minority representation on party lists

[This post was co-published with our partner, civil.ge]

The results of the 2016 Parliamentary elections in Georgia reveal some interesting patterns about the representation of women and ethnic minorities in Georgian politics. In the run-up to the election, lawmakers considered instituting gender quotas to come closer to the United Nations’ target of 30% of seats in parliament filled by women. Civil society organizations also lamented low ethnic minority participation in elections in Georgia. In this election cycle, women won 24 out of 150 seats (16.0%) in the upcoming parliament, and ethnic minority candidates won 11 seats (7.3%). While these figures still fall well short of international recommendations, Georgia’s next parliament will have the highest share of women and ethnic minorities that it ever has.

However, substantial roadblocks to the inclusion of women and ethnic minorities in electoral politics still exist. After the 2012 elections, the European Center for Minority Issues assessed party list composition as one of the major factors preventing women and representatives of ethnic minorities from being represented fairly in the parliament of Georgia. The infographic below shows the top six vote-getting parties in the 2016 election, ranked by shares of women and representatives of ethnic minorities on their party lists.

Not surprisingly, in the two parties that are led by women (Nino Burjanadze - Democratic Movement and the Alliance of Patriots of Georgia, chaired by Irma Inashvili), women tend to be better represented throughout the entire list, in spite of the fact that these two parties are generally seen as conservative by international observers. Importantly, the party that won a constitutional majority, the Georgian Dream (GD), had the lowest share of women on its party list (11.6%) of the top six parties. However, female candidates’ average number on the GD party list was 14 positions higher than that of male candidates (respectively, 65.7 and 79.7).

In terms of ethnic minorities, the upcoming parliament will include representatives of several ethnic groups, including Armenians, Azerbaijanis, Ossetians, Abkhaz, and Yezidis. Of the top six parties, the United National Movement (UNM) had the most ethnic minorities on its list, including Samira Ismailova, the first Azerbaijani female majoritarian candidate in Georgia’s history. Election results show that GD and UNM are still dominant in districts heavily populated by ethnic minorities, although a few other parties have made efforts to include similar or even greater shares of ethnic minority candidates on their party lists.

To explore this subject further, take a look at our Online Data Analysis platform, which has a number of surveys which asked about attitudes towards ethnic minority and gender representation in parliament. Also, take a look at CRRC blog posts on the representation of women in Georgia’s parliament compared to Armenia and Azerbaijan and public opinion about women in parliament in Georgia.

Parenting, gender attitudes and women’s employment in Georgia

In Georgia, unemployment is high, and it is higher among women than men. Policy changes are definitely needed not only to increase the employment opportunities, but also to ensure more equal employment opportunities for men and women. However, survey findings show that changes in Georgians’ attitudes towards gender roles are no less needed, as the population does not always support the idea of women having paid jobs – especially so, when they have young children. This blog post looks at what the population of Georgia thinks about working mothers and their ability to care for their children.

Women’s employment can be beneficial for families and societies in many ways. The potential benefits for children when they have working mothers were recently described in an article published by the Harvard Business School. The findings of a cross-national survey covering 24 countries suggest that it is good for children under the age of 14 if their mothers work, instead of staying at home full time. The study showed that the sons of working mothers are more caring for family members compared with the sons of stay-at-home mothers. Probably more importantly, daughters raised by working mothers had greater career success and more stable relationships than the daughters of stay-at-home mothers. Other studies indicate that the relationship between women’s attitudes early in life towards gender roles and their later employment is recursive: “women’s early gender role attitudes predict their [adult life] work hours and earnings, and women’s work hours predict their later gender egalitarianism” (Corrigall and Konrad, 2007).

In October 2014, CRRC-Georgia conducted a nationwide public opinion poll for the National Democratic Institute (NDI) on attitudes towards gender issues in Georgia. A representative sample of 3885 respondents was interviewed in order to explore their attitudes towards women’s participation in society and politics as well as ideas about how to improve women’s position in society.

The survey’s results indicate that female unemployment may not be considered a serious problem by Georgians, because women are believed to be capable of self-realization even if they do not have a job. Moreover, unemployed mother’s children are believed to be better off compared to the children of employed mothers. The chart below shows that 65% of Georgians believe “It is better for a preschool aged child if the mother does not work” and a smaller but still considerable share (37%) is more radical, disagreeing with the opinion that “Employed mothers can be as good caregivers to their children as mothers who do not work”. Over half (55%) of Georgians think that because of household responsibilities, women cannot be as successful in their career as men, and just below half of the population (44%) think that “Taking care of the home and family satisfies women as much as a paid job”.

Exploring these findings by gender shows that women are less likely to share traditional views regarding gender roles. Women are especially critical of the opinion that “Taking care of the home and family satisfies women as much as a paid job”, and 54% of Georgian women disagree with this opinion compared to 39% of men. It is also noteworthy that men have slightly but consistently higher rates of answering “Don’t know,” or refusing to answer these questions, which might mean that they are not really aware of women’s preferences and abilities when it comes to work-family balance.

Exploring the data by age shows that there is a tendency among young people to hold slightly more egalitarian views on gender roles compared to the older generations. Those who are 56 and older are less likely to think that “women and men equally need a job to feel self-realized,” than their younger fellow citizens.

To sum up, the data suggests that the higher level of women’s unemployment in Georgia compared to men’s may be caused, to a certain extent, by public attitudes towards gender roles. The good news is that women and young people share more egalitarian views, suggesting that the vicious circle between attitudes towards women’s employment in Georgia and their actual employment may have already started break down.

To take a deeper look into the data, explore it on our Online Data Analysis tool.

Deserving to be beaten and tolerating violence: Attitudes towards violence against women in Azerbaijan

Domestic violence counts for a considerable part of violence against women worldwide, with as many as 38% of all murders of women in 2013 being committed by intimate partners, compared with only 6% of murders of men according to the World Health Organization. The gendered character of domestic violence is a pressing issue in the South Caucasus. In Georgia, 1 in 11 married women has been a victim of physical domestic violence. Compounding the issue, 78% of women in Georgia consider domestic violence a private matter that should remain in the family, according to the United Nations Population Fund in 2010. Although, in Georgia 25 women were reported to have been killed by their husbands or partners in 2014 alone, the number is widely believed to be higher due to non-systematic practices of recording violence against women. In contrast to both Azerbaijan and Georgia, in Armenia there is still no legislation against domestic violence, with Amnesty International reporting that the numbers of women having experienced violence from their husbands or family members in 2008 was as high as 1 in 4 women. Azerbaijan presents a similarly alarming case, with 83 women that have been killed and 98 that committed suicide as a result of domestic violence in 2013, according to the Council of Europe. Against this background, it is important to have a closer look at people’s attitude towards violence against women and more specifically, towards domestic violence in Azerbaijan.

CRRC-Azerbaijan’s 2012 Social Capital, Media and Gender Survey in Azerbaijan, funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), provides an opportunity to explore the attitudes of different socio-demographic groups of the Azerbaijani population towards violence against women. Respondents were asked, to what extent they agree or disagree with the statements, “There are times when women deserve to be beaten” and “Women should tolerate violence in order to keep their families together.” This blog post looks into how the attitudes of the representatives of various socio-demographic groups differ towards these two statements, which are jointly referred to as “violence against women”.

In general, Azerbaijanis are more inclined to agree that women should tolerate domestic violence in order to keep their family together (40%) than to agree that there are times when a woman deserves to be beaten (22%). Thus, part of the Azerbaijani population thinks that even though women do not deserve to be beaten, they should still tolerate violence in order to keep their families together.

In Azerbaijan, men are more inclined than women to think that there are times when women deserve to be beaten and/or that women should tolerate violence in order to keep their families together. Thus, 13% more men than women think that there are times when women deserve to be beaten, and 9% more men think that women should tolerate violence in order to keep their families together. Nevertheless, it is important to notice that women themselves (16% in the former case, and an alarming 36% in the latter one) also agree with the statements. 

Note: Answers to both statements, “There are times when women deserve to be beaten” and “Women should tolerate violence in order to keep their families together,” were re-coded here and in the rest of the analysis as follows: “completely agree” and “somewhat agree” into “agree,” and “completely disagree” and “somewhat disagree” into “disagree.” Options “Do not know” and “Refuse to answer” are excluded from the analysis throughout the blog.

Attitudes towards violence against women also vary by settlement type. When moving from rural settlements to the capital, less people believe that women deserve to be beaten or that women should tolerate violence. The difference is visible when considering that 1 in 3 people in rural settlements think that there are times when women deserve to be beaten, against only 1 in 10 people agreeing with the statement in Baku. Moreover, almost every other person in rural settlements believes that women should tolerate violence in order to keep their families together, against less than 1 in 4 people that think so in Baku.

 

Attitudes towards violence against women also vary by economic situation. About a third (30%) of those that describe their economic situation as poor believe that there are times when women deserve to be beaten and half of them believe that women should tolerate violence, compared with 16% and 17% of those reporting their economic situation as good. Thus, it seems that the better their economic situation, the less Azerbaijanis tend to think that violence against women is justifiable.

 

Note: Answer options on economic situation were re-coded as follows: “very good” and “good” into “good” and “very poor” and “poor” into “poor”.

When it comes to the level of education, the most visible cleavage in relation to attitudes towards violence against women is between the people with higher education and everyone else. Not unexpectedly, people with higher education are less inclined to believe that women deserve to be beaten or that they should tolerate violence, compared to the rest of the population of Azerbaijan.

 

Note: Level of education was re-coded as follows: options “Vocational/technical degree”, “High school diploma (10 or 11 years)”, “Nine year diploma,” and “Did not obtain a nine year diploma” were combined into “High school/technical degree or lower,” and options “Bachelors degree/5 years diploma” and “Any degree above bachelors” were combined into “Bachelors degree/5 years diploma or higher”.


This blog post explored the attitudes of different socio-demographic groups in Azerbaijan towards violence against women, with a specific focus on domestic violence. The analysis showed that the more educated and the better off economically people are, the less they tend to believe that women should be beaten or that they should tolerate violence in order to keep their families together. The same is also true for women and people living in the urban settlements  ̶  especially in the capital  ̶  as opposed to men and people living in rural settlements of Azerbaijan.

What do you think are the attitudes of people in Georgia and Armenia towards violence against women? Join in the conversation on the CRRC Facebook page or in the comments section below. 

Are more educated women in Georgia choosing not to have children?

Some social scientists, such as Satoshi Kanazawa, argue that a woman’s education level can impact her willingness to have children. However, Linda Hirshman, a scholar of women’s issues, questions Kanazawa’s findings by arguing that reproduction is a culturally-inflected decision. Additionally, Gary Becker hypothesizes that women with higher education might not feel economic pressure such that marriage is economically advantageous. Thus, they might be more likely to postpone marriage and childbirth. The Center for Social Sciences (CSS) in Georgia provides data on gender attitudes, women’s roles and sexual behavior in Georgia. According to their 2012 presentation What Do Georgians Say about Gender Issues?!, CSS found that Georgian women are more likely to eschew dominant patriarchal views with respect to gender hierarchy in education, employment and the family. Following this debate, this blog explores the relationship between education, gender, personal income, and the perceived ideal number of children in Georgia based on the 2013 Caucasus Barometer (CB) survey data. 

Data from the Statistics Office of Georgia indicates that 57% of women are economically active, while 78% of men are economically active. From these figures we see that women’s economic activity, and subsequently women’s employment rate, is lower than men’s in Georgia. Despite this, women are more likely to have higher education than men. For example, according to the 2013 CB, out of those who say they have a higher education, 57% are women and 43% are men.  Nevertheless, the average monthly income among Georgian women is lower than men’s average monthly income. In addition, 34% of women say they do not have a personal income.  

Note: For the question “Speaking about your personal monetary income last month, after all taxes are paid, to which of the following groups do you belong?” the options ‘Up to USD 50’ and ‘no personal income’ were combined into the USD 0-50 option. 

However, despite differences in employment, average income and education, the ideal number of children for both men and women in Georgia is similar. 47% of women and 45% of men consider three children to be the most desirable number per family. For 25% of women and 23% of men, the ideal number of children is four. 

Women with a higher and secondary technical education are more likely to want three children. Women with secondary technical and secondary or lower education are more likely to say they want four or more children. The same difference between figures is apparent for the option “whatever number God will give us”- more women with secondary or lower education gave positive answers compared to the other two groups. Thus, there are different perceptions of the ideal number of children by education level. 

Note: For the question “What is the highest level of education you have achieved to date?” the options incomplete higher education completed higher education (BA, MA, or Specialist degree) and post-graduate degree are combined with the partial or complete higher or graduate education option.  No primary education, primary education (either complete or incomplete), incomplete secondary education and completed secondary education are combined with secondary or lower option.  

This blog post has reviewed whether a woman’s educational level is related to a woman’s willingness to have children in Georgia. The post has compared personal income, education level and the ideal number of children per family for men and women. It has showed data on the ideal number of children by education level for women. From the data, we can see that education level might have a minor effect towards women’s aspiration to have children in Georgia. Although, education level does not appear to effect women’s aspirations towards childbearing in general - since three is the ideal number of children according to most men and women in Georgia. However, while the difference among women with different educational backgrounds is still notable, education is not the only influence on women’s aspiration to have children in Georgia. 

For further reading, please visit the CRRC blog post on gender inequality in the South Caucasus. Information and analysis on gender statistics and women’s socio-economic conditions can be found in the annual report of the National Statistics office of Georgia. Also, please, review the Center for Social Sciences’ report on attitudes of the Georgian population on gender issues.

By Maka Chkhaidze