‘My Husband is My Key to Paradise.’ Attitudes of Muslims in Indonesia and Norway to Spousal Roles and Wife-Beating

Abstract

This article explores the influence of religious factors and values held by local societies, when Muslims develop their personal attitudes and perceived religious norms regarding spousal roles and wife-beating. It is based on qualitative interviews with 59 Muslims in Indonesia (N = 35) and Norway (N = 24). In addition, relevant Indonesian and Norwegian Muslim literature and web pages are examined. According to most Indonesian respondents, Islamic norms prescribe male leadership and allow the husband to beat a disobedient wife. This was regarded as crucial for the wife's destiny after death. According to most Norwegian respondents, Islamic norms promote gender equality and oppose wife-beating. The sharp contrast between the perceived religious norms of Indonesian and Norwegian respondents may be caused by dissimilar cultural values in the two countries -values that influenced personal attitudes and thus the horizon of understanding where religion and authoritative text were interpreted. The reasoning of the respondents also sheds light on the importance of specific sacred texts when religious norms were developed individually. From a psychological point of view, the implementation of the egalitarian attitudes represented by numerous respondents may have positive effects for Muslim women living in patriarchal societies. ARTICLE HISTORY

Gender differences in the acceptance of wife-beating in Nigeria: evidence from the 2018 Demographic and Health Survey

“…There is no consensus among the earlier studies that tried to explain the stance of Islam on wife-beating. Eidhamar (2018) made reference to several passages in the Qur'an, some of which are woman-friendly and pampering, while others gave superiority status to the men. Hence, interpretation of these verses varies across countries and human beings (Indonesians interpret Islamic norms and texts as endorsing male leadership and wife-beating while Norwegians interpret them as upholding gender equality) [Eidhamar, 2018].…”

“…Eidhamar (2018) made reference to several passages in the Qur'an, some of which are woman-friendly and pampering, while others gave superiority status to the men. Hence, interpretation of these verses varies across countries and human beings (Indonesians interpret Islamic norms and texts as endorsing male leadership and wife-beating while Norwegians interpret them as upholding gender equality) [Eidhamar, 2018]. The way each person interprets these verses determine how they react to wife-beating, and their interpretation may be largely influenced by their socialisation process (i.e whether or not their socialisation process encourage gender inequality) and education.…”

Attitudes and beliefs about family and domestic violence in Australian faith-based communities: A qualitative study

“…In contrast, other studies identify factors within religion and faith-communities that support drivers of FDV. These include an emphasis on patriarchy and conceptions of gender and appropriate behaviour for men and women in intimate relationships together with institutional norms that legitimise male dominance (Adjei & Mpiani, 2020; Eidhamar, 2018; Hindelang, 2000; Ringel & Park, 2008; Westenberg, 2017). Religiosity can legitimize and predict acceptance of FDV through beliefs and teachings that emphasise male authority and female submission.…”

Culture and domestic violence amongst ever-married women in Malawi: an analysis of emotional, sexual, less-severe physical and severe physical violence

“…In all four types of domestic violence, the odds of Muslim women experiencing domestic violence were less than those of Christian women. This finding is interesting and may either indicate that Islamic teachings of wife's obedience to her husband ensures that the likelihood of Muslim women being at loggerheads with their husband are minimal or that such teachings increases acceptability of domestic violence amongst Muslim women such that they are less likely to report (Biswas et al, 2017;Eidhamar, 2018;Islam.org, 2015). In Malawi, Muslim women have higher odds of experiencing controlling behaviour than Christian women, which aligns with Islamic teachings (Chikhungu et al, 2019) but the finding from this study that the percentage of women that approve wife beating for any reason is higher amongst Christian women than Muslim women suggests that the low levels of violence among Muslim women may not be as a result of acceptance of violence and low reporting level, but that violence is actually low amongst Muslim women.…”