‘Violence exists to show manhood’: Nepali men’s views on domestic violence – a qualitative study

Abstract

Background: There is significant evidence of the prevalence and factors associated with domestic violence in high and low-income country settings. However, men’s views on domestic violence are still understudied and have never been reported in Nepali society. Objective: The aim of the study was to explore Nepali men’s perceptions regarding domestic violence in their communities. Method: The authors undertook a qualitative study using focus group discussions. Results: Sixty-six married men, considered they were responsible for upholding family discipline and physically demonstrating their masculinity, and they suggested that violence was a mean for achieving this. Men’s frustration when unable to fulfil their family’s expectations or material needs, and cultural attitudes that precluded interference in other families’ lives, were perceived as factors contributing to domestic violence. The men held the opinion that women also perpetrated domestic violence. Some men were reluctant to accept domestic violence as a norm in Nepali families and were aware of recent changes in societal expectations regarding gender roles. Conclusion: Overall, the Nepali men who participated in the study held different and sometimes opposing views on domestic violence, ranging from violence justified as a necessity for family discipline, uneasy acceptance that violence was commonplace in families, to definite opposition to the use of domestic violence. The study’s findings provide information for identifying points of intervention for violence-prevention efforts and strategies to alter the social and cultural norms that lead to acceptance of domestic violence