#Metoo: what factors affect the decision of abused Filipina women to break their silence?
Date
2018
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Abstract
This paper primarily aims to examine the factors that affect the likelihood that an abused woman will disclose of the abuse and will seek help. The analysis is contingent on the types of abuse experienced, the evidence of abuse, and the types of help employed. This paper is very timely given the current political climate on violence against women and the global attention given to this issue. We hope to contribute to this issue by analyzing the data from the Philippines
(Women’s Safety Module of the National Demographic and Health Survey in 2013) and controlling for the characteristics of the abused woman and the household she belongs to. Using Probit, multinomial logit, and Heckman Probit selection models, we find that while a measure of a woman’s decision-making power (control over the use of her own earnings) is positively correlated with the probability that she will seek help, her education and wealth are negatively correlated with this probability. We recommend future research on other factors that hinder abused women from seeking help, such as the frequency of abuse, behavior of partner and religious affiliation, in order for policy makers to improve the availability and effectiveness of help-seeking services in the Philippines.
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Keywords
Philippines, woman, abuse, silence, help-seeking, decision-making