The article draws on a specific slice of data about genderbased
violence from a recent Quality of Life (QoL) survey
conducted amongst 16,729 respondents in Gauteng. While
gender-based violence comes in multiple forms, the focus of
the survey was on spousal or partner violence. The survey
posed a provocative statement to respondents about the
circumstances under which a man is justified in hitting or
beating his wife/partner, i.e. if she goes out without telling
him; if she doesn’t look after the children; if she argues with
him; if she refuses to have sex with him; if she burns the
food; and if she is unfaithful. This article explores the extent
to which particular attributes of respondents (sex, race,
income, education, participation of men/women; as well as
participation in civil society organisations) may account for
views that spouse/partner beating or hitting is justified. One
finding of interest was that the gender-based violence
question ‘if she is unfaithful’ received the strongest response
across all the socio-economic characteristics that were
evaluated.