A 2009 study involving interviews with girls aged 6-14 and the mothers of girls aged 2-5 and a survey of 4,649 women and 1,550 men found that corporal punishment at home and in schools was very common and that 88.5% of girls aged 2-5, 88% of girls aged 5-9 and 87.7% of girls aged 10-14 had been beaten. When asked about the reasons for violence experienced by girls, 85.5% of interviewees said that it was for “education”. Half of interviewees said that violence to girls resulted in “submission”, 32.9% “scars on the body”, 9.9% “timidity” and 1.7% “death”.
(Ministère de la Famille et de la Solidarité National, 2009, Les Violences Faites aux Femmes au Bénin)
According to statistics from UNICEF relating to the period 2001-2007, of girls and women aged 15-49, 47% think that a husband is justified in hitting or beating his wife under certain circumstances.
(UNICEF, 2009, Progress for Children: A report card on child protection, NY: UNICEF
www.childinfo.org/files/Progress_for_Children-No.8_EN.pdf)