Almost a quarter of men ‘admit to rape in parts of Asia’
Rape was particularly common within relationships. However, one in 10 men admitted raping a woman who was not their partner.
Ten thousand men from six countries took part in the survey.
It is the first multi-country study to examine how widespread violence against women is and the reasons behind it.
Of those who admitted rape, just under half said they had done so more than once.
The prevalence of rape varied between countries.
In Papua New Guinea, more than six out of 10 men surveyed admitted forcing a woman to have sex.
It was least common in urban areas of Bangladesh, where it was just under one in 10 and Sri Lanka where it was just over one in 10.
In Cambodia, China and Indonesia it ranged from one in five to almost half of all men surveyed.
The authors said that the findings do not represent the whole Asia and Pacific region – but the survey respondents do provide a good demographic match for the countries studied.
Men were asked questions like:
- Have you ever had sex with your partner when you knew she didn’t want to but you thought she should agree because she’s your wife/ partner?
- Have you ever had sex with a woman or girl when she was too drunk or drugged to say whether she wanted it or not?
They recorded their answers on hand-held computers while the interviewer left the room.
Percentage of men admitting rape
- Papua New Guinea Bougainville Island – 62%
- Indonesia Papua Province – 48.6%
- Indonesia urban – 26.2%
- China urban/rural – 22.2%
- Cambodia – 20.4%
- Indonesia rural – 19.5%
- Sri Lanka – 14.5%
- Bangladesh rural – 14.1%
- Bangladesh urban – 9.5%
Source: United Nations