Intimate partner violence is a social and public health problem that is prevalent across
the world. In many societies, power differentials in relationships, often supported
by social norms that promote gender inequality, lead to incidents of intimate partner
violence. Among other factors, both a woman’s years of education and educational differences
between a woman and her partner have been shown to have an effect on her likelihood
of experiencing intimate partner abuse. Using the 2010 Malawian Demographic
and Health Survey data to analyze intimate partner violence among 3,893 married
Malawian women and their husbands, this article focuses on understanding the effect
of educational differences between husband and wife on the likelihood of physical and
emotional abuse within a marriage. The results from logistic regression models show that
a woman’s level of education is a significant predictor of her likelihood of experiencing
intimate partner violence by her current husband, but that this effect is contingent on her
husband’s level of education. This study demonstrates the need to educate men alongside
of women in Malawi to help decrease women’s risk of physical and emotional intimate
partner violence.