Zambia Demographic and Health Survey 2001-2002 - Measure DHS

CHARACTERISTICS OF RESPONDENTS3AND WOMEN’S CHARACTERISTICSSheila S. MudendaThe objective of this chapter is to provide a demographic and socioeconomic profile of respondentsin the 2001-2002 Zambia DHS. Information on the basic characteristics of women and men interviewedin the survey is essential for the interpretation of findings presented later in the report and canprovide an approximate indication of the representativeness of the survey.The chapter begins by describing basic background characteristics, including age, marital status,educational level, and residential characteristics. This is followed by more detailed information on education,literacy, and exposure to mass media. Next, data on the employment and earnings of women, decisionmaking in the household and attitudes on women's position in relation to others in the household arepresented. Last, data on tobacco use are provided as a lifestyle measure.3.1 CHARACTERISTICS OF SURVEY RESPONDENTSThe percent distributions of women age 15-49 and of men age 15-59 interviewed in the 2001-2002 ZDHS by key background characteristics, including age, marital status, urban-rural residence, placeof residence, and educational level, are presented in Table 3.1. A high proportion of the respondents areyouths (i.e., 15-24 years). The proportion in each age group tends to decrease with increasing age.Table 3.1 shows that most of the respondents were married, although the proportion of marriedwomen is higher than that of men by almost 3 percentage points. Not surprisingly, about a quarter of femalerespondents had never been married compared with over a third (36 percent) of male respondents.Data in chapter 6 of this report affirm that men marry later (23 years) than women (18 years). Table 3.1also shows that the proportion of female respondents who are divorced/separated at the time of the surveyis higher than for male respondents (9 and 4 percent, respectively), presumably because men are morelikely to remarry than women.The majority (60 percent) of both women and men interviewed live in rural areas. The largestshare of both female and male respondents is from the Copperbelt province (20 and 21 percent, respectively),with the smallest share recorded in North-Western province (5 percent and 4 percent, respectively).Table 3.1 further shows that there are more educated men than women. For both sexes, the majorityof those who have been to school have only completed primary school (58 percent of women and51 percent of men). Only 5 percent of men report no education versus 12 percent of women. Forty-fourpercent of men have had at least some secondary education versus only 30 percent of women.Table 3.1 also shows that the majority of women (75 percent) and men (72 percent) are Protestant,followed by Catholic (23 percent and 24 percent, respectively). The most common ethnic groupamong both women (36 percent) and men (35 percent) is Bemba, followed by Nyanja (17 percent each).3.2 EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENTEducational attainment is generally one of the key indicators of the status of women. As stated inan International Labour Organisation (ILO) briefing kit, large educational differentials between men andwomen tend to sustain a perpetual gender inequality within the family and in society at large. Data onCharacteristics of Respondents │ 25