Growing up in violent surroundings is likely to implant during youth an attitude that violence is motivated, attitudes which are likely to follow into adulthood. These findings warrant a need for awareness-raising and interventions to change attitudes about acceptability of IPV across the entire age span. The results suggest a social gradient in attitudes toward violence among Zambian women. An overwhelming majority of the women in Zambia (85 percent) would justify intimate partner violence (IPV) for at least one of the following reasons: burning food, going without informing the partner, neglecting the children, arguing with the partner, and refusing sexual intercourse with the partner. This causes no surprise in a substantial proportion of the ever-married women having been exposed to IPV, 44 percent. Women having a history of IPV were at higher risk of justifying IPV than peers without IPV experience. Uneducated and low-educated women were more likely to report tolerant attitudes toward violence. In addition, socially disadvantaged women risk tolerating violence to a higher degree than their more advantaged peers. The proportion of women with tolerant attitudes toward IPV reduced as accessibility to information and autonomy in household decisions increased. Recent statistics indicate that more than 53 percent of Zambian women have, since the age of 15, experienced some form of physical victimization. The data also indicate that such abuse is more prevalent among women older than 20 years, married, living in urban settings, and with high education levels. Even though the data on IPV in Zambia is extensive, research on women’s attitudes toward IPV and its determinants is limited. This study examined the relationship between attitudes toward IPV and history of IPV abuse, demographic, and social-status variables and empowerment indicators. Tables, references