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RTI International - News Release - 10.27.2009

India: Working Women Face Increased Domestic Violence - Study

Men Unable to Maintain Jobs More Likely to Commit Domestic Violence

BANGALORE—Although having a job may enhance women's empowerment and financial stability, a new study finds that young married women in India who work face an increased risk of domestic violence (being hit, kicked or beaten by their husband).

The study was conducted by researchers at RTI International's Women's Global Health Imperative, University of California–Berkeley, Indian Institute of Management–Bangalore, and International Center for Research on Women, and funded by a grant from the United States Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The researchers also found that husbands who have difficulty maintaining a job are more likely to be physically violent to their wives.

The research, published by Social Science and Medicine online Oct. 14, examined the association between spousal employment status and physical domestic violence in Bangalore. Almost 750 married women between the ages of 16 and 25 were recruited from working class neighborhoods in 2005-2006 and interviewed three times during a two-year period.

"Our study highlights the complex challenges of women's empowerment," said Suneeta Krishnan, Ph.D., an epidemiologist in RTI's Women's Global Health Imperative. "While increasing women's access to meaningful and fair employment, we must recognize the potential social repercussions of these efforts. Our study is consistent with evidence that rapid changes in gender roles and relations can lead to backlash, including violence against women."

The results showed that women who were unemployed at the time of one interview but began employment by the next interview a year later, had an 80 percent higher chance of experiencing domestic violence than did women who remained unemployed.

The research also found that women whose husbands had difficulty finding or keeping a job at the time of one of the interviews were more than twice as likely to experience domestic violence in the following year.

"A key social expectation of men once married is that they work and earn for their family, and failure to meet this expectation can lead to social disapproval," Krishnan said. "Social disapproval, a sense of inadequacy and frustration and related stressors associated with living in poverty may increase the likelihood of men perpetrating domestic violence."

This study highlights the high rate of domestic violence in India. Fifty-seven percent of women participating in the study reported having experienced domestic violence prior to joining the study. Additionally, nineteen percent of women who had not experienced domestic violence prior to the study experienced it at some point during the two-year study.

The research results also showed that women in "love" marriages were almost twice as likely to experience domestic violence than those in more traditional arranged marriages, highlighting the adverse impact of flouting social norms.

"This study underscores the urgent need for programs that address the impact of poverty and gender norms on men and programs that explicitly focus on promoting unbiased gender attitudes and norms so that we can achieve a violence-free and gender-equitable future," Krishnan said.

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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18952621?dopt=Citation

Int J Epidemiol. 2009 Apr;38(2):577-85. Epub 2008 Oct 24.

India - Challenging Assumptions About Women's Empowerment: Social and Economic Resources and Domestic Violence Among Young Married Women in Urban South India

Rocca CH, Rathod S, Falle T, Pande RP, Krishnan S.

Women's Global Health Imperative (WGHI), RTI International (Research Triangle Institute), San Francisco Office, San Francisco, CA 94104, USA. crocca@rti.org

BACKGROUND: Although considerable research has documented the widespread prevalence of spousal violence in India, little is known about specific risk or protective factors. This study examines the relationships between factors that are often considered to be social and economic resources for women and recent occurrence of domestic violence. METHODS: Data were collected from 744 young married women in slum areas of Bangalore, India. Unadjusted and adjusted multivariable logistic regression models were used to determine factors associated with having been hit, kicked or beaten by one's husband in the past 6 months. RESULTS: Over half (56%) of the study participants reported having ever experienced physical domestic violence; about a quarter (27%) reported violence in the past 6 months. In a full multivariable model, women in 'love' marriages (OR=1.7, 95% CI 1.1-2.5) and those whose families were asked for additional dowry after marriage (OR=2.3, 95% CI 1.5-3.4) were more likely to report domestic violence. Women who participated in social groups (OR=1.6, 95% CI 1.0-2.4) and vocational training (OR=3.1, 95% CI 1.7-5.8) were also at higher risk. CONCLUSIONS: Efforts to help women empower themselves through vocational training, employment opportunities and social groups need to consider the potential unintended consequences for these women, such as an increased risk of domestic violence. The study findings suggest that the effectiveness of anti-dowry laws may be limited without additional strategies that mobilize women, families and communities to challenge the widespread acceptance of dowry and to promote gender equity. Longitudinal studies are needed to elucidate the complex causal relationships between 'love' marriages and domestic violence.

PMCID: PMC2734072 [Available on 2010/4/1]





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