Gender differences in marital violence: A cross-ethnic study among Bengali, Garo, and Santal communities in rural Bangladesh

Abstract

Studies on marital violence (MV) in Bangladesh have primarily focused on the women of the mainstream Bengali people, although half of the population is men, and there are also ethnic minority communities with diverse gender constructions. The current study examined the gender differences in MV among the matrilineal ethnic minority Garo, patrilineal ethnic minority Santal, and the patrilineal mainstream Bengali communities in rural Bangladesh. Adopting a cross-sectional design, we randomly included 1,929 currently married men and women from 24 villages. We used cross-tabulations as well as multivariate logistic regressions to estimate the ethnic and gender differences in MV. Data revealed that women were widely exposed to different types of MV, while only a few men experienced such abuses. It showed that 95.6% of the women experienced emotional abuse, 63.5% physical abuse, 71.4% sexual abuse, and 50.6% poly-victimization, whereas these rates were quite low among the men (emotional = 9.7%, physical = 0.7%, sexual = 0.1%). No men reported poly-victimization. The odds ratio (OR) for emotional, physical, and sexual MV were respectively, 184.44 (95% CI = 93.65−363.24, p<0.001), 449.23 (95% CI = 181.59−1111.35, p<0.001), and 2789.71(95% CI = 381.36−20407.08, p<0.001) for women compared to men. Data further revealed that matrilineal Garo women experienced less MV (emotional = 90.7%, physical = 53.4%, sexual = 64.0%, poly = 38.8%) than the patrilineal Santal (emotional = 99.4%, physical = 67.3%, sexual = 71.3%, poly = 53.9%) and Bengali women (emotional = 96.6%, physical = 69.6%, sexual = 78.8%, poly = 58.9%). Multivariate regressions also showed that the Bengali society perpetrated more physical (OR = 1.90, 95% CI = 1.27−2.85, p = 0.002) and sexual (OR = 2.04, 95% CI = 1.34−3.10, p = 0.001) MV than the Garo society. It appears that MV is largely a gendered issue in the country. Though both women and men can be the victims of MV, the nature/extent of victimization noticeably differs according to the social organization. Matrilineal society appears to be less abusive than the patrilineal one. Interventions aimed to prevent domestic violence in rural Bangladesh should take these findings into account.

Gender and Awareness of Laws on Intimate Partner Violence: A Study Among Bengali, Garo, and Santal Ethnic Communities in Rural Bangladesh

“…The leading independent variables were gender and ethnicity. Regarding the findings of previous studies, several covariates/factors such as age, education, occupation, income, and family structure were also controlled (Karim et al, 2021; Wahed & Bhuiya, 2007).…”

“…They have ensured the legal rights of the survivors as well as enacted harsh punishments for the offenders (see Annex 1). However, despite these legislative initiatives, IPV against women is still a pervasive social problem, particularly in rural areas (Karim et al, 2021). It appears that the laws are ineffective to a greater extent.…”

“…The problem is more intense in the rural areas. A recent study revealed that the rate of lifetime IPV survivors among the rural married women was 96.8% (emotional = 95.6%, physical = 63.5%, sexual = 71.4%, poly-victimization = 5.6%), while it was only 9.9% (emotional = 9.7%, physical = .7%, sexual = .1%, poly-victimization = .0%) among their male counterparts (Karim et al, 2021).…”

“…The mainstream Bengali population of the country is traditionally patriarchal, consisting of 98% of the total inhabitants. There are also at least 27 ethnic minority communities living in Bangladesh (Karim et al, 2021; Minority Rights Group International, 2018). Although most ethnic minorities, for example, Chakma, Marma, Manipuri, Santal, etc., are patriarchal, there are also matrilineal societies such as the Garo and Khasi.…”

“…The gender construction among the ethnic minority communities is generally different from the mainstream Bengali community. It is believed that the status of women is relatively higher among the ethnic communities than the Bengalis (Karim et al, 2021). Thus, it is important to assess different IPV-related issues among ethnic minorities.…”