Longitudinal analysis of the impact of economic empowerment on risk for intimate partner violence among married women in rural Maharashtra, India

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess via longitudinal analysis whether women's economic empowerment and financial inclusion predicts incident IPV. This prospective study involved analysis of three waves of survey data collected from rural young married women (n = 853 women) in Maharashtra at baseline and 9&18 month follow-ups. This study, which was in the field from 2012 to 2014, was conducted as part of a larger family planning evaluation study unrelated to economic empowerment. Participants were surveyed on economic empowerment, as measured by items on women's income generation and joint decision-making of husband's income, and financial inclusion, as measured by bank account ownership. Women's land ownership and participation in microloan programs were also assessed but were too rare (2-3% reporting) to be included in analyses. Longitudinal regression models assessed whether women's economic empowerment predicted incident IPV at follow-up. At Wave 1 (baseline), one in ten women reported IPV in the past six months; 23% reported income generation; 58% reported having their own money; 61% reported joint control over husband's money, and 10% reported bank ownership. Women's income generation and having their own money did not predict IPV over time. However, women maintaining joint control over their husband's income were at a 60% reduced risk for subsequent incident IPV (AOR = 0.40; 95% CI = 0.18, 0.90), and women gaining joint control over time were at a 70% reduced risk for subsequent incident IPV (AOR = 0.30; 95% CI = 0.13, 0.72), relative to women whose husbands maintained sole control over his income. Women who initiated a new bank account by Wave 3 also had a 56% reduced likelihood of reporting incident IPV in this same wave (AOR = 0.44; 95% CI = 0.22, 0.93), relative to those who maintained no bank account at Waves 1 and 3. These findings suggest that women's joint control over husband's income and her financial inclusion as indicated by bank ownership appear to reduce risk for IPV, whereas her income generation or control over her own income do not. Awareness of and participation in financial inclusion services may help reduce women's risk for IPV in rural India and elsewhere.

Empowering Women Through Financial Inclusion: A Study of Urban Slum

“…Second part collected the information for social, economic, and political women empowerment. The items of political empowerment were adapted from Niemi, Craig, and Mattei (1991) and Boley, Ayscue, Maruyama, and Woosnam (2016); the items of social empowerment were adapted from Basu (2006) and Boley et al (2016); and the items of economic empowerment were adapted from Raj et al (2018), Postmus et al (2013) and Basu (2006). All estimations in the investigation were subjective assessments of the respondents utilizing five-point Likert scale (where 1 represents strongly disagree and 5 represents strongly agree).…”

Associations Between Women’s Economic and Social Empowerment and Intimate Partner Violence: Findings From a Microfinance Plus Program in Rural North West Province, South Africa

“…Furthermore, evaluation studies have also shown that such interventions do not necessarily result in decreases in women's experience of IPV. There are mixed study results from different contexts demonstrating increases and decreases in IPV that warrant further exploration (Dalal et al, 2013;Raj et al, 2018;Vyas & Watts, 2009). Theoretically, women's empowerment has the potential to have a positive or negative impact on their IPV risk; women with education, who contribute to household finances or have control over resources, may have higher household status and be less vulnerable to IPV (Vyas & Watts, 2009).…”

Women’s Reproductive Empowerment: A Comparative Study of Urban and Rural Females in Iran

“…Women's reproductive empowerment is defined as the ability and the right to decide freely on reproductive activities such as the number of children, childbearing time, and the age gap between the children. Adequate women's reproductive empowerment benefits the entire families and improves the productivity of future generations (8)(9)(10). Further, it improves women's self-confidence in childbearing and managing birth intervals (11).…”