Women ’s Income-generating Activity and Experiences of Economic Intimate Partner Violence in Rural Bangladesh

AbstractEconomic coercion is a form of intimate partner violence (IPV) that is distinct from but often co-occurs with physical, psychological, and sexual IPV. Women ’s experiences of economic coercion are understudied in low- and middle-income countries, despite increases in women’s economic opportunities in these settings. Bangladesh is a salient site to understand how women experience, interpret and give meaning to economic coercion because historical gen der inequalities in access to economic opportunities and resources are changing in favor of greater participation of women in economic activities. We conducted in-depth qualitative interviews with 24 married women aged 19–47 years to understand their experiences of economic coercion with respect to their involvement in income-generating activities in rural Bangladesh. Overall, we found that women’s experiences of economic coercion were multi-dimensional, and influenced by women’s participation in income-generating activities. In this setting, three major domains of economic coercion by husbands emerged from women’s narratives: denial of access to income-generating activities, coercive control over resources, and economic neglect. Furthermore, participant narratives reflected the continued influence of the patriarchal family system, and the gendered power relations therein, on wo men’s experiences of economic coercion, despite increases in women’s involvement in income-generating activities. Our results sug...
Source: Sex Roles - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research