Factors associated with IPV victimisation of women and perpetration by men in migrant communities of Nepal

Abstract

This paper aims to describe the prevalent forms of intimate partner violence (IPV), and the factors associated with IPV among women and men living in the two migrant communities of Baglung district, Nepal. 357 adult women and men were enrolled following a family model, interviewing young married women with daughter-in-law status in the home, their husbands, and mothers-in-law and fathers-in-laws using an electronic questionnaire. Random effects regression modelling compared men and women, as well as young married women with daughter-in-law status and older women with mothers-in-law with status. 28.6% of women had ever experienced physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner compared to 18.2% of men ever perpetrated these forms of violence against their wives. Being older, male controlling behaviour and poor relations with husband increased women’s IPV in their lifetime while perceptions that the mother-in-law is kind were protective. Being ashamed of being unemployed and childhood trauma were associated with men perpetrating IPV in their lifetime. Borrowing money or food increased young married women’s lifetime IPV risk while mother-in-law cruelty and male control increased older married women’s lifetime IPV exposure. Factors associated with IPV in the past year among men were being younger, job seeking, experiences of childhood trauma and depression exposure among men while difficulty accessing money for emergencies, holding inequitable gender attitudes, and depression was associated with women’s increased IPV exposure. Unemployment stress, holding inequitable gender attitudes and mother-in-law kindness were associated with young women’s increased IPV risk and hunger, mother-in-law cruelty and depression with older women’s IPV risk. There is a need to critically challenge harmful social and gender norms by using approaches that are sensitive to young married women’s position and unequal gender relations in the family. IPV prevention interventions need to employ a holistic approach that combines changing social and gender norms and improving socioeconomic conditions of women living in migrant communities.

“I got courage from knowing that even a daughter-in-law can earn her living”: Mixed methods evaluation of a family-centred intervention to prevent violence against women and girls in Nepal

“…This reduction of physical IPV among young married women is probably important though not significant, in part due to the smaller sample size. Most likely the reason sexual IPV is much higher at 18 months is due to underreporting at baseline and midline [28]. In comparison, a bigger What Works study that took place in Nepal around the same time as our study had much higher levels of IPV reporting: of the 1800 women surveyed from 36 clusters in three districts, 15.7% had reported physical violence, 18.1% (N = 325) sexual violence, and a quarter of them, 25.3% (N = 455) reported physical and/or sexual violence [49].…”

“…Women and girls have limited access to education and employment compared to men and boys. Their lower educational attainment, higher unemployment, and lower economic status increase their vulnerability to violence and dependence on their husbands [3,4,8,28].…”

“…Baseline findings from the One Community One Family project evaluation show that being older, have controlling husbands, having poor relations with their husband, and having to borrow money or food, and holding inequitable gender attitudes, increased all women's exposure to IPV while having a kinder mother-in-law was protective [28]. This provided a strong indication that an intervention designed like Sammanit Jeevan may be impactful in this setting.…”

Association between Intimate Partner Violence and Abortion in Nepal: A Pooled Analysis of Nepal Demographic and Health Surveys (2011 and 2016)

“…These behaviours include but not limited to the act of physical aggression, sexual coercion, and psychological abuse [ 1 ]. Violence against women is a serious public health problem [ 2 – 5 ]; it is considered as a violation of human rights [ 6 , 7 ]. It is evident that IPV during pregnancy places women in a greater vulnerable situation and has been documented as an important contributor to adverse maternal and fetal health outcomes [ 8 ].…”

“…In a patriarchal culture, men tend to have higher control over women decision making and health seeking practices and women lack control of resources. More than two-fifth (44%) of men agreed that women deserve to be beaten while 21% of men and 23% of women believed that husband beating spouses is justified if wives refuse to have sex on demands [ 2 , 18 ]. A global multicountry review study has reported that almost half of the women globally suffer physical abuse from their partner [ 14 ].…”