Men’s use of economic coercion against women in rural Bangladesh.

Abstract

Objective: Bangladesh is historically a patriarchal society, but has made recent strides in increasing educational and economic opportunities for women. Yet men continue to perpetrate economic coercion and other forms of intimate partner violence (IPV) against women in Bangladesh. This study examines how men in rural Bangladesh shape the economic activities of their wives within the context of changing norms around women's involvement in economic domains. Men's perspectives are not often explored in the literature and can provide valuable insight into how and why economic coercion persists. Method: Twentyfive in-depth interviews were conducted with men in rural Bangladesh and analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: Men engaged in economically coercive practices, both implicitly and explicitly. Three themes captured how men perpetrated economic coercion: they held gendered expectations about how and if women should participate in economic activities, they monitored women's activities to ensure they conformed to the men's gendered expectations, and they placed explicit restrictions on women's economic activities to align with and maintain gender inequitable norms. Conclusion: These findings call attention to how men continue to see themselves as dominant over women in rural Bangladesh, despite the progress made in expanding educational and economic opportunities for women. The analysis points to the need for interventions that go beyond increased access to educational and economic programs for women to address the persistence of gender inequitable norms within patriarchal societies.

Development and validation of the Economic Coercion Scale-20 (ECS-20): A short-form of the ECS-36

“…Finally, we evaluated the measurement invariance of the two-factor ECS-20 short-form based on women's participation in microfinance programs. This group variable was chosen, given evidence that participation in microfinance programs may result in economic coercion in the household in LMIC settings [35][36][37]. Further, evaluation of women's microfinance participation on economic coercion using the ECS-36 has been published elsewhere [38].…”

Exploring patterns of intimate partner violence during pregnancy through a descriptive lens

“…The risk factors for IPV include lower educational levels, exposure to child maltreatment, observing domestic violence, antisocial personality traits, substance misuse, and detrimental masculine norms [4,9,10]. Societal norms that prioritize men over women and restrict economic opportunities for women further increase this risk [11,12]. Furthermore, contributing elements for IPV include a history of violence, marital discord, ineffective communication between partners, and male controlling behaviors within relationships.…”