Intimate partner violence (IPV) harms the health of women and their children. In Vietnam, 31% of ... more Intimate partner violence (IPV) harms the health of women and their children. In Vietnam, 31% of women report lifetime exposure to physical IPV, and surprisingly, women justify physical IPV against wives more often than do men. We compare men's and women's rates of finding good reason for wife hitting and assess whether differences in childhood experiences and resources and constraints in adulthood account for observed differences. Probability samples of married men (n = 522) and women (n = 533) were surveyed in Vietnam. Ordered logit models assessed the proportional odds for women versus men of finding more "good reasons" to hit a wife (never, 1-3 situations, 4-6 situations). In all situations, women found good reason to hit a wife more often than did men. The unadjusted odds for women versus men of reporting more good reasons to hit a wife were 6.55 (95% confidence interval [CI] = [4.82, 8.91]). This gap disappeared in adjusted models that included significant in...
Research is lacking on how power processes can influence women's reporting of their attitudes... more Research is lacking on how power processes can influence women's reporting of their attitudes about intimate partner violence (IPV) against women. Structural elements of textual data were investigated as potential evidence of latent power. Overall, the majority of the women switched their response at least once throughout the interview, and the context of these contradictory responses provide evidence that women's reporting of attitudes about IPV against women may be understood as arising in part from latent power processes. New methodological tools are needed to better understand women's personal attitudes about IPV against women.
... We are also grateful to the directors and staff of Grameen Bank and BRAC for their collaborat... more ... We are also grateful to the directors and staff of Grameen Bank and BRAC for their collaboration and assis-tance in the research, and to the field research team: Tofazzal Hossain Monju, Nurul Huda Chanchal, Rubina Ferdousi, Shamsul Huda Badal, Ashrafunnessa Tinni, Reaz ...
This paper presents findings from a study of Grameen Bank and the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Co... more This paper presents findings from a study of Grameen Bank and the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), two programs that provide credit to poor rural women in Bangladesh. The programs were found to have significant effects on eight different dimensions of women's ...
Although violence by men against women in Bangladesh occurs in most cases within the home, in a l... more Although violence by men against women in Bangladesh occurs in most cases within the home, in a larger sense it does not originate in the home nor persist only within the home. It is simply one element in a system that subordinates women through social norms that define women's place and guide their conduct. This paper uses ethnographic and structured survey data from a study in rural Bangladesh to explore the relationship between domestic violence against women and their economic and social dependence. It describes some of the common situations in which violence against women occurs in Bangladeshi society, analyzes its larger context, and identifies factors that appear to lessen its incidence in this particular socio-economic setting. The study findings suggest that group-based credit programs can reduce men's violence against women by making women's lives more public. The problem of men's violence against women is deeply rooted, however, and the authors argue that much more extensive interventions will be needed to significantly undermine it.
Summary In Guatemala, especially in rural areas, gender norms contribute to high fertility and cl... more Summary In Guatemala, especially in rural areas, gender norms contribute to high fertility and closely spaced births by discouraging contraceptive use and constraining women from making decisions regarding the timing of their pregnancies and the size of their families. Community workshops for men, women and couples were conducted in 30 rural communities in Guatemala to test the hypothesis that the promotion of gender equity in the context of reproductive health will contribute to gender-equitable attitudes and strengthen the practice of family planning. Communities were randomly assigned to intervention and control groups. Pre/post surveys were conducted. Odds ratios estimated with mixed effect models to account for community-level randomization and repeated measures per participant were compared. The analyses showed statistically significant effects of the intervention on two of the three outcomes examined: gender attitudes and contraceptive knowledge. Findings regarding contracept...
In July 1997, USAID/Philippines made a request through the Office of Women in Development (G/WID)... more In July 1997, USAID/Philippines made a request through the Office of Women in Development (G/WID) for WIDTECH to provide technical services to ensure further integration and mainstreaming of gender and development in the mission's strategy in the Philippines. A WIDTECH team was asked to conduct an assessment of ways to more effectively address gender in the mission's six strategic objectives: economic growth, trade and investment, population and health, environment, and democracy and governance, as well as in two special objectives: HIV/AIDS and Amerasians. The expected results of the assessment were to provide the mission with concrete recommendations for both current and future development activities. The WIDTECH team consisted of five sector specialists: Sidney Schuler (Team The originally proposed task was ambitious in that the mission had hoped for specific actions steps from design and implementation through to monitoring and evaluation in its various programs and projects within each sector. The team made every effort to suggest actionable recommendations, but within each sector there are different challenges to program implementation, and design and application of indicators, in some cases requiring innovative pilot approaches. It is the team's hope that the broad set of recommendations offered here will serve as a discussion and launch point for possible future work. Understandably, with time and resource constraints, we hope that each sector will consider the range of possibilities presented and identify a few priority areas that can be addressed in the short term, as well as some that can be addressed in the long term, in future strategic planning exercises at the mission level. WIDTECH would be pleased to work with mission staff on strategies for operationalizing the priorities.
We assess the association of men&... more We assess the association of men's exposure to violence in childhood-witnessing physical violence against one's mother and being hit or beaten by a parent or adult relative-with their attitudes about intimate partner violence (IPV) against women. We explore whether men's perpetration of IPV mediates this relationship and whether…
... We wish to thank the other members of our research team: Quach Thu Trang, Tran Tien Duc and P... more ... We wish to thank the other members of our research team: Quach Thu Trang, Tran Tien Duc and Phan Thi Thu Ha from Population and Development International (PDn; and Nguyen Minh Duc, Pham Vu Thien and Vu Song Ha from the Consultation of Investment in Health ...
Using a couple-centered approach, this study focuses on the relative attributes and attitudes of ... more Using a couple-centered approach, this study focuses on the relative attributes and attitudes of spouses as predictors of marital violence. Analysis of data from Vietnam showed that 37% of married women have ever been hit by their husbands. Regression results found that husbands with lower resources or status than their wives were more likely to have abused. Results also found that the association between husbands' gender attitudes and marital violence depends on the level of equity of wives'attitudes. The decline in violence among couples in which husbands expressed gender equitable attitudes was greater when wives also expressed equitable attitudes.
This article seeks to deepen understanding of the reasons that abused women in a resource-poor ru... more This article seeks to deepen understanding of the reasons that abused women in a resource-poor rural setting seek recourse so seldom and with so little success. Data from in-depth interviews and group discussions are used to explore the range of responses to domestic violence and to examine barriers to recourse seeking. Findings illustrate how the combination of poverty and gender inequality, inequities in the legal framework, and patriarchal attitudes and corruption in both formal and informal institutions at the local level discourage abused women from seeking recourse and decrease the likelihood of a favorable outcome when they do.
This article presents qualitative findings from a project designed to develop better methodologic... more This article presents qualitative findings from a project designed to develop better methodological tools for clarifying women's and men's attitudes about intimate partner violence (IPV) in rural Bangladesh and their perceptions of norms about IPV in their communities. Cognitive interviews and focus-group discussions were used to explore respondents' subjective understanding of standard survey questions meant to elicit attitudes about IPV. We find that the proportion of participants who justified IPV under some circumstances increased when additional context was provided, suggesting that the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) questions may underrepresent the proportions of people who condone IPV. Moreover, most people in this social context also believed that IPV often goes beyond socially sanctioned limits and that something should be done to stop it-an important caveat that the DHS questions are not designed to capture. These findings suggest that incorporation of additional context into questions on IPV attitudes would make responses to these questions more meaningful.
In Bangladesh family planning has broadened women's space within the family and society. Bas... more In Bangladesh family planning has broadened women's space within the family and society. Based on findings from ethnographic research in six villages, this paper describes how family planning came to be defined as a domain in which women are encouraged to take ...
This study uses qualitative data to examine young women's relatio... more This study uses qualitative data to examine young women's relationships with their mothers and mothers-in-law to understand how these relationships foster empowerment in the younger generation or fail to do so. The data consist of ethnographic interviews with 20 triads of women-young married women, their mothers and their mothers-in-law. Findings show that the influence of empowerment across generations was greater in the sphere of economic empowerment and education than in relation to marriage and childbearing. The study illustrates how patriarchal institutions resistant to change can limit the effects of women's empowerment on the next generation.
In 1997 a consortium of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Bangladesh began to implement he... more In 1997 a consortium of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Bangladesh began to implement health sector reform measures intended to expand access to and improve the quality of family planning and other basic health services. The new service delivery model entails higher costs for clients and requires that they take greater initiative. Clients have to travel further to get certain services, and they have to pay more for them than they did under the previous door-to-door family planning model. This paper is based on findings from a qualitative study looking at client and community reactions to the programme changes. It examines a number of barriers to access and constraints to cost recovery, including gender, class and ideas about entitlements, the role of government and obligations among people. The NGOs want to maximize cost recovery while making the basic services they offer accessible to most people. The findings suggest that this requires more than the establishment of an appropriate pricing structure. Attitudes related to charging and paying for services must also change, along with the institutional policies and practices that support them.
... Diana Santilldn, Sidney Ruth Schuler; Hoang Tu Anh, Tran Hung Minh, Quach Thu Trang, andNguye... more ... Diana Santilldn, Sidney Ruth Schuler; Hoang Tu Anh, Tran Hung Minh, Quach Thu Trang, andNguyen Minh Duc From mid-1999 to mid-2001, the authors carried out a qualitative study in rural Vietnam to explore relationships between gender equity and reproductive health. ...
... and Shamsul Huda Badal ... Has your husband ever beaten you?' Women ... more ... and Shamsul Huda Badal ... Has your husband ever beaten you?' Women who said yes were then asked: `Did he beat you at any time during the past year?' Overall, two-thirds said they had been beaten at one time or another, and in one village the incidence was as high as 87 ...
Intimate partner violence (IPV) harms the health of women and their children. In Vietnam, 31% of ... more Intimate partner violence (IPV) harms the health of women and their children. In Vietnam, 31% of women report lifetime exposure to physical IPV, and surprisingly, women justify physical IPV against wives more often than do men. We compare men's and women's rates of finding good reason for wife hitting and assess whether differences in childhood experiences and resources and constraints in adulthood account for observed differences. Probability samples of married men (n = 522) and women (n = 533) were surveyed in Vietnam. Ordered logit models assessed the proportional odds for women versus men of finding more "good reasons" to hit a wife (never, 1-3 situations, 4-6 situations). In all situations, women found good reason to hit a wife more often than did men. The unadjusted odds for women versus men of reporting more good reasons to hit a wife were 6.55 (95% confidence interval [CI] = [4.82, 8.91]). This gap disappeared in adjusted models that included significant in...
Research is lacking on how power processes can influence women's reporting of their attitudes... more Research is lacking on how power processes can influence women's reporting of their attitudes about intimate partner violence (IPV) against women. Structural elements of textual data were investigated as potential evidence of latent power. Overall, the majority of the women switched their response at least once throughout the interview, and the context of these contradictory responses provide evidence that women's reporting of attitudes about IPV against women may be understood as arising in part from latent power processes. New methodological tools are needed to better understand women's personal attitudes about IPV against women.
... We are also grateful to the directors and staff of Grameen Bank and BRAC for their collaborat... more ... We are also grateful to the directors and staff of Grameen Bank and BRAC for their collaboration and assis-tance in the research, and to the field research team: Tofazzal Hossain Monju, Nurul Huda Chanchal, Rubina Ferdousi, Shamsul Huda Badal, Ashrafunnessa Tinni, Reaz ...
This paper presents findings from a study of Grameen Bank and the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Co... more This paper presents findings from a study of Grameen Bank and the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), two programs that provide credit to poor rural women in Bangladesh. The programs were found to have significant effects on eight different dimensions of women's ...
Although violence by men against women in Bangladesh occurs in most cases within the home, in a l... more Although violence by men against women in Bangladesh occurs in most cases within the home, in a larger sense it does not originate in the home nor persist only within the home. It is simply one element in a system that subordinates women through social norms that define women's place and guide their conduct. This paper uses ethnographic and structured survey data from a study in rural Bangladesh to explore the relationship between domestic violence against women and their economic and social dependence. It describes some of the common situations in which violence against women occurs in Bangladeshi society, analyzes its larger context, and identifies factors that appear to lessen its incidence in this particular socio-economic setting. The study findings suggest that group-based credit programs can reduce men's violence against women by making women's lives more public. The problem of men's violence against women is deeply rooted, however, and the authors argue that much more extensive interventions will be needed to significantly undermine it.
Summary In Guatemala, especially in rural areas, gender norms contribute to high fertility and cl... more Summary In Guatemala, especially in rural areas, gender norms contribute to high fertility and closely spaced births by discouraging contraceptive use and constraining women from making decisions regarding the timing of their pregnancies and the size of their families. Community workshops for men, women and couples were conducted in 30 rural communities in Guatemala to test the hypothesis that the promotion of gender equity in the context of reproductive health will contribute to gender-equitable attitudes and strengthen the practice of family planning. Communities were randomly assigned to intervention and control groups. Pre/post surveys were conducted. Odds ratios estimated with mixed effect models to account for community-level randomization and repeated measures per participant were compared. The analyses showed statistically significant effects of the intervention on two of the three outcomes examined: gender attitudes and contraceptive knowledge. Findings regarding contracept...
In July 1997, USAID/Philippines made a request through the Office of Women in Development (G/WID)... more In July 1997, USAID/Philippines made a request through the Office of Women in Development (G/WID) for WIDTECH to provide technical services to ensure further integration and mainstreaming of gender and development in the mission's strategy in the Philippines. A WIDTECH team was asked to conduct an assessment of ways to more effectively address gender in the mission's six strategic objectives: economic growth, trade and investment, population and health, environment, and democracy and governance, as well as in two special objectives: HIV/AIDS and Amerasians. The expected results of the assessment were to provide the mission with concrete recommendations for both current and future development activities. The WIDTECH team consisted of five sector specialists: Sidney Schuler (Team The originally proposed task was ambitious in that the mission had hoped for specific actions steps from design and implementation through to monitoring and evaluation in its various programs and projects within each sector. The team made every effort to suggest actionable recommendations, but within each sector there are different challenges to program implementation, and design and application of indicators, in some cases requiring innovative pilot approaches. It is the team's hope that the broad set of recommendations offered here will serve as a discussion and launch point for possible future work. Understandably, with time and resource constraints, we hope that each sector will consider the range of possibilities presented and identify a few priority areas that can be addressed in the short term, as well as some that can be addressed in the long term, in future strategic planning exercises at the mission level. WIDTECH would be pleased to work with mission staff on strategies for operationalizing the priorities.
We assess the association of men&... more We assess the association of men's exposure to violence in childhood-witnessing physical violence against one's mother and being hit or beaten by a parent or adult relative-with their attitudes about intimate partner violence (IPV) against women. We explore whether men's perpetration of IPV mediates this relationship and whether…
... We wish to thank the other members of our research team: Quach Thu Trang, Tran Tien Duc and P... more ... We wish to thank the other members of our research team: Quach Thu Trang, Tran Tien Duc and Phan Thi Thu Ha from Population and Development International (PDn; and Nguyen Minh Duc, Pham Vu Thien and Vu Song Ha from the Consultation of Investment in Health ...
Using a couple-centered approach, this study focuses on the relative attributes and attitudes of ... more Using a couple-centered approach, this study focuses on the relative attributes and attitudes of spouses as predictors of marital violence. Analysis of data from Vietnam showed that 37% of married women have ever been hit by their husbands. Regression results found that husbands with lower resources or status than their wives were more likely to have abused. Results also found that the association between husbands' gender attitudes and marital violence depends on the level of equity of wives'attitudes. The decline in violence among couples in which husbands expressed gender equitable attitudes was greater when wives also expressed equitable attitudes.
This article seeks to deepen understanding of the reasons that abused women in a resource-poor ru... more This article seeks to deepen understanding of the reasons that abused women in a resource-poor rural setting seek recourse so seldom and with so little success. Data from in-depth interviews and group discussions are used to explore the range of responses to domestic violence and to examine barriers to recourse seeking. Findings illustrate how the combination of poverty and gender inequality, inequities in the legal framework, and patriarchal attitudes and corruption in both formal and informal institutions at the local level discourage abused women from seeking recourse and decrease the likelihood of a favorable outcome when they do.
This article presents qualitative findings from a project designed to develop better methodologic... more This article presents qualitative findings from a project designed to develop better methodological tools for clarifying women's and men's attitudes about intimate partner violence (IPV) in rural Bangladesh and their perceptions of norms about IPV in their communities. Cognitive interviews and focus-group discussions were used to explore respondents' subjective understanding of standard survey questions meant to elicit attitudes about IPV. We find that the proportion of participants who justified IPV under some circumstances increased when additional context was provided, suggesting that the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) questions may underrepresent the proportions of people who condone IPV. Moreover, most people in this social context also believed that IPV often goes beyond socially sanctioned limits and that something should be done to stop it-an important caveat that the DHS questions are not designed to capture. These findings suggest that incorporation of additional context into questions on IPV attitudes would make responses to these questions more meaningful.
In Bangladesh family planning has broadened women's space within the family and society. Bas... more In Bangladesh family planning has broadened women's space within the family and society. Based on findings from ethnographic research in six villages, this paper describes how family planning came to be defined as a domain in which women are encouraged to take ...
This study uses qualitative data to examine young women's relatio... more This study uses qualitative data to examine young women's relationships with their mothers and mothers-in-law to understand how these relationships foster empowerment in the younger generation or fail to do so. The data consist of ethnographic interviews with 20 triads of women-young married women, their mothers and their mothers-in-law. Findings show that the influence of empowerment across generations was greater in the sphere of economic empowerment and education than in relation to marriage and childbearing. The study illustrates how patriarchal institutions resistant to change can limit the effects of women's empowerment on the next generation.
In 1997 a consortium of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Bangladesh began to implement he... more In 1997 a consortium of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Bangladesh began to implement health sector reform measures intended to expand access to and improve the quality of family planning and other basic health services. The new service delivery model entails higher costs for clients and requires that they take greater initiative. Clients have to travel further to get certain services, and they have to pay more for them than they did under the previous door-to-door family planning model. This paper is based on findings from a qualitative study looking at client and community reactions to the programme changes. It examines a number of barriers to access and constraints to cost recovery, including gender, class and ideas about entitlements, the role of government and obligations among people. The NGOs want to maximize cost recovery while making the basic services they offer accessible to most people. The findings suggest that this requires more than the establishment of an appropriate pricing structure. Attitudes related to charging and paying for services must also change, along with the institutional policies and practices that support them.
... Diana Santilldn, Sidney Ruth Schuler; Hoang Tu Anh, Tran Hung Minh, Quach Thu Trang, andNguye... more ... Diana Santilldn, Sidney Ruth Schuler; Hoang Tu Anh, Tran Hung Minh, Quach Thu Trang, andNguyen Minh Duc From mid-1999 to mid-2001, the authors carried out a qualitative study in rural Vietnam to explore relationships between gender equity and reproductive health. ...
... and Shamsul Huda Badal ... Has your husband ever beaten you?' Women ... more ... and Shamsul Huda Badal ... Has your husband ever beaten you?' Women who said yes were then asked: `Did he beat you at any time during the past year?' Overall, two-thirds said they had been beaten at one time or another, and in one village the incidence was as high as 87 ...
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