Women Empowerment Programs and Intimate Partner Violence

Abstract

Women empowerment programs may reduce intimate partner violence (IPV) by improving autonomy, increasing bargaining power, and reducing socioeconomic stress. Yet, this might not happen if partners increase violence to either control the woman's resources or assert their dominance. Data from South Kivu, DRC, are consistent with the view that IPV may be related to both control and socioeconomic stress: IPV is higher when women are the main household earner, more educated, and younger than their husband and when households experienced more socioeconomic shocks. Based on these findings, the effect of empowerment programs on IPV in this setting are theoretically ambiguous.