Familial power and women's contradictory responses to attitudinal questions about Intimate Partner Violence in rural Bangladesh Open Access
Sato, Kimi Noe (2012)
Abstract
Background: Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) against women is a global public health problem that can have severe adverse health outcomes for women. Although the experience of IPV has been linked to power distribution within a marriage, there is limited research on how power processes can influence women's reporting of their attitudes about IPV against women.
Objective: The objectives of this study are to determine to what extent Komter's theories on power dynamics affect women's reporting of their personal attitudes about IPV against women, and to examine women's willingness to report attitudes that they perceive to contradict the community norm.
Methods: This analysis is based on cognitive interviews and focus group discussions from women collected from a study conducted in 2009 in rural Bangladesh. Komter's theories on power dynamics were used to identify elements of latent power in the data. Latent power surfaces when the subordinate holds a view that contradicts the dominant norm, but conflict is not apparent because there is no attempt at change. Structural elements such as contradictory responses were integral themes of latent power.
Results: Overall, the majority of the women provided a contradictory response during the interview which suggests that women's reporting of attitudes and preferences towards IPV against women and their willingness to contradict what they perceive to be the community norm is greatly influenced by the type of power under which they are influenced. Reasons for women's contradictory responses, which illuminated the influence of latent power, included perceptions of the inevitability of IPV, a lack of alternatives to IPV, and patriarchal norms and a lack of familial support.
Discussion: The majority of these women do not appear to be reporting their personal attitudes about IPV against women due to the influence of latent power. Given the underlying nature of latent power processes, researchers need to be cognizant of how such processes can affect women's reporting of personal attitudes about IPV against women. New methodological tools that incorporate these factors must be developed to better understand women's true personal attitudes about IPV which will greatly inform intervention programs targeted at reducing violence against women.
Table of Contents
Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction...1
Overview...1
Study Setting...11
Chapter 2: Comprehensive Review of the Literature...13
Prevalence of Different Types of IPV...13
Health Consequences of Violence...13
Initiation and Frequency of IPV...14
Determinants of Women's Exposure to IPV...14
IPV in Bangladesh...15
Prevalence of IPV...15
Determinants of Women's Exposure to IPV...16
IPV and Women's Empowerment...17
IPV and decision-making...17
Attitudes about IPV against women...18
Power Dynamics within Intimate Relationships...20
Chapter 3: Manuscript...26
Abstract...26
Introduction...26
Methods...28
Study Setting...28
Ethical Considerations...30
Study Participants...30
Cognitive interviews...32
Focus Group Discussions...33
Data Analysis...33
Results...36
Overview...36
Frequencies of Women's Contradictory Responses to Attitudinal
Questions about IPV...37
The Marital Context in which Women Express Contradictory Attitudes
about IPV against Women...41
Reasons why women did not give contradictory responses...53
Discussion...55
Strengths and Limitations...59
Conclusion...60
References...63
Chapter 4: Conclusions and Recommendations...66
References...71
List of Figures and Tables
Figure 1: Map of Bangladesh with Faridpur, Magura, and Rangpur
districts highlighted...11
Table 1: Distribution of demographic characteristics from the CI
participants across the two study villages in rural Bangladesh,
among women 18-48, 2009...31
Table 2: Distribution of women's responses to "Is it right for a
husband to beat his wife?"...38
Table 3: Distribution of women's responses to the justification of
IPV against women across four situations...38
Table 4: Distribution of women's contradictory responses to their
original response on the justification of IPV against women when
probed within each situation, and the justification of violence
when refusing sex and disobeying elders...40
Table 5: Timing of contradictory responses from the participant's
original response across six situations...40
Table 6: Direction of responses from the original question (Is it
right for a husband to beat his wife?) to the first situational
question...40
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