Men's Use of Economic Coercion Against Women in Rural Bangladesh

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Emily C Dore, Emory University; Monique Hennink, Emory University; Ruchira Tabassum Naved, International Centre for Diarrheal Diseases Research, Bangladesh (icddr, b); Stephanie Miedema, Emory University; Aloka Talukder, International Centre for Diarrheal Diseases Research, Bangladesh (icddr, b); Alison Hoover, Emory University; Kathryn Yount, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2022-02-24
• Publisher: EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING FOUNDATION-AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOC
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © 2022 American Psychological Association
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/vio0000417
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: PSYCHOLOGY OF VIOLENCE
• Volume: 12
• Issue: 3
• Start Page: 183
• End Page: 193
• Grant/Funding Information: This paper and analysis were supported by research grant # 1R21HD093027-01/02: “Intimate Partner Coercion and Implications for Women’s Health and Well-being” (PI: Kathryn M. Yount) from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Development.
• Keywords: economic coercion; Criminology & Penology; GENDER; economic resources; Social Sciences; intimate partner violence; Bangladesh; SCALE; qualitative methods; Psychology; PARTNER VIOLENCE PERPETRATION; Family Studies; Psychology, Clinical; PATRIARCHY; ABUSE

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