Department of Development Economics, University of Göttingen, Germany.
TUM School of Governance, Technical University of Munich, Germany.
Trauma Violence Abuse. 2022 Jul;23(3):810-826. doi: 10.1177/1524838020976088. Epub 2020 Dec 8.
Women's economic empowerment is an essential component of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Not only is it an end in itself but it has further been promoted for its potential to create positive externalities, including the reduction of intimate partner violence (IPV). However, the link between economic empowerment and the risk of IPV remains theoretically ambiguous. predicts that women with more financial resources hold higher bargaining power and are in a better position to leave potentially abusive relationships. Conversely, posits that an increase in women's financial resources may clash with traditional gender roles, which may prompt their partner to reassert their status through violent means. In light of this debate, we conducted a meta-analysis of 19 randomized controlled trials assessing the impact of economic empowerment interventions on IPV. Based on a total sample size of 44,772 participants and robust variance estimation, our meta-analysis shows that women's economic empowerment was associated with a significant reduction in the pooled measure of emotional, sexual, and physical IPV. We further documented tentative evidence suggesting that these effects may be amplified when additional gender sensitization training is included in such programs. Despite the overall positive effects, some included studies reported increases in IPV, primarily in the form of partners exerting controlling behavior and dominance over financial resources. Our results therefore emphasize a need to prioritize women's safety in the process of designing economic empowerment programs and to closely monitor the potential risk of conflict and violence within beneficiaries' households.
妇女经济赋权是联合国可持续发展目标的重要组成部分。它不仅本身是一个目标，而且还因其可能产生积极的外部性而得到进一步推动，包括减少亲密伴侣暴力（IPV）。然而，经济赋权与 IPV 风险之间的联系在理论上仍然存在模糊性。 预测，拥有更多财务资源的妇女拥有更高的谈判地位，并且更有可能离开潜在的虐待关系。相反， 认为，妇女财务资源的增加可能与传统性别角色发生冲突，这可能促使其伴侣通过暴力手段重新确立其地位。鉴于这一争论，我们对 19 项评估经济赋权干预对 IPV 影响的随机对照试验进行了荟萃分析。基于总计 44772 名参与者的样本量和稳健的方差估计，我们的荟萃分析表明，妇女经济赋权与情感、性和身体 IPV 的综合衡量指标显著降低相关。我们进一步记录了初步证据，表明当此类计划中包含更多的性别敏感培训时，这些效果可能会放大。尽管总体效果积极，但一些纳入的研究报告称 IPV 有所增加，主要表现为伴侣表现出控制行为和对财务资源的支配。因此，我们的结果强调，在设计经济赋权计划的过程中需要优先考虑妇女的安全，并密切监测受益人家户中潜在的冲突和暴力风险。
