Bargaining Power, Gender Norms, and Intimate Partner Violence: An Examination of Latin American Countries

<p>This dissertation explores the relationship between women’s employment, bargaining power, gender norms, and intimate partner violence (IPV) in Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, and Peru. It is structured around three empirical papers using data from the Demographic and Health Survey, which are nationally representative samples. Paper 1: This paper uses structural equation modeling to examine whether women’s employment and the risk of IPV is mediated through bargaining power and whether that mediation varies across countries. The findings indicate that women’s employment consistently enhances their intrahousehold bargaining power across all countries, highlighting the empowering role of employment. Instead, the path from bargaining power to IPV was nuanced and confounded by control variables such as wealth. Furthermore, the direct path from women’s employment to IPV, or through bargaining power, was minimal. Paper 2: Using generalized linear modeling and marginal effects, this paper investigates whether men’s gender attitudes moderate the relationship between women’s employment status and the probability of IPV and whether the moderation varies by type of IPV or timeframe, using a sample from Colombia. The results show that male partners’ inequitable gender attitudes significantly increase the probability of all types of IPV, irrespective of women’s employment status, with moderation only consistent for economic IPV. Specifically, women experienced higher probability of economic IPV if their spouses held more inequitable gender norms. Paper 3: Employing multilevel modelling analysis, this paper focuses on whether community-level gender norms moderate the relationship between women’s employment and IPV risk, using data from Colombia. The findings show that community norms significantly influence the probability of previous-year physical IPV, with heightened effects among women in cohabiting relationships in settings with intermediate level of unequal gender norms. Altogether, these findings suggest that women’s employment enhances bargaining power, but it does not substantially mediate the relationship with IPV. Instead, male partners’ attitudes and community gender norms play significant roles in influencing the probability of IPV. These results underscore the need for multifaceted economic empowerment strategies coupled with initiatives targeting cultural norms to effectively address IPV and promote gender equality.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Social Work

Year dc:date.available

2025

Author dc:creator

• Olaya, Deidi

Contributors dc:contributor

• Tonya Edmond
• Ilana Seff; Lindsay Stark; Melissa Jonson-Reid; Mike Strube; Trish Kohl

• Bargaining power;Gender norms;Intimate partner violence;Latin America;Multilevel analysis;Structural equation modeling
• Latin American Languages and Societies
• Social Work

Language dc:language

English (en)

Identifier

https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/brown_etds/56

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:openscholarship.wustl.edu:brown_etds-1055