Studie der New York University zum Zusammenhang von wirtschaftlichem Status und häuslicher Gewalt in Indien, 19.3.2014 (engl. Originalfassung)
The aim of this study is to understand the ways in which different types of women’s relative resources affect the likelihood of their experiencing intimate partner violence in India, a country where women’s levels of education, employment, and wages lag far behind those of men. Because divorce in India is still uncommon, women’s exit from abusive relationships is particularly unlikely, potentially hampering a woman’s ability to bargain with her spouse.
The overwhelming evidence of this study suggests a pattern of gender deviance neutralization: women who have more education, who earn more than their spouses, or who are the sole earners in their marriage have the highest likelihood of frequent and severe violence. As the more educated and financially valuable members of their families, these women threaten men’s dominant status. In turn, some men respond by using violence, which I interpret as an exertion of power in the absence of men’s sufficient material resources and as a demonstration of masculinity that is in accord with gender-based divisions of power outside the home.
Because low divorce rates in India may discredit women’s threats to leave an abusive relationship, policies aimed at reducing intimate partner violence should emphasize alternatives to divorce, such as shelters and support groups. Efforts should also be made to offer services to women whose educational or employment goals threaten the status quo, such as women who intend to start their own business. For example, microfinance, education, and vocational programs for women could make legal and psychological counseling available to their participants. Not only would these services provide women with additional resources to resist violence in their lives, but, like shelters, they would also bolster women’s claims that they will abandon abusive spouses.
From this study one can conclude that Indian women who are married to abusive men, and who have resources superior or sometimes equal to those of their spouse, are largely unable to use those resources to reduce intimate partner violence. Instead, women with higher relative status are more likely to be seen as gender deviant and to face consequent repercussions. The result of such violent responses may in turn prevent some women from pursuing employment or greater earnings opportunities either because they have been injured or because the material benefits of such opportunities no longer outweigh the physical costs at home. These women merit special attention from social service providers and policymakers alike.
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