Citation

Hadi A. J. Fam. Violence 2005; 20(3): 181-189.

Affiliation

Research and Evaluation Division, BRAC Centre, Mohakhali, Dhaka; Research and Evaluation Division, BRAC Centre, 75 Mohakhali, Dhaka, 1212, Bangladesh

Copyright

(Copyright © 2005, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s10896-005-3654-9

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This study assesses the role of womens participation in productive activities in reducing the risk of marital violence. Data were collected from villages where numerous nongovernment organizations (NGOs) had microcredit-based income generating programs for the poor. Both the survey and in-depth interviews were used to collect information from a randomly selected sample of 500 currently married women aged less than 50 years living in 70 villages in 10 districts of Bangladesh. Findings reveal that the prevalence of marital violence such as mental torture and physical assault had negative association with womens participation in economic activities. Situation that invoked violence against women had most often been their failure of performing expected role in the household. Womens productive roles not only improved womens position in their household but also significantly reduced both mental torture and physical assault against them. The paper argues that participation in productive activities has the potential to bring a significant reduction in the risk of marital violence among women in the poor community.