Understanding Intimate Partner Violence in Bangladesh Through a Male Lens

Report Understanding intimate partner violence in Bangladesh through a male lens Ruchira Tabassum Naved, Fiona Samuels, Taveeshi Gupta, Aloka Talukder, Virginie Le Masson, Kathryn M. Yount March 2017 Overseas Development Institute 203 Blackfriars Road London SE1 8NJ Tel. +44 (0) 20 7922 0300 Fax. +44 (0) 20 7922 0399 E-mail: [email protected] www.odi.org www.odi.org/facebook www.odi.org/twitter Readers are encouraged to reproduce material from ODI Reports for their own publications, as long as they are not being sold commercially. As copyright holder, ODI requests due acknowledgement and a copy of the publication. For online use, we ask readers to link to the original resource on the ODI website. The views presented in this paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of ODI. This material is funded by UK aid from the UK government but the views expressed do not necessairly reflect the UK Government’s official policies. © Overseas Development Institute 2017. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial Licence (CC BY-NC 4.0). Cover photo: Women’s ward, Gazipur hospital, Bangaldesh © Fiona Samuels 2016 Contents Introduction 5 1. Conceptual framework 6 2. Methodology 8 3. Patterning of IPV 10 3.1. Perceived types of IPV 10 3.2. Perceived trends in IPV over time 10 3.3. IPV practices in the study sites 10 4. Multi-level influences that shape IPV risks 12 4.1. Individual-level risk factors 12 4.2. Household-level risk factors 13 4.3. Community level risk factors 14 4.4. Potential pathways of change: norm setters 15 5. Responses to IPV 17 5.1. Services for survivors 17 5.2. Protection services 17 5.3. Justice system responses 18 5.4. Prevention: building awareness to tackle GBV 19 6. Policy landscape shaping IPV responses 21 7. Conclusions and recommendations 22 References 24 Understanding intimate partner violence in Bangladesh 3 List of boxes, figures and tables Boxes Box 1. Description of study sites 8 Box 2. Secondary data analysis using data from the 2007 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) 9 Box 3. Committed to marriage, despite years of torture 14 Box 4. The Government’s Multi-Sectoral Programme on Violence Against Women 17 Box 5. New online spaces for violence 18 Box 6. Conventions, policies and Acts relating to violence against women in Bangladesh 21 Figures Figure 1. Conceptual framework – seeing IPV through an ecological and institutional lens in fragile-state contexts 7 Figure 2. Map of Bangladesh showing the location of the study sites 9 Tables Table 1. Total number of interviews by study site 8 Table 2. Different types of IPV reported by six survivors during in-depth interviews in Gazipur and Mymensingh 11 4 ODI Report Introduction The rates of intimate partner violence (IPV) are high in largest ever multi-country study to interview men on GBV Bangladesh, with 1 in 2 women aged 15 or over who and masculinities (Naved et al., 2011). have ever been married reporting that they have endured This short report aims to address research gaps, drawing physical and/or sexual violence during their lives, and on primary research in 2016 that provides unique insights 1 in 4 reporting such violence in the past 12 months on the multi-level influences – including the community- (BBS, 2016). IPV has been recognised as a violation of level gender norms that devalue women and girls – that human rights, with multiple and adverse consequences for shape the attitudes and behaviour of adolescent boys and health and development (Campbell, 2002; Devries et al., men around IPV. The findings discussed in the report are 2013; Ellsberg et al., 2008). Despite the extensive legal part of a broader regional study of the perpetration of IPV framework that is in place in Bangladesh, and numerous by men and boys across South Asia, with a primary focus non-governmental programmes and women’s activist on Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan. organisations that focus on IPV, it remains commonplace (BBS, 2016; NIPORT et al., 2009). This conundrum raises questions about how well the drivers of IPV are Objectives of the research understood and targeted. Given the knowledge gaps on the dynamics of IPV as they Research is growing on IPV in Bangladesh, especially relate to men who perpetrate such violence – including physical abuse. Several literature reviews (e.g. Johnson and attitudinal, programmatic and policy issues – this report Das, 2009; Johnston and Naved, 2008)) and some authors has three objectives: have documented IPV trends and prevalence rates (e.g., Das et al., 2008), and the detrimental effects of IPV on women • to understand the multi-level drivers of men’s (e.g. Azziz-Baumgartner et al., 2014; Naved and Persson, perpetration of IPV in Bangladesh, including the relative 2008) and on their children (e.g. Silverman et al., 2009). importance of conservative gender norms. There have been studies on the multi-level risk factors • to investigate how broader political economy dynamics that underpin IPV for women (VanderEnde et al., 2012; shape attitudes, behaviours and service provision related VanderEnde et al., 2015; Yount et al., 2016a), with recent to IPV work also examining the multi-level influences on men’s • to determine the types of policy and programming perpetration (Koenig et al., 2003; Yount et al., 2016b). that exist to tackle male perpetration of IPV, and the Efforts to disentangle rural versus urban patterns continue associated implications for policy and practice to (e.g. NIPORT et al., 2008). While several researchers have strengthen responses to IPV. analysed data from either the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) (e.g. Das et al., 2008) or the To address these objectives, this report first provides an Bangladesh Urban Health Survey (BUHS) (e.g. NIPORT et overview of our conceptual framework, applied across al., 2008), many others have reported on non-nationally all three focal countries in South Asia, followed by a representative samples. Data tend to be on women’s methodology section that sets out the study sites, the reporting of exposure to IPV (e.g. Garcia-Moreno, et al., programmes reviewed, and the tools and instruments 2006), although data on men’s reporting of perpetration used. Following an overview of existing evidence on the is increasing (e.g. Naved et al., 2011). Bangladesh was, patterning and prevalence of IPV in Bangladesh, the report for example, one of seven countries chosen to be part of then discusses the individual-, household- and community The Change Project initiated by Partners for Prevention, level influences that shape experiences of IPV among those working to prevent gender-based violence (GBV). This who perpetrate and survive the violence. We then discuss partnership with the United Nations Development formal and informal responses before concluding with a Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Population Fund discussion of the policy and programming implications (UNFPA), UN Women and the United Nations Volunteers emerging from our findings. (UNV) regional programme for Asia and the Pacific is the Understanding intimate partner violence in Bangladesh 5 1. Conceptual framework The starting point of our conceptual framework builds on to address IPV (True, 2012; Denney and Domingo, an integrated ecological model (e.g. Heise, 1998, 2011; 2013). Our framework spans both formal and customary Fulu and Miedema, 2015;) that emphasises the interaction institutions. The formal spectrum includes legal provisions of factors at the individual, family/relationship, community around divorce, child custody, property inheritance, and society/culture levels and the ways in which they help sanctions around IPV and gender-based violence (GBV), as to perpetuate IPV (Figure 1). Our framework positions well as service provision, such as shelters and counselling. individual adolescent boys and young men at the centre, It also includes the justice sector, including the application together with factors that shape their well-being, such as of legal provisions by the courts; police stations and substance abuse, childhood experiences of abuse, social legal aid; legal protection and family mediation. On the relationships and the extent to which they are gendered, customary end of the spectrum it is also important to their current psychosocial status, and their ability to resist consider the role of religious and customary norms as well dominant social norms around gender. as religious and traditional leaders, who are often the first These individuals are then located in the households port of call for the resolution of local conflicts. that shape the behaviours, attitudes and trajectories of All of these domains are situated within broader young men. The key characteristics of a household include macro-level contexts. Variables at national level include its economic status and educational levels, as well as weak rule of law, poor governance, under-investment gendered and generational intra-household dynamics. in the social sector, and under-resourced responses to Next, we emphasise the role of community social norms demographic pressures (Hickey et al., 2015). At the global in shaping individual men’s experiences. These include level, international rights conventions, women’s and norms around marriage, sexuality, education, the human rights movements that champion action against gendered division of labour, the type of behaviour that GBV and IPV can all be influential (True, 2012; Roberts should be punished or rewarded, and income-generation and Waylen, 1998). opportunities for men and women (e.g. Marcus, 2014; Our conceptual framework envisages important changes Mackie et al., 2012; Bicchieri, 2015). that could be made by tackling the multi-level risk factors Less well conceptualised in the literature (and where this that underpin IPV. These changes include imposing broader project aims to make a substantial contribution), is the role sanctions against IPV, fostering progressive masculinities of meso-level institutions as these are vital intermediaries for and, ultimately, building a society with gender equitable the channelling of national-level resources and standards norms and behaviours.

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