National and International Policy Processes: The Impact on Intimate Partner Violence Rates

Purpose: One in three women worldwide have experienced IPV (WHO, 2014).  Significant international variation in the rates of IPV and responses to IPV exists between countries suggesting that factors such as legislation, socio-cultural context, and geopolitical region may impact IPV rates.  This paper investigates how national and international policies are associated with differences in IPV rates between countries by attempting to answer the following research questions: (1) Is gender non-discrimination legislation associated with lower rates of self-reported IPV?; (2) Is IPV criminalization associated with lower rates of self-reported IPV?; (3) Do women who live in countries which have ratified the Covenant on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) have a lower prevalence of IPV?

Methods: To simultaneously examine both higher-level IPV risk factors such as national policies, and individual-level risk factors such as education and household income, this paper uses multilevel modelling of the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) in all 27 countries that have included the IPV module.  Data is collected through two stage stratified random sampling of all households using face-to-face interviews with all household members.  One woman in each household is also randomly selected to complete the IPV module on lifetime and previous year experience of physical, sexual, and emotional violence.  This analysis includes over 313 000 women from 27 countries.

Results:  The criminalization of IPV law was not a significant predictor of women’s experience of any forms of violence.  Gender non-discrimination legislation was associated with lower odds of physical IPV experience, even when controlling for women’s education, employment, media use, and household wealth.  Ratification of CEDAW and its Optional Protocol without reservation was associated with fewer self-reports of emotional IPV.  Other significant country-level factors included per capita GDP, geopolitical region, and government secularity.

Conclusions: Despite varying political and socio-cultural contexts, findings indicate that some gender-specific policies aimed at protecting women from violence and discrimination are related to reductions in women’s self-reported rates of some types of violence.  International governing bodies, such as the United Nations, and national advocacy groups should continue pushing for change in national legislation as a strategy for decreasing violence against women in the home.