Married women whose husbands have directly experienced political violence in the occupied Palestinian territory are more than twice as likely to experience intimate partner violence than those women whose husbands have not. This is one of the conclusions of an Article in this week's Conflict Special Issue of The Lancet, written by Dr Cari Jo Clark, Program in Health Disparities Research, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA, and Dr Muhammad M Haj-Yahia, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, and colleagues.
In the study, the authors carried out an analysis of cross-sectional data collected by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics collected between Dec 2005 and Jan 2006. A total of 4156 households were randomly selected, from which 3815 ever-married women aged 15 years were identified. Analysis was restricted to presently married women (n=3510, 92% participation rate), who completed a short version of the revised conflict tactics scales and exposure to political violence inventory (a measure of individual and household level experiences with the occupation forces or settlers that threaten human security). Exposure to political violence was characterised as the husband's direct exposure, his indirect exposure via his family's experiences, and economic effects of exposure on the household. The association between political violence and intimate-partner violence was then measured.
Political violence was significantly related to higher odds of intimate-partner violence. Women whose husbands were directly exposed to political violence were around twice as likely to experience physical or sexual violence compared with those whose husbands were not directly exposed. Women whose husbands were indirectly exposed were around one-and-a-half times more likely to experience physical violence and twice as likely to experience sexual violence, compared with those whose husbands were not indirectly exposed. Economic effects of the occupation doubled of the likelihood of intimate-partner violence in the Gaza Strip only—possibly, the authors say, due to the economic situation in the Gaza Strip being substantially worse than that in the West Bank.
The authors discuss a number of factors that could be behind the relationship between political violence and intimate partner violence. They say: "Occupation policies and interactions with occupation forces entail continuous humiliation for men and renders them unable to protect and provide for their families, potentially leading to frustration and violence against people with less power—namely, women and children. From a resource-theory perspective, violence might be used to reassert men's socially established position of power in the family."
They add: "Occupation policies, including a separation barrier that is being erected in various parts of the West Bank, affect family connectedness, depriving women of regular contact with their families who might otherwise intervene to prevent intimate-partner violence."
They conclude: "The relation we have shown between intimate-partner violence and exposure to political violence draws attention to the wide-ranging ramifications of political violence towards women and men. Investigation is needed into the potential pathways leading from political to intimate-partner violence, taking into account a range of explanations and their interactions, because any one explanation is insufficient to explain the relation. Our findings also suggest the importance of assessment of different types of violence exposures when considering potential need for psychosocial interventions, since exposure to many traumatic events is associated with increased mental and physical health symptoms. Finally, our findings reinforce the relevance of UN Security Council Resolution 1325—especially the call for all parties to the conflict to protect women and girls from violence and to respect international law."
In an accompanying Comment, Professor Rita Giacaman, Institute of Community and Public Health, Birzeit University, occupied Palestinian territory, and colleagues say: "The specificity of Israeli military occupation and siege in the occupied Palestinian territory is a double-edged sword. On one hand, Israeli military occupation's violence against the population as a whole is associated with the occurrence of intimate-partner violence; on the other, it weakens the Palestinian Authority's power to deal with social problems like intimate partner violence. These constraints show that the effective enforcement and implementation of law depends on resolution of the political crisis and establishment of democratic governance."
Dr Cari Jo Clark, Program in Health Disparities Research, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA. T) +1 857 234 9454 E) cjclark@umn.edu
Dr Muhammad M Haj-Yahia, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. T) +972-2-5882207 / +972-54-2168676 E) mshajyah@mscc.huji.ac.il
Professor Rita Giacaman, Institute of Community and Public Health, Birzeit University, occupied Palestinian territory. T) + 970-2298 2000 E) rita@birzeit.edu
For full Article and Comment, see: http://press.thelancet.com/optviolence.pdf
Journal
The Lancet