Intimate Partner Violence and Household Decision Making Autonomy : Effects of the Malian Conflict on Women

Rates of intimate partner violence vary widely across regions. Evidence suggests that some ofthis variation can be attributed to exposure to armed conflict. This study exploits variation in the timing andlocation of conflict events related to the war in Mali to examine the effect of conflict on intimate partner violenceand some women’s empowerment outcomes. The study used data from the Demographic and Health Survey spatially linked toconflict data from the Armed Conflict Location and Events Database. Wartime conflict increases the prevalence ofwomen’s experiences of intimate partner violence. It also increases women’s household decision making autonomy butdecreases women’s ability to decide how their earnings are deployed. The results imply that to be successful, programsto mitigate these adverse effects of conflict on women need to be context specific and rely on data-driven evidence fromsituations of conflict whenever possible. Policy makers are called to design programs that address harmful gender normsand intimate partner violence at the individual/household and community levels, especially for women residing in areaswith high-intensity conflict. Measurement of women’s empowerment should consistently include several domains ofwomen’s lives to gauge progress in voice and agency, financial autonomy, and violence reduction.