Abstract:
Intimate partner violence (IPV) by men against their partners is one of the
most glaring indicators of women’s lack of empowerment. Drawing upon the
2010 Ecuador Household Asset Survey (EAFF) and the 2010 Ghana Household
Asset Survey (GHAS), nationally representative surveys for Ecuador and Ghana,
respectively, this study investigates the relationship between women’s ownership
of assets and physical and emotional abuse by spouses against currently
partnered women over the previous twelve months. It uses the value of a
woman’s total assets compared to those of her partner as the main proxy for
a woman’s bargaining power. Differentiating between physical and emotional
violence in both countries, the study finds that women’s share of couple wealth
is significantly associated with lower odds of physical violence in Ecuador and
emotional violence in Ghana. Moreover, the association between women’s
share of couple wealth and IPV is contingent on the household’s position in
the wealth distribution.