In early 2009, the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) released a report on the costs of intimate partner violence (IPV) in Bangladesh, Morocco and Uganda. The report is called Intimate Partner Violence: High Costs to Households and Communities (2009) (PDF, 16 pages). ICRW and UNFPA studied IPV’s economic effects because “strong evidence on the economic costs of violence against women is crucial to underscore the significant consequences of inaction.” They researched these three countries in particular because they have high rates of IPV and their governments recently began to address this problem through new programs and laws. Research focused on microeconomics, such as out-of-pocket costs to women and families, rather than more traditional macroeconomics, such as costs to national governments or societies as a whole.
The results show that IPV imposes huge direct costs on women and service providers in all three countries, including health, justice, police, local traditional authorities and social services. IPV also led to large indirect costs to women and families through lost wages and lower productivity. These costs would be even higher if women sought assistance for all IPV incidents; the researchers found that most women did not utilize services after experiencing IPV.
For the full text of this report, please click here (PDF, 16 pages).
Compiled from: International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Intimate Partner Violence: High Costs to Households and Communities (2009) (PDF, 16 pages).