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Toward Freedom from Domestic Violence: The Neglected Obvious

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  • Bina Agarwal
  • Pradeep Panda

Abstract

Freedom is a key concept in Amartya Sen's definitions of capabilities and development. This paper focuses on a serious and neglected form of unfreedom — domestic violence — and argues that freedom from such violence must be integral to evaluating developmental progress. Conceptually, it notes that a person's well-being can depend not only on absolute measures of capabilities and functionings but also on relative capabilities and functionings within families; and this can even lead to perverse effects. A man married to a woman better employed than himself, for instance, may be irked by her higher achievement and physically abuse her, thus reducing her well-being achievement (e.g. by undermining her health) and her well-being freedom (e.g. by reducing her work mobility or social interaction). Empirically the paper focuses especially on a hitherto unexplored factor — a woman's property status — and demonstrates that owning a house or land significantly reduces her risk of marital violence. Employment, by contrast, unless it is regular, makes little difference. Immovable property provides a woman economic and physical security, enhances her self-esteem, and visibly signals the strength of her fall-back position and tangible exit option. It can both deter violence and provide an escape if violence occurs. Also unlike employment, property ownership is not found to be associated with perverse outcomes, in that a propertied woman married to a propertyless man is not subject to greater violence.

Suggested Citation

  • Bina Agarwal & Pradeep Panda, 2007. "Toward Freedom from Domestic Violence: The Neglected Obvious," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(3), pages 359-388.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:jhudca:v:8:y:2007:i:3:p:359-388
    DOI: 10.1080/14649880701462171
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    Cited by:

    1. Greco, Giulia & Skordis-Worrall, Jolene & Mkandawire, Bryan & Mills, Anne, 2015. "What is a good life? Selecting capabilities to assess women's quality of life in rural Malawi," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 69-78.
    2. Amy Piedalue, 2015. "Understanding Violence in Place: Travelling Knowledge Paradigms and Measuring Domestic Violence in India," Indian Journal of Gender Studies, Centre for Women's Development Studies, vol. 22(1), pages 63-91, February.
    3. Simantini Mukhopadhyay & Trisha Chanda, 2022. "Abused but “Not Insulted†: Understanding Intersectionality in Symbolic Violence in India," Indian Journal of Human Development, , vol. 16(1), pages 119-138, April.
    4. Khyati Dharamshi & Liora Moskovitz & Sugandha Munshi, 2023. "Securing a Sustainable Future: A Path towards Gender Equality in the Indian Agricultural Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-30, August.
    5. Węziak-Białowolska, Dorota & Białowolski, Piotr & McNeely, Eileen, 2020. "The impact of workplace harassment and domestic violence on work outcomes in the developing world," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    6. Jean-Philippe Platteau & Guilia Camilotti & Emmanuelle Auriol, 2017. "Eradicating women-hurting customs: What role for social engineering?," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2017-145, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    7. Tannistha Samanta, 2020. "Women’s empowerment as self-compassion?: Empirical observations from India," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(5), pages 1-18, May.
    8. Bina Agarwal, 2018. "The challenge of gender inequality," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 35(1), pages 3-12, April.
    9. Auriol, Emmanuelle & Camilotti, Giula & Platteau, Jean-Philippe, 2017. "Eradicating Women-Hurting Customs: What Role for Social Engineering?," CEPR Discussion Papers 12107, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. Bina Agarwal, 2022. "Imperatives of recognising the complexities: gendered impacts and responses to COVID-19 in India," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 39(1), pages 31-53, April.
    11. Madhav Prasad Dahal, 2017. "Do Female Education and Ownership of Asset Matter for Poverty Reduction in Nepal?," Journal of Development Innovations, KarmaQuest International, vol. 1(2), pages 58-85, October.
    12. Thapliyal, Sneha & Mukherji, Arnab & Malghan, Deepak, 2019. "Economic inequality and loss of commons: Evidence from India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 693-712.
    13. Aletheia Donald & Cheryl Doss & Markus Goldstein & Sakshi Gupta, 2024. "Sharing responsibility through joint decision-making and implications for intimate-partner violence: evidence from 12 Sub-Saharan African Countries," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 35-66, March.
    14. Yasemin Dildar, 2021. "Is Economic Empowerment a Protective Factor Against Intimate Partner Violence? Evidence from Turkey," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 33(6), pages 1695-1728, December.
    15. Geetika Dang & Vani S. Kulkarni & Raghav Gaiha, 2017. "What factors can explain the rise and inter-state variation in crimes against women in India?," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series 152017, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    16. Cherise Addinsall & Norah Rihai & Brenda Andre & Eva Addinsall & Mia Dunphy & Brooke Van der Wildenberg & Anjali Nelson & Tasha Weir, 2023. "Applying an intersectional lens to addressing gender disparities and disadvantage in rural Melanesian agriculture," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(7), pages 1574-1594, October.
    17. repec:kqi:journl:2017-2-4 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Bina Agarwal, 2015. "Food Security, Productivity, and Gender Inequality," Working Papers id:7566, eSocialSciences.
    19. Lentz, Erin C., 2018. "Complicating narratives of women’s food and nutrition insecurity: Domestic violence in rural Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 271-280.
    20. Rao, Jyoti, 2019. "A ‘capability approach’ to understanding loses arising out of the compulsory acquisition of land in India," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 70-84.
    21. Vijay P Singh, 2022. "Judicial Approaches to the Criminalisation of Marital Rape," Indian Journal of Gender Studies, Centre for Women's Development Studies, vol. 29(1), pages 10-32, February.
    22. Joshi, Kaushal & Swaminathan, Hema & Martinez, Jr., Arturo & Addawe, Mildred & Soco , Christian Flora Mae, 2019. "Women’s Asset Ownership: Evidence from Georgia; Mongolia; and Cavite, Philippines," ADB Economics Working Paper Series 571, Asian Development Bank.
    23. Geetika Dang & Vani S. Kulkarni & Raghav Gaiha, 2018. "Why Dowry Deaths Have Risen in India?," ASARC Working Papers 2018-03, The Australian National University, Australia South Asia Research Centre.

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