Empowering Women & Eradication of Gender-Based Violence
Poverty is a risk factor associated with gender-based violence; it also often intersects with and reinforces gender inequality. Various microfinance and other economic empowerment approaches have been implemented to try to address this intersection.
These approaches typically aim
to empower women by increasing
their economic resources and
reducing gender inequalities in
their intimate relationships.
Cash Transfers & Behavior Change Communcation
Cash transfer programs have
become an increasingly utilized
approach to poverty reduction in
low and middle-income countries.
There have been fears that these
programs—particularly when
targeted to women—could put
women at risk, as their husbands
could inflict violence against them
to take control of cash or as a
backlash against a change in power
dynamics.
INTERSECTIONS BETWEEN ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT & GBV
The project targeted
private firms that employ or
could employ women and aims
to strengthen their approach to
gender equity in employment
and to develop a women-friendly
working environment. Training for
private sector leaders has been
delivered, and there will be a
systematic search for entry points
for interventions.
FOSTERING MORE EGALITARIAN RELATIONSHIPS
aims to increase
women’s participation in household
decision-making by fostering
more egalitarian relationships in
young couples aged 18-35.
The program
aims for men to experience and
understand the relevance of
shifts in gender relations, rather
than for the woman alone. It is
hoped that such an approach may
foster long-term change toward
an egalitarian relationship that is
free not only of violence, but of
other displays of power dynamics
and coercive behaviors such as
controlling women’s resources and
reproductive decision-making.