{"id":3334,"date":"2014-06-02T17:18:54","date_gmt":"2014-06-02T23:18:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/?p=3334"},"modified":"2015-10-05T17:20:29","modified_gmt":"2015-10-05T23:20:29","slug":"intimate-partner-violence-a-hunger-issue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/intimate-partner-violence-a-hunger-issue\/","title":{"rendered":"Intimate Partner Violence: A Hunger Issue"},"content":{"rendered":"
Ryan P. Cumming<\/div>\n
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There are plenty of barriers to employment in the US right now.\u00a0 The exporting of jobs to other nations, the shift from manufacturing to service and technology as central industries, and the rising costs of higher education are often dissected and discussed in articles and books on unemployment and poverty.\u00a0 But what happens when the obstacle to full employment \u2013 the kind of employment that can guarantee a sufficient, sustainable livelihood \u2013 comes not from market forces or politicians but from the actions of intimate partners?<\/p>\n

This is precisely the case for many women, according to a significant body of research.\u00a0\u00a0 The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey conducted in 2010 found that nearly 30% of women in the United States are victims of intimate partner violence (IPV)<\/strong>.[1]<\/a>\u00a0 The survey included rape, physical violence, and\/or stalking by an intimate partner as examples of violence, but the researchers did not measure other forms of IPV such as sexual coercion, psychological aggression, or control of reproductive or sexual health (like when a partner refuses to wear a condom.) \u00a0\u00a0Had they done so, it is likely that the rate of IPV would have been higher.<\/p>\n

While people of any gender, sexuality, age, or economic status can be victims of IPV, vulnerability to violence is not the same for everyone.\u00a0 Women are more vulnerable than men (nearly three to one), and women residing in low-income households are more vulnerable than women in middle-income and upper-income households.\u00a0 In fact, women in households with an annual income less than $7500 were more than six times more likely to experience violence than women in households earning more than $50,000 per year, according to a study published in 2007<\/a>.\u00a0 This isn’t just true of these two levels of household income, however; researchers found that as household income decreases, the rate of victimization increases<\/strong>, particularly for female members of the household.\u00a0 That said, while some groups may be statistically more vulnerable than others, IPV is not merely one more social ill that attaches to poverty.\u00a0 While the rates of IPV among economic classes may differ, IPV is still a reality for women, especially, of any class.<\/p>\n

The relationship between violence and poverty for women is complex.\u00a0 Many women who lack the means to support themselves and their children on their own can often feel trapped in abusive relationships.\u00a0 Staying with an abuser may mean suffering physical, sexual, or psychological violence, but leaving may mean living without shelter, without access to food, or without other goods necessary for life.\u00a0 Leaving may also mean placing oneself at risk of increased violence.<\/p>\n

Yet, being in an abusive relationship can also mean facing significant obstacles to escaping a life of poverty.\u00a0 In a 2004 article published in the Journal of Poverty<\/em>, Lisa D. Brush found a “clear association” between vulnerability to abuse and vulnerability to poverty<\/strong>.\u00a0 While researchers are not sure how violence is related to poverty (Does violence make women more vulnerable to poverty?\u00a0 Does poverty make women more vulnerable to violence?), there is ample evidence to suggest that the two are related.\u00a0 In her study, Brush found a strong correlation between IPV and some kinds of economic challenges. Women who experienced intimate partner violence earned less money, had more difficulty paying bills, and experienced slightly higher rates of food insecurity than women who did not .\u00a0 Brush also found that, for some women, the violence they experienced from intimate partners was specifically related to work.\u00a0 This “work-related violence” included physical beatings, threats, and physical restraint from going to work.\u00a0 As is often the case, control, domination, and abuse weren’t limited to overt violence, however.\u00a0 Intimate partners also sabotaged women’s efforts to work by failing to show up for childcare, stealing cars or keys, or behaving inappropriately at the woman’s place of work.<\/p>\n

This is not to say that women in these kinds of situations are totally helpless.<\/strong>\u00a0 <\/strong>Psychology professor Sherry Hamby (Sewanee, The University of the South) described a variety of common “protective” strategies in her report for the National Online Resource Center on Violence against Women<\/a>.\u00a0 In reviewing recent research, Hamby found that women will protect themselves, children, and even pets from harm in many different ways, including contacting law enforcement, confiding in friends and family, and (even temporarily) leaving unsafe situations.\u00a0 Other “invisible strategies” include opening bank accounts and saving money (which can help increase the other options available to them), coaching children on how to escape from a potentially violent episode, returning to school to increase job prospects, and seeking help from therapists and advocates.\u00a0 Each of these strategies helps women \u2013 even when faced with economic challenges \u2013 exercise agency in situations that often threaten their well-being and freedom.<\/p>\n

The link between IPV and economic insecurity is still real, even if researchers can’t yet document all of its complexity. \u00a0\u00a0One step congregations can take is to learn more<\/strong>.\u00a0 This is urgent, not only for congregations with ministries among women from low-income households, but for any congregation.\u00a0 While it is important to understand the complex links between vulnerability to violence and vulnerability to poverty, it’s also important to learn more and help raise awareness about the high rates of IPV among women of all economic classes.\u00a0 The ELCA’s Justice for Women website is a great place to start.\u00a0 There, you can find resources like the 2010 booklet on “Ministry with the Abused,”<\/a> a joint project of the ELCA and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada.\u00a0 FaithTrust Institute<\/a> has excellent resources, as well.\u00a0 And this 2013 episode of PBS’s “Religion and Ethics Newsweekly”<\/a> is a great way to spark conversations about the church’s role in confronting violence against women.\u00a0 Later in 2014, ELCA members will also have an opportunity to participate in the development of our church’s social message on gender-based violence.\u00a0 The public comment period for this message will be open from mid-September to mid-November.\u00a0 You can read more here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The other important step is to advocate<\/strong> with victims of intimate partner violence and, particularly, with women.\u00a0 Abusing another human being seems like a personal choice, but even our most “intimate” choices happen within social and political contexts.\u00a0 For women in abusive relationships, that context includes systems which minimize the reality of gender-based violence, legal structures and practices which can become obstacles to women’s agency, and economic structures that still today do not value the labor of women as highly as the labor of men.\u00a0 Gender-based violence is not just a behavioral issue; it is a social issue.\u00a0 And, research indicates, it is a hunger issue.\u00a0 The intersections researchers have found between violence, hunger and poverty may be complex, but they are nevertheless real and challenge all of us to learn more about what accompaniment means for people of faith in this context.<\/p>\n

(My thanks to Mary Streufert, Ph.D, for her assistance with this post.\u00a0 Dr. Streufert is Director of Justice for Women project for the ELCA.)<\/p>\n

Ryan P. Cumming, Ph.D., is Program Director of Hunger Education for ELCA World Hunger.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention define “intimate partner violence” as “physical, sexual, or psychological harm by a current or former partner or spouse.”\u00a0 CDC, “Intimate Partner Violence” (2014), available athttp:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/ViolencePrevention\/intimatepartnerviolence\/index.html?s_cid=fb_vv487<\/a>. The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey can be found at www.cdc.gov\/violenceprevention\/nisvs\/index.html<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ryan P. Cumming There are plenty of barriers to employment in the US right now.\u00a0 The exporting of jobs to other nations, the shift from manufacturing to service and technology as central industries, and the rising costs of higher education are often dissected and discussed in articles and books on unemployment and poverty.\u00a0 But what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":211,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-post"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nIntimate Partner Violence: A Hunger Issue - ELCA World Hunger<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/intimate-partner-violence-a-hunger-issue\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Intimate Partner Violence: A Hunger Issue - ELCA World Hunger\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ryan P. 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