Endemic worldwide and strong in Malawi, Gender Based Violence permeates all structures of society. So lecturers and students of Mzuzu University in Northern Malawi have worked together to find the reality and any attempts to remedy it. The articles represent research in different communities of the three regions of Malawi. One article presents the background study from which the Mzuzu University Gender Policy was developed, another shows the role of a Police Victim Support Unit, and the final article relates Muslim teaching that should reduce the incidence of Gender Based Violence in Muslim communities. The role of religion is addressed with negative and positive examples.

Over two thirds of women in Botswana (67%) have experienced some form of gender violence in their lifetime including partner and non-partner violence. A smaller, but still high, proportion of men admit to perpetrating violence against women. Inspired by the Commonwealth Plan of Action on Gender and Development (2005-2015) and Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Gender and Development target of halving GBV by 2015, this research project provides the first comprehensive and comparative baseline assessment of the extent, effects and response to GBV in Botswana. A representative sample of 639 women and 590 men across Botswana completed questionnaires in their preferred local language on behaviour and experiences related to GBV. Researchers asked women about their experience of violence perpetrated by men while men were asked about their perpetration of violence against women.

This book offers new perspectives on gender-based violence in three regions where the subject has been taboo in everyday discourse often due to patriarchal cultural norms that limit women’s autonomy. The contributions to this book provide rare insight into not only the levels and the socio-demographic determinants of domestic violence, but topics ranging from men’s attitudes toward wife beating; domestic violence-related adolescent deaths, and women’s health problems due to sexual and physical abuse. With a comprehensive introduction that provides a comparative international research framework for discussing gender-based violence in these three unique regions, this volume provides a key basis for understanding gender-based violence on a more global level. Part I, on Africa, covers men’s attitudes towards domestic violence, the impact of poverty and fertility, the association between adolescent deaths and domestic violence, and the link between domestic abuse and HIV. Part II, on the Middle East, covers the importance of consanguinity on domestic violence in Egypt and Jordan, the effects of physical abuse on reproductive health, and the link between political unrests and women’s experience and attitudes towards domestic violence. Part III, on India, shows how sexual abuse puts women at risk of reproductive tract infections and sexually transmitted infections, as well as the role of gender norms in wife abuse and the role of youth aggressive behavior in nonconsensual sex. With such a deep and broad coverage of factors of intimate partner abuse, this book serves as a reference document for researchers, decision-makers, and organizations that are searching for ways to reduce gender-based domestic violence. This book is of interest for researchers in Criminology and Criminal Justice, as well as Sociology, Social Work, Public Health and Human Rights.

This book conveys the findings of a study carried out in three rural districts of Malawi. It aims to explore the issue of gender-based violence, known locally as nkhanza, and its impact on women with regard to their social and legal status. The study covers: the implications of the marriage system for gender-based violence; men, women and children's perceptions of violence; structural issues and systems of justice; the role of economic factors; nkhanza as an accepted form of conflict resolution; and the psychological impacts.

This book brings together some of the most interesting and innovative work being done to tackle gender-based violence in various sectors, world regions, and socio-political contexts. It will be useful to development and humanitarian practitioners, policy makers, and academics, including gender specialists.

The COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns have led to a rise in gender-based violence. In this paper, we explore the economic consequences of violence against women in sub-Saharan Africa using large demographic and health survey data collected pre-pandemic. Relying on a two-stage least square method to address endogeneity, we find that an increase in the share of women subject to violence by 1 percentage point can reduce economic activities (as proxied by nightlights) by up to 8 percent. This economic cost results from a significant drop in female employment. Our results also show that violence against women is more detrimental to economic development in countries without protective laws against domestic violence, in natural resource rich countries, in countries where women are deprived of decision-making power and during economic downturns. Beyond the moral imperative, the findings highlight the importance of combating violence against women from an economic standpoint, particularly by reinforcing laws against domestic violence and strengthening women’s decision-making power.

Bringing together feminist analyses of economic processes and outcomes with feminist critiques of Orientalism, this book examines the diverse economic realities facing women in a range of Muslim communities. This approach pays special attention to the role of Islam in economic analyses of gender equality and women’s well-being in Muslim communities, while at the same time challenging biased and inaccurate accounts that essentialize Islam. Nuanced case studies conducted in Bangladesh, Iran, Israel, Nigeria, and Turkey illustrate the historical and institutional diversity of Muslim communities and draw vivid pictures of the everyday economic lives of Muslim women in these communities. These studies are complemented by quantitative analyses that extend beyond inserting Islam as a dummy variable. The contributions represent a wide range of disciplines, including anthropology, economics, gender studies, political science, psychology, and sociology. By placing critiques of Orientalist scholarship in direct dialogue with scholarship on economic development in Muslim contexts, this diverse collection illustrates how different methods and frameworks can work together to provide a better understanding of gender equality and women’s well-being in Muslim contexts. In doing so, the authors aim to facilitate conversations among feminist scholars across disciplines in order to provide a more nuanced picture of the situation facing women in Muslim communities. This book was originally published as a special issue of Feminist Economics.