Women\u27s Beliefs In Gender Equality And Its Association With Gender Based Violence In Conflict Afflicted Regions Of Uganda

Gender Based Violence such as Intimate Partner Violence and exposure to armed conflict are exacerbated in Conflict settings and can negatively impact health outcomes among women. Although a significant amount of research has looked at how men’s beliefs in gender equity and male stereotypes can impact engagement in violence against women, there is a dearth of research analyzing how women’s beliefs can impact their exposure to armed violence or IPV. We use the adapted version of the Gender-Equitable Men survey in a population of 606 women and adolescent girls in conflict afflicted regions of Northern Uganda to a) look at the relationship between belief in gender equality and degree of exposure to armed conflict and IPV b) identify key constructs underlying women’s beliefs around Gender equality and c) look what which constructs specifically are associated with degree of exposure to armed conflict and Intimate Partner Violence. Higher GEM scores were negatively associated with armed conflict and IPV suggesting that more empowered women were less exposed to gender-based violence. The Exploratory Factor Analysis revealed the presence of six factors underlying beliefs around Gender Equity: belief in gendered roles in the home and around sexual practices (factor 1), beliefs around women taking resources away from men (factor 2) and men losing out when gender equality is achieved (factor 5), beliefs around women’s complicity in rape (factor 3), and beliefs around women having to be tolerant of violence (factor 6) as well as gender equality only benefitting people of high socioeconomic status (factor 4). A number of these factors were associated with exposure to armed conflict and intimate partner violence. Our results suggest that interventions based on changing beliefs around gender norms and gender equity among women in conflict settings could help reduce their degree of exposure to gender-based violence