Defining Power and Agency in Gender Relations in El Salvador: Consequences for Intimate Partner Violence and Women's Mental Health

Abstract

Intimate partner violence (IPV) affects thousands of women around the world and is prevalent in the Global South. Unequal social structures perpetuate hierarchies and maintain women's vulnerability to violence. Difficulties women face in accessing education, economic resources, and employment diminish their power in intimate relationships, increasing the likelihood of IPV. These factors can also have a significant effect on women's mental health. However, some studies show that economic empowerment does not necessarily translate into greater agency for women if they cannot use the resources they earn to pursue whatever goals or values they regard as important in life. Agency is women's ability to identify their life goals and act upon them through critical evaluation (intrinsic agency) and autonomous decision-making (instrumental agency). In this article, we aim to analyze the relationship between women's power (educational and economic) and agency and their influence on intimate partner violence and on women's mental health in the context of El Salvador. Currently, El Salvador has one of the highest percentages of femicide worldwide. We used data from the first national survey on violence against women in El Salvador to determine empowerment indicators and investigated their influence on intimate partner violence and women's mental health. Results from a representative sample of 1,274 women aged between 15 and 64 years old and, using a structural equation modeling revealed that education was a protective factor against IPV, but economic power appeared to put women at greater risk of IPV. Education was positively related to both intrinsic and instrumental agency, but only instrumental agency was negatively associated with the likelihood of being a victim of IPV. Finally, both intrinsic and instrumental agencies were positively related to women's mental health. We discuss the importance of identifying specific factors related to women's power and agency to prevent IPV and mental health problems and to promote more gender equity in the Global South.

Keywords: Global South; agency; intimate partner violence; mental health; power; violence against women.

FIGURE 1

Standardized regression coefficients for the structural regression model of our hypotheses. ***p < 0.001, **p < 0.01; factor loadings and first-order latent variables are omitted for simplifying the interpretation.

FIGURE 2

Standardized regression coefficients of an exploratory full model of the mediating role of intrinsic and instrumental agency between the power to variables and IPV. *** p < 0.001, **p < 0.01; solid indicate statistically significant coefficients and dotted gray lines indicate non-statistically significant coefficients. ⁺p < 0.10.