A Systematic Review of Women’s Decision-Making Autonomy and Intimate Partner Violence

  • Unique Paper ID: 181021
  • PageNo: 3399-3404
  • Abstract:
  • This systematic review synthesizes findings from 32 studies (2000–2025) examining the association between women’s household decision-making autonomy and IPV across diverse global contexts. Egalitarian decision-making consistently reduces IPV prevalence, with reductions of up to 32% in Nigeria and 28% in Nepal. However, sole female autonomy increases IPV risk by 15–20% in patriarchal contexts, such as Nepal and Bangladesh, often due to male backlash, particularly with technological interventions like mobile banking. Contextual factors, including cultural norms, resource access, and crises (e.g., COVID-19 lockdowns), significantly moderate this relationship. Greater autonomy reduces women's justification of IPV, though men's attitudes more strongly predict IPV prevalence. Interventions should promote shared decision-making, engage men in gender norm discussions, and integrate autonomy-enhancing tools with cultural shifts. Limitations include varying definitions of autonomy (e.g., financial vs. domestic), reliance on cross-sectional data, and limited evidence from regions like India. Future research should adopt standardized scales (e.g., DHS autonomy module), prioritize understudied regions, and explore technology’s dual role in IPV dynamics.

Copyright & License

Copyright © 2026 Authors retain the copyright of this article. This article is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

BibTeX

@article{181021,
        author = {SRUTHIRAJ M K and SAFNA and ATHIRA SREEKUMAR},
        title = {A Systematic Review of Women’s Decision-Making Autonomy and Intimate Partner Violence},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2025},
        volume = {12},
        number = {1},
        pages = {3399-3404},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=181021},
        abstract = {This systematic review synthesizes findings from 32 studies (2000–2025) examining the association between women’s household decision-making autonomy and IPV across diverse global contexts. Egalitarian decision-making consistently reduces IPV prevalence, with reductions of up to 32% in Nigeria and 28% in Nepal. However, sole female autonomy increases IPV risk by 15–20% in patriarchal contexts, such as Nepal and Bangladesh, often due to male backlash, particularly with technological interventions like mobile banking. Contextual factors, including cultural norms, resource access, and crises (e.g., COVID-19 lockdowns), significantly moderate this relationship. Greater autonomy reduces women's justification of IPV, though men's attitudes more strongly predict IPV prevalence. Interventions should promote shared decision-making, engage men in gender norm discussions, and integrate autonomy-enhancing tools with cultural shifts. Limitations include varying definitions of autonomy (e.g., financial vs. domestic), reliance on cross-sectional data, and limited evidence from regions like India. Future research should adopt standardized scales (e.g., DHS autonomy module), prioritize understudied regions, and explore technology’s dual role in IPV dynamics.},
        keywords = {decision-making autonomy, gender norms, intimate partner violence, patriarchal contexts, women’s empowerment.},
        month = {June},
        }

Cite This Article

K, S. M., & SAFNA, , & SREEKUMAR, A. (2025). A Systematic Review of Women’s Decision-Making Autonomy and Intimate Partner Violence. International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology (IJIRT), 12(1), 3399–3404.

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