Influence of intimate partner violence on productive work among women in the informal sector in Nakuru Municipality, Kenya

Abstract

Globally, intimate partner violence is experienced in various cultures and affects people across societies irrespective of their economic status. This is also the case in Sub- Saharan Africa. Kenya is reported to show an increasing trend as reported by Medical and Human Rights groups. The influence of intimate partner violence on women’s productive work in the informal sector is a subject of interest since women play an active role in the sector. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of intimate partner violence (IPV) on women’s productive work in the informal sector in Nakuru Municipality. The study was carried out in five rescue institutions handling intimate partner violence victims with target population of 284. The study employed ex-post facto research design while simple random sampling was used to select 176 participants who were victims of intimate partner violence and had registered the violence in the five rescue institutions. Data was collected by use of researcher administered questionnaire and focus group discussions. A pre-test was conducted among 25 randomly selected women in Lanet Deanery Centre to determine the instrument’s reliability which was found through Cronbachs alpha to be 0.8. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics for qualitative data while inferential statistics based on Chi square test and T-test were used to analyze quantitative data. The findings of the study showed that different forms of IPV were experienced in intimate partner relationship in Nakuru Municipality. The violence reported includes physical, economic, sexual and verbal. Regarding physical violence, slapping was the most common type with 61.95%, while monitoring money expenditure by partners was found to be most prevalent (52.3%) in economic violence. Forced to have sex was the most experienced type of sexual violence at 61.4%, while name calling was the most common type of verbal abuse at 58.5%. The presence of IPV significantly (p < 05) resulted into loss of hours of productive work, and reduced personal earnings. A decline in self-efficacy was also significantly experienced with the majority (79.5%) not able to enjoy working. The findings therefore indicate that IPV has an influence on productive work of women. It has been recommended the government to ensure strict implementation of laws and policies that have been instituted to protect women against IPV. The same should also be considered for further research so that feasible coping mechanisms can be developed.