Inter-American Development Bank
facebook
twitter
youtube
linkedin
instagram
Abierto al públicoBeyond BordersCaribbean Development TrendsCiudades SosteniblesEnergía para el FuturoEnfoque EducaciónFactor TrabajoGente SaludableGestión fiscalGobernarteIdeas MatterIdeas que CuentanIdeaçãoImpactoIndustrias CreativasLa Maleta AbiertaMoviliblogMás Allá de las FronterasNegocios SosteniblesPrimeros PasosPuntos sobre la iSeguridad CiudadanaSostenibilidadVolvamos a la fuente¿Y si hablamos de igualdad?Home
Citizen Security and Justice Creative Industries Development Effectiveness Early Childhood Development Education Energy Envirnment. Climate Change and Safeguards Fiscal policy and management Gender and Diversity Health Labor and pensions Open Knowledge Public management Science, Technology and Innovation  Trade and Regional Integration Urban Development and Housing Water and Sanitation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Caribbean Development Trends

  • HOME
  • CATEGORIES
    • Agribusiness
    • Antigua and Barbuda
    • Barbados
    • BehaviorChange
    • Belize
    • Bermuda
    • biodiversity
    • Blockchain
    • Caribbean
    • Caribbean Culture and Media
    • Climate Change
    • Creative Economy
    • Crime Prevention and Citizen Security
    • Data and Knowledge
    • De-risking
    • Dominica
    • Dutch
    • Early Childhood Development
    • Economic Growth
    • Education Policy
    • energy
    • entrepreneurship
    • Environmental and Climate Change
    • Events
    • Extractives
    • Finance
    • Fiscal Rules
    • gender
    • Governance and Regulatory Policy Reforms
    • Grenada
    • Guyana
    • Haiti
    • Health
    • Health Policy
    • Hurricane
    • Hurricane Irma
    • infrastructure
    • Innovation and change
    • Intellectual Property
    • IWD
    • Jamaica
    • JumpCaribbean
    • Labor
    • Labour Markets
    • MOOC
    • Music
    • Natural Disasters
    • Nurturing Institutions
    • OECS
    • Podcast
    • Poverty
    • Private Sector and Entrepreneurship
    • Saint Kitts and Nevis
    • Saint Lucia
    • Saint Vincent and Grenadines
    • skills
    • Sports for Development
    • Suriname
    • Technology
    • The Bahamas
    • The Blue Economy
    • Transportation
    • Tourism
    • Trinidad and Tobago
    • Uncategorized
    • VAWG
    • Webinar
    • women
    • Women for Change
    • youth
  • Country Offices
    • Bahamas
    • Barbados
    • Guyana
    • Jamaica
    • Suriname
    • Trinidad and Tobago
  • Press Releases
    • Bahamas
    • Barbados
    • Guyana
    • Jamaica
    • Suriname
    • Trinidad and Tobago
  • Authors

Are Caribbean Homes Safe for Women?

December 14, 2016 by Heather Sutton Leave a Comment


From 25 November (International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women) to 10 December (Human Rights Day), the international campaign 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence mobilized organizations and women around the world. It is estimated that nearly one in three women around the world will experience violence in her lifetime, typically at the hands of an intimate partner. We know relatively little about the size and dimensions of this problem in the Caribbean – intimate partner and sexual violence are underreported to the police, sometimes they are not even considered a crime and too often they are relegated to the realm of “private” or “family” matters. The IDB, UN Women and other international and local actors have recently teamed up with Caribbean governments to generate more knowledge and awareness about the issue.

Understanding the social norms that justify violence against women is an important start. There is strong evidence that these norms are highly correlated with actual levels of perpetration. The recently published policy brief, How Safe Are Caribbean Homes for Women and Children? Attitudes toward Intimate Partner Violence and Corporal Punishment , examines such attitudes in six Caribbean countries. It finds that one in four Caribbean adults would approve or understand a man hitting his wife if she neglects the household chores. One in three would approve or understand if she were unfaithful. Caribbean adults were significantly more tolerant than their peers in Latin America and the United States.

What can be done to change these social norms in the Caribbean? The IDB brief also examines the characteristics of those who were more tolerant of intimate partner violence: being lower income, younger, resident of a rural area, and not completing secondary education. Experiencing frequent physical punishment as a child was also found to be a statistically significant predictor of male tolerance of intimate partner violence. Programs aimed at changing social norms should therefore target this demographic.

The good news is that there is a wealth of international research suggesting that some interventions can be successful at both changing norms and reducing actual physical and sexual violence against women[1]. It is time that Caribbean governments take serious and sustained actions to protect the life and integrity of women.

 

 


Filed Under: Social Systems Tagged With: citizen security, Citizen Security and Justice Program, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, Justice, violence, Violence Against Women, women

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Follow Us

Subscribe

Search

Caribbean Dev Trends

We provide unique and timely insights on the Caribbean and its political, social, and economic development. At the IDB, we strive to improve lives in the Caribbean by creating vibrant and resilient economies where people are safe, productive and happy.

Similar posts

  • Yes, Caribbean men are dying from violence, but what about women?
  • Block The Hand That Strikes Women
  • Does progress in gender equality mean less violence against women?
  • A successful strategy to prevent violence against women: a closer look at the SASA! model
  • Is there an effective way to end family violence?

Footer

Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo
facebook
twitter
youtube
youtube
youtube

    Blog posts written by Bank employees:

    Copyright © Inter-American Development Bank ("IDB"). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons IGO 3.0 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives. (CC-IGO 3.0 BY-NC-ND) license and may be reproduced with attribution to the IDB and for any non-commercial purpose. No derivative work is allowed. Any dispute related to the use of the works of the IDB that cannot be settled amicably shall be submitted to arbitration pursuant to the UNCITRAL rules. The use of the IDB's name for any purpose other than for attribution, and the use of IDB's logo shall be subject to a separate written license agreement between the IDB and the user and is not authorized as part of this CC- IGO license. Note that link provided above includes additional terms and conditions of the license.


    For blogs written by external parties:

    For questions concerning copyright for authors that are not IADB employees please complete the contact form for this blog.

    The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the IDB, its Board of Directors, or the countries they represent.

    Attribution: in addition to giving attribution to the respective author and copyright owner, as appropriate, we would appreciate if you could include a link that remits back the IDB Blogs website.



    Privacy Policy

    Copyright © 2025 · Magazine Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

    Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo

    Aviso Legal

    Las opiniones expresadas en estos blogs son las de los autores y no necesariamente reflejan las opiniones del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo, sus directivas, la Asamblea de Gobernadores o sus países miembros.

    facebook
    twitter
    youtube