Time Heals all Wounds? a Capabilities Approach for Analyzing Intimate Partner Violence

ABSTRACT

The capabilities approach has redefined what constitutes economic well-being and is now used globally to track progress in human development. Yet, its application in examining violence against women has been limited to identification of impacts on universal capabilities and protective or risk factors for violence. This study examines the long-term consequences of intimate partner violence as capability deprivations. This framework allows for a more complete articulation of the costs faced by survivors. Additionally, this approach allows for consideration of the temporal dimension of capability deprivations associated with intimate partner violence. Such deprivations are cyclical, in the translation of resources into capabilities and into functionings, and linear, over the lifespan. Ultimately, the capabilities approach can help evaluate policies that disproportionately impact survivors over time. Two examples from the United States are included.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Intimate partner violence (IPV) is both a serious, direct deprivation of bodily integrity and a cause and consequence of deprivations across other capabilities.

• Compared to static frameworks, the capabilities approach allows for better recognition of the long-run costs of IPV.

• Organizations working with survivors should move away from resource-based perspectives and toward using the capabilities approach to identify and remove barriers survivors face in translating resources to capabilities to functionings.

• Examining the US-based Purple Paw Program for pet fostering and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act reveals how conceptualizing IPV in terms of capabilities can aid in targeting policies toward supporting survivors.

KEYWORDS:

• Capabilities
• capability approach
• Amartya Sen
• Martha Nussbaum
• intimate partner violence
• teen dating violence

JEL Codes:

• I31
• J12
• I3

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank Günseli Berik for thoughtful conversations and invaluable feedback on previous versions of this paper, as well as Norman Waitzman, Eunice Han, Kristine Campbell, Haimanti Bhattacharya, and the anonymous reviewers for their constructive input.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jacqueline Strenio

Jacqueline Strenio is Assistant Professor of Economics at Southern Oregon University. Her research focuses on the economic determinants and consequences of intimate partner violence over the lifespan. Her research emphasizes that intimate partner violence victimization is not only a substantial violation of a person’s right to a life free from violence, but also results in other significant unfreedoms, including reducing the capability to achieve economic empowerment. She holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Utah.