Intimate partner violence and forced migration during pregnancy: Structural constraints to women's agency

Abstract

Little is known about migration during pregnancy related to intimate partner violence (IPV). In this paper, we examine issues of agency in relation to pregnant women's migrations in a high HIV prevalence area of Kenya. We qualitatively explored forced migration among pregnant women, using data from in-depth interviews, focus groups and IPV screening forms. To quantitatively examine migration during pregnancy, we analysed data from a prospective study of 614 pregnant women. The qualitative data revealed that women had varied responses to violence in pregnancy, with some being able to leave the marital home voluntarily as a strategy to escape violence. Others were ‘sent packing’ from their marital homes when they dared to exercise autonomy, in some cases related to HIV status. Quantitative analyses revealed that pregnant women who migrated were more educated, less likely to be living with a partner and had fewer children than other women. Migration among pregnant women in Kenya illustrates the complexity of understanding women's agency in the context of IPV. The findings indicate that there is not a dichotomy between ‘victim’ and ‘agent’, but rather a complex dynamic between and within pregnant women, who may sequentially or simultaneously experience aspects of victimhood and/or agentic response.

Keywords:

• intimate partner violence
• migration
• HIV/AIDS
• pregnancy
• Africa

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Kenyan women and men who participated in the studies and shared their experiences with the authors. The authors acknowledge the important logistical support of the KEMRI-UCSF Collaborative Group and especially Family AIDS Care and Education Services. They gratefully acknowledge the Director of KEMRI, the Director of KEMRI's Centre for Microbiology and the Nyanza Provincial Ministry of Health for their support in conducting this research. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the US National Institute of Mental Health or the US National Institutes of Health.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, University of California San Francisco-Gladstone Institute of Virology & Immunology Center for AIDS Research [grant number P30 AI27763]; the University of California, Berkeley Fogarty International AIDS Training Program (AITRP) under Grant number; the US National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) [grant number K01MH081777]; and Research Scientist Development Award from the NIMH [Ggrant number K01MH093205].