Explaining Aboriginal/Non-Aboriginal Inequalities in Postseparation Violence Against Canadian Women

Abstract

Adopting a structural violence approach, we analyzed 2004 Canadian General Social Survey data to examine Aboriginal/non-Aboriginal inequalities in postseparation intimate partner violence (IPV) against women. Aboriginal women had 4.12 times higher odds of postseparation IPV than non-Aboriginal women (p < .001). Coercive control and age explained most of this inequality. The final model included Aboriginal status, age, a seven-item coercive control index, and stalking, which reduced the odds ratio for Aboriginal status to 1.92 (p = .085) and explained 70.5% of the Aboriginal/non-Aboriginal inequality in postseparation IPV. Research and action are needed that challenge structural violence, especially colonialism and its negative consequences.

Keywords

Aboriginal women coercive control intimate partner violence postseparation structural violence

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Adelson

(2005). The embodiment of inequity. Canadian Journal of Public Health, 96(Supplement 2), S45-S61.

Anderson

D. K.

Saunders

D. G.

(2003). Leaving an abusive partner: An empirical review of predictors, the process of leaving, and psychological well-being. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 4, 163-191.

Browne

A. J.

Smye

V. L.

Varcoe

(2007). Postcolonial-feminist theoretical perspectives and women’s health. In Morrow

Hankivsky

Varcoe

(Eds.), Women’s health in Canada: Critical perspectives on theory and policy (pp. 124-142). Toronto, Ontario, Canada: University of Toronto Press.

Brownridge

D. A.

(2003). Male partner violence against Aboriginal women in Canada: An empirical analysis. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 18, 65-85.

Brownridge

D. A.

(2006). Violence against women post-separation. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 11, 514-530.

Brownridge

D. A.

(2008). Understanding the elevated risk of partner violence against Aboriginal women: A comparison of two nationally representative surveys in Canada. Journal of Family Violence, 23, 353-367.

Brownridge

D. A.

Chan

K. L.

Hiebert-Murphy

Riestock

Tiwari

Leung

Santos

S. C.

(2008a). The elevated risk for non-lethal post-separation violence in Canada: A comparison of separated, divorced, and married women. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 23, 117-135.

Brownridge

D. A.

Hiebert-Murphy

Riestock

Chan

K. L.

Tiwari

Tyler

Santos

S. C.

(2008b). Violence against separated, divorced and married women in Canada, 2004. Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, 49, 308-329.

Brzozowski

J.-A.

Taylor-Butts

Johnson

(2006). Victimization and offending among the Aboriginal population in Canada. Juristat, 26(3), 1-31.

10.

Bubar

Thurman

P. J.

(2004). Violence against native women. Social Justice, 31(4), 70-86.

11.

Crocker

(2010). Counting woman abuse: A cautionary tale of two surveys. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 13, 265-275.

12.

Davies

Ford-Gilboe

Hammerton

(2009). Gender inequality and patterns of abuse post leaving. Journal of Family Violence, 24, 27-39.

13.

Dobash

R. E.

Dobash

R. P.

(1979). Violence against wives. New York: Free Press.

14.

Drevdahl

D. J.

Philips

D. A.

Taylor

(2006). Uncontested categories: The use of race and ethnicity variables in nursing research. Nursing Inquiry, 13, 52-63.

15.

Farmer

(1992). AIDS and accusation: Haiti and the geography of blame. Berkeley: University of California Press.

16.

Farmer

(2005). Pathologies of power: Health, human rights, and the new war on the poor. Berkeley: University of California Press.

17.

Farmer

P. E.

Nizeye

Stulac

Keshavjee

(2006). Structural Violence and Clinical Medicine. PLoS Medicine, 3, 1686-1691.

18.

Fee

(2006). Racializing narratives: Obesity, diabetes and the “Aboriginal” thrifty genotype. Social Science & Medicine, 62, 2988-2997.

19.

Feminist Alliance for International Action. (2008). Women’s inequality in Canada. Canada: Author. Retrieved from http://www.iwraw-ap.org/resources/pdf/42_shadow_reports/Canada_SR_FAFIA.pdf

20.

Hardesty

J. L.

(2002). Separation assault in the context of postdivorce parenting. Violence Against Women, 8, 597-625.

21.

Hunnicutt

(2009). Varieties of patriarchy and violence against women: Resurrecting “patriarchy” as a theoretical tool. Violence Against Women, 15, 553-573.

22.

Johnson

(2006). Measuring violence against women: Statistical trends 2006. Ottawa: Minister of Industry.

23.

Lown

Schmidt

L. A.

Wiley

(2006). Interpersonal violence among women seeking welfare: Unraveling lives. American Journal of Public Health, 96, 1409-1415.

24.

Mahoney

Williams

L. M.

West

C. M.

(2001). Violence against women by intimate relationship partners. In Renzetti

C. M.

Edleson

J. L.

Bergen

R. K.

(Eds.), Sourcebook on violence against women (pp. 143-178). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

25.

Malcoe

L. H.

Duran

B. M.

Montgomery

J. M.

(2004). Socioeconomic disparities in intimate partner violence against Native American women: A cross-sectional study. BMC Medicine, 2, 20-33.

26.

Mechanic

M. B.

Weaver

T. L.

Resick

P. A.

(2008). Mental health consequences of intimate partner abuse: A multidimensional assessment of four different forms of abuse. Violence Against Women, 14, 634-654.

27.

Mihorean

(2005). Trends in self-reported spousal violence. In AuCoin

(Ed.), Family violence in Canada: A statistical profile 2005 (pp. 13-31). Ottawa, Canada: Minister of Industry.

28.

Paterson

(2009). (Re)Constructing women’s resistance to women abuse: Resources, strategy choice and implications of and for public policy in Canada. Critical Social Policy, 29, 121-145.

29.

Reading

Kmetic

Gideon

(2007). First Nations holistic policy and planning model: Discussion paper for the World Health Organization Commission on Social Determinants of Health. Canada: Assembly of First Nations. Retrieved from http://www.ahrnets.ca/files/2011/02/AFN_Paper_2007.pdf

30.

Risman

B. J.

(2004). Gender as social structure: Theory wrestling with activism. Gender & Society, 18, 429-450.

31.

Romans

Forte

Cohen

M. M.

Du Mont

Hyman

(2007). Who is most at risk for intimate partner violence? A Canadian population-based study. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 22, 1495-1514.

32.

Smith

(2003). Not an Indian tradition: The sexual colonization of Native Peoples. Hypatia, 18(2), 70-85.

33.

Smith

M. D.

(1990). Sociodemographic risk factors in wife abuse: Results from a survey of Toronto women. Canadian Journal of Sociology, 15, 39-58.

34.

Smylie

(2009). The health of Aboriginal Peoples. In Raphael

(Ed.), Social determinants of health: Canadian perspectives (2nd ed., pp. 280-301). Toronto, Ontario: Canadian Scholar’s Press.

35.

Sokoloff

Dupont

(2005). Domestic violence at the intersections of race, class, and gender: Challenges and contributions to understanding violence against marginalized women in diverse communities. Violence Against Women, 11, 38-64.

36.

Spiwak

Brownridge

D. A.

(2005). Separated women’s risk for violence: An analysis of the Canadian situation. Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, 43(3/4), 105-117.

37.

Statistics Canada. (2005a). General social survey cycle 18: Victimization (2004): User’s guide to the public use microdata file. Ottawa, Canada: Minister of Industry.

38.

Statistics Canada. (2005b, October 27). General social survey—Victimization (GSS). Retrieved from http://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvey&SurvId=4504&SurvVer=2&InstaId=16857&InstaVer=4&SDDS=4504&lang=en&db=imdb&adm=8&dis=2

39.

Statistics Canada. (2010a). Chart 10: Employment rate by Aboriginal identity, population aged 25 to 54, 2006. Retrieved from http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/89-645-x/2010001/c-g/c-g010-eng.htm

40.

Statistics Canada. (2010b). Chart 11: Median total income in 2005 by Aboriginal identity, population aged 25 to 54. Retrieved from http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/89-645-x/2010001/c-g/c-g011-eng.htm

41.

Sterritt

(2007). Racialization of poverty: Indigenous women, the Indian Act and systematic oppression: Reasons for resistance. Paper prepared for Vancouver Status of Women’s Racialization of Poverty Project. Vancouver: Vancouver Status of Women. Retrieved from www.vsw.ca/Documents/IndigenousWomen_DEC2007FINAL.pdf

42.

Szklo

Nieto

F. J.

(2007). Epidemiology: Beyond the basics (2nd ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Barlett Publishers.

43.

Weaver

H. N.

(2009). The colonial context of violence: Reflections on violence in the lives of Native American women. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 24, 1552-1563.

44.

Williamson

(2010). Living in the world of the domestic violence perpetrator: Negotiating the unreality of coercive control. Violence Against Women, 16, 1412-1423.

45.

Wilson

Daly

(1993). Spousal homicide risk and estrangement. Violence and Victims, 8, 3-16.