Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Women perceive the causes of IPV to be linked with other difficulties faced by women in these settings, including their financial dependence on men, traditional gender expectations and social changes that took place during and after the wars in those countries.
According to respondents, the wars increased the use of violence by some men, as violence became for them a normal way of responding to frustrations and challenges. However, the war also resulted in women becoming economically active, which was said by some to have decreased IPV, as the pressure on men to provide for their families reduced. Economic independence, together with services provided by NGOs, also gave women the option of leaving a violent relationship. The interactions between war experiences and financial and cultural issues are multi-faceted and not uniformly positive or negative.
West Africa is a region that is slowly emerging from multiple, interconnected wars in which violence against women and girls was prevalent [ 1 , 2 ]. While sexual violence both during and in the wake of these wars has received much attention, less priority has been given to intimate partner violence IPV in relation to war a.
Although empirical research in this field is limited, studies have suggested a link between exposure to violence by armed groups and IPV [ 3 , 4 ]. Certain cultural and social norms play a particularly important role in creating conditions that support or facilitate IPV [ 5 ].
Many of these norms are common in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, resulting in IPV being widely justified by both men and women as a normal part of an intimate relationship [ 6 , 7 ]. Indeed, a study in rural Kenya found that while women did seek, and sometimes receive, support for IPV from informal community resources, the prevailing opinion was that this violence within partnerships was a generally accepted aspect of local culture [ 11 ]. While this particular belief is not common across all communities, it is illustrative of the complex interactions between gender roles, spirituality, and social norms that can affect women's well-being.
