This paper explores the association between microcredit-based
development programmes and domestic violence against women perpetrated
by their husbands. A sub-set of cross-sectional data collected in 1999
from 60 BRAC-ICDDR,B study villages in Matlab, Bangladesh, was used.
Data were analyzed to characterize group-level differences among study
women regarding the reported occurrence of violence (physical and/or
mental) and to identify its predictors. About 17.5% of women had
experienced violence from their husbands in the past four months, the
proportion being greater among BRAC house-holds (p=0.05). Results of
logistic regression identified age, schooling, age of household head,
and self-rated poverty status of household as important predictors of
violence, but not level of BRAC member-ship. The study concludes that
the greater level of domestic violence reported during the initial
stages of BRAC membership subsided with the introduction of
skill-development training among participant women over time