Abstract
The aim of this study was to assess whether women’sempowerment ensures reduced intimate partnerviolence (IPV). The differential relationshipbetween women’s empowerment and IPV among marriedwomen in Bangladesh was investigated using 2007Demographic and Health Survey data. Logisticregression models were used to assess whetherwomen’s empowerment had any influence on theirlikelihood of experiencing IPV while controlling forother covariates. The analyses revealed that oldercohorts of women, who were more empowered, were morevulnerable to physical violence than less-empowered,younger women. The likelihood of being affected byphysical violence among less-empowered, childlesswomen was greater than that of more-empowered womenwith only male children. Less-empowered, uneducatedwomen were more likely to experience physicalviolence than more-empowered, primary-educatedwomen. Less-empowered women who had been married forless than 5 years were more likely to suffer fromphysical violence than more-empowered women who hadbeen married for more than 19 years. The likelihoodof experiencing sexual violence was not found tohave any significant association with women’sempowerment. The findings suggest that althoughwomen’s empowerment in Bangladesh is graduallyimproving, some sub-groups of empowered women arestill susceptible to IPV.