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Intimate Partner Violence, Women, and Work: Coping on the Job

NCJ Number
215846
Journal
Violence and Victims Volume: 21 Issue: 5 Dated: October 2006 Pages: 561-578
Author(s)
Jennifer E. Swanberg; Caroline Macke MSW; T.K. Logan Ph.D.
Date Published
October 2006
Length
18 pages
Annotation
Using a sample of employed women with domestic violence orders, this study examined workplace interference tactics, how women coped with violence at work, and workplace supports.
Abstract
In the study of the intersection of partner violence and employment among women with domestic violence orders against the abusive partner, results indicate that partner victimization has significant consequences for working women and the places in which they work. Eighty-five percent of women reported that the domestic violence order (DVO) partner interfered with their job in some way. Although job interference tactics varied, data suggests that DVO partners’ behaviors jeopardized women’s jobs and economic security. The study provides additional evidence to demonstrate that the negative consequences of partner violence extend beyond the boundaries of women’s home life into the places where women work. Intimate partner violence can cause significant consequences to the workplace of a victim. The consequences of partner violence influencing the workplace have major ramifications for the victimized employee and the workplace where the victim is employee. This study of 518 women employed within the past year and interviewed between 2001 and 2003, descriptively examined (1) the types of behaviors used by violent partners that interfered with women’s work and the frequency of these events, (2) the frequency of job-related consequences associated with victimization when it spilled over into the workplace, (3) the incidence of and circumstances associated with partner violence victims disclosing victimization to someone at work and whether disclosure varied by job characteristics or type of job interference tactic, and (4) to whom women disclosed and the types of supports they were offered at work. Tables, notes, and references