The Cost of Domestic Violence

Domestic violence damages the prospects for economic and social development of every country, not just the lives of the victims. Abuse affects children’s performance in school and therefore their future productivity and the returns on national investments in schooling.

Men and women who suffer from domestic violence are less productive in the workplace, and this lower productivity is a direct loss to national production. There are also important multiplier effects: women who are less productive tend to earn lower incomes, and those lower incomes in turn imply less consumption spending and a consequent lower level of aggregate demand. In addition, domestic violence makes claims on scarce resources - including expenditures on the police service, judicial systems and the provision of social services - that otherwise could be used for other purposes.

For analytical and illustrative purposes, the costs of domestic violence can be divided into four categories:

1) direct costs,
2) non-monetary costs,
3) economic multiplier effects of violence, and
4) social multiplier effects of violence.

Direct Costs of Domestic Violence captures the value of goods and services used in attempting to prevent violence and offering treatment to both victims and perpetrators. It includes expenditures on the police, judiciary systems, medical treatment, counselling for victims and abusers, housing and other social services.

Although no estimates of the direct costs associated with domestic violence are available for any Caribbean country, the assupmtion is that they are significant, although somewhat lower than estimates in industrialised countries, where there is a greater availability of services. The figures for these countries are high; for example, Canada and New Zealand estimates reveal violence against women accounts for $1 billion and $1.2 billion US per year.

Non-monetary Costs of Violence encapsulate health impacts that do not necessarily generate a demand for services from medical providers, such as increased morbidity, increased mortality through homicide and suicide, abuse of alcohol and drugs, and depressive disorders.

If one calculates the impact on ill health of domestic violence, the results are sobering. In a study conducted by the World Bank in 1993, it was estimated that rape and domestic violence cause 9 million disability-adjusted life years (DALY) to be lost annually to the world. To understand the magnitude of this statement, this cost exceeds the total for all types of cancers affecting women, and is more than the total DALY’s lost by women in motor vehicle accidents.

Economic Multiplier Effects of Violence include accumulation of human capital, lower rates of labour market participation, reduced productivity on the job, increased absenteeism, lower earnings, intergenerational productivity impacts and - at the macro level - lower levels of savings and investment.

With respect to the impact of domestic violence on women’s earning power, evidence from a study conducted by the Bank in 1997 indicates large differences in labour earnings between women who do and do not suffer severe physical violence. Although the study was conducted in Latin American countries, the figures cna be extrapolated for the Caribbean region. In Nicaragua, women who suffer from physical violence earn only 57% as much as their non-abused peers, while in Chile this figure is 39%.

It is worth emphasising that these losses capture only the impact on women’s earning. They do not include effects on labour force participation or absenteeism.

Social Multiplier Effects of Violence include the intergenerational transmission of violence, erosion of social capital, reduced quality of life and reduced participation in domestic processes.

In the case of domestic violence, there is significant evidence documenting the link between a man witnessing or experiencing abuse as a child and later behaving violently with his partner. Other research shows that children exposed to domestic violence have inappropriate views on the acceptability and utility of violence as a means to resolve conflicts and are at increased risks of being both a victim and a perpetrator. The connection between domestic violence, poor parenting and future violent behaviour outside the home has yet to be examined empirically in the Caribbean region, but it would be very surprising were such a link no to emerge.

Of particular importance is the erosion of social capital that occurs because of the isolation experienced by victims of domestic violence. Domestic violence against women in many cases is instrumental in nature; that is, a man uses domestic violence as a means to an end - in this case, control of the woman and her contacts with the world outside the home. This simultaneously reduces a woman’s quality of life and her ability to participate in activities outside the home, including income-earning and community activities.