Intersecting social/structural factors and vulnerability to intimate partner violence: the experiences of Nigerian women who use drugs

An emerging body of research has shown that women who live in highly coercive settings characterised by poverty and housing instability face a heightened risk of intimate partner violence. We seek to contribute to this literature by exploring how multiple, overlapping social and structural factors shape intimate partner violence (IPV) risk among women who use drugs (WWUD). Analysis of 16 in-depth interviews with WWUD in Uyo, Nigeria, framed by intersectionality, reveals that intimate partnerships of WWUD were contextualised by socio-economic disadvantages, housing instability, and dependent substance use. Intimate partnerships motivated by women’s concerns to meet survival needs manifested as unequal exchanges that locked them in abusive relationships. Socio-economic deprivations, housing instability and dependent substance use operated at a more distal level to shape unequal relationships characterised by dependence and subordination of WWUD, the later factors constituting the proximal axis of IPV risk. WWUD sought to negotiate IPV risk through deference and acquiescence to male partners. Interventions aiming to reduce IPV risk within intimate partnerships of WWUD should seek to expand the space women have to negotiate risks within these partnerships in the short term. In the long term, they should focus on ensuring access to safe housing, economic support and drug treatment services.

Key messages
-Intimate relationships of WWUD are driven by concerns about meeting survival needs.
-Intimate relationships of WWUD are unequal exchanges characterised by dependence and subordination of women.
-WWUD make difficult choices between partners’ socio-economic support and IPV risk.