US/Nicaragua: Planning Visit to Nicaragua to Establish an Investigation of Land Rights and Domestic Violence

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This U.S. Nicaragua award will support a planning visit to Nicaragua to be held in Managua, May 20-30, 2007. Dr. Shelly Grabe of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, will meet with Dr. Alejandro Martinez-Cuenca of the International Foundation for the Global Economic Challenge in Managua, Nicaragua to lay the groundwork for developing a full NSF proposal on the role of land tenure in the prevention of domestic violence among women. The planning visit will include two scientists from the University of Wisconsin, the research director of the Wisconsin Coordinating Council on Nicaragua (WCCN), and an undergraduate student who will be conducting an internship at WCCN. Domestic violence is recognized internationally as a serious public health problem with grave implications for the well-being of women. Several international institutions have committed their agendas and resources to drawing more attention to the prevalence and consequences of violence against women. The proposed research is a theoretically focused empirical investigation aimed at improving the understanding of the social process of violence against women by examining whether systematic differences in land rights between men and women create structural inequalities that contribute to the alarmingly high rates of domestic violence among women in Latin America. The theories and methodologies put forth by U.S. social and behavioral sciences are well-positioned to permit high-quality scientific research in the exact areas of which international bodies are calling for the elimination of discrimination against women. This planning visit will bring together researchers from the U.S. and Nicaragua with overlapping research interests and complementary skills to fine-tune a project aimed at investigating violence among women.