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. 2021 Sep 27;52(5):2475–2494. doi: 10.1093/bjsw/bcab193

‘Marriage is Going to Fix It’: Indigenous Women’s Experiences with Early Childbearing, Early Marriage and Intimate Partner Violence

Catherine E McKinley 1,✉, Jennifer Lilly 2
PMCID: PMC9304968  PMID: 35879959

Abstract

Intimate partner violence (IPV), early childbearing (ECB) and early marriage (EM) are interconnected to the historical oppression of patriarchal colonialism imposed upon Indigenous peoples throughout the world by colonising nations, such as the UK. The artefacts of colonial oppression persist in both colonising nations and those that have been colonised through social norms of patriarchal oppression perpetuated upon women with far-reaching consequences. Indigenous women of the US experience higher rates of IPV, ECB and EM than any other ethnic group—which pose risks to women’s physical, psychological, socioeconomic and educational status. The purpose of this study is to explore Indigenous women’s experiences with ECB and EM through a critical ethnography with two US tribes. Through reconstructive analysis the following themes emerged: (i) ECB as a Precursor to Marriage; (ii) Unequal and Overburdened Marriages; (iii) ECB, EM and IPV; and (iv) Continued Harmful Effects of Multiple Abusive Relationships. Indigenous women’s experiences of ECB and EM are connected to patriarchal historical oppression that systematically dehumanises and oppresses Indigenous women, who were once treated with respect and esteem. Decolonisation and re-visualisation to promote the status of women and girls are needed to offset women’s constrained wellness, socio-political status and safety.

Keywords: early childbearing, early marriage, historical oppression or historical trauma, indigenous or native American or American Indian, intimate partner violence or domestic violence

The imposition of Western norms and patriarchal values on Indigenous peoples throughout the world by colonising nations has undermined treatment and respect for women. Although the UK has been a primary coloniser of Indigenous peoples and has among the highest prevalence of teenage pregnancy, scant research explores issues related to intimate partner violence (IPV), early childbearing (ECB) and early marriage (EM). Even if the forms of European colonisation have changed, the negative legacy of patriarchal colonial oppression continues to persist through the devaluation and dehumanisation imposed upon women and girls. Even if active or overt colonisation has ended, all nations carry with them the social norms of patriarchal oppression that contribute to greater ECB, EM and IPV among marginalised women based on socioeconomic class, race and other dimensions of diversity. Indigenous women of the US experience higher rates of IPV, ECB and EM than any other ethnic group, which are connected to profound consequences. Results indicate that ECB was related to EM, Indigenous women experienced unequal and overburdened relationships within EM and both ECB and EM contributed to IPV across time. Decolonisation is needed to promote women’s wellness, socio-political status and safety.

Introduction

Indigenous women of the USA experience high rates of intimate partner violence (IPV), early childbearing (ECB) and early marriage (EM) (Liu et al., 1994; Hellerstedt et al., 2006; Rosay, 2016; Koski and Heymann, 2018)—all of which are interconnected to the historical oppression of patriarchal colonialism (Liu et al., 1994; Hellerstedt et al., 2006; Rosay, 2016; Burnette and Renner, 2017; Koski and Heymann, 2018). ECB and EM receive less attention in wealthy nations like the USA and the UK, although these two nations have had the highest rates of teenage pregnancy compared to other wealthy nations (Kmietowicz, 2002; Paranjothy et al., 2009). The United Nations Sustainable Development goals pledge to end EM before the age of 2018 by the year 2030; yet the UK’s laws are said to be failing to protect young girls from EM, as evidenced by the over 1,500 forced marriage cases in 2018, the majority of which arise from within England (Barr, 2018; UN, 2018; Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 2020).

Along with being imposed and internalised within Indigenous communities, the patriarchal beliefs that contribute to EM and ECB that were sparked by colonisation itself are alive and well within such colonising nations (Burnette, 2015). The patriarchal portrayal of women’s primary function as child bearers to be married off as possessions, despite being centuries old, continues to manifest in the present day through ECB and EM, which can often be pressured or forced. Indeed, despite rates of teenage pregnancy decreasing around the world, incidence rates in the USA and UK remain high compared to other developed nations (Taylor, 2017; Johnson, 2018).

Indigenous women’s experiences of ECB and EM must be considered within a context of ‘historical oppression’—‘the chronic, pervasive, and intergenerational experiences of oppression that, over time, may be normalized, imposed, and internalized into the daily lives of many Indigenous people’ (Burnette and Figley, 2016, p. 137). A form of historical oppression that Indigenous peoples in the USA have endured is patriarchal colonialism—the imposition of patriarchy (men subjugating women) and Eurocentrism (White people subjugating non-White people) as part of the colonial project (Guerrero, 2003). IPV, ECB and EM, are associated with profoundly negative outcomes and are interconnected to the historical oppression of patriarchal colonialism imposed upon Indigenous peoples throughout the world by colonising nations, such as the UK. Scant research has examined US Indigenous women’s experiences of ECB and EM, although Indigenous females are twice as likely to bear a child in adolescence than all other US races combined (Liu et al., 1994) and rates of marriage before the age of eighteen years are high among Indigenous females in the USA (Koski and Heymann, 2018).

The imposition of Western norms and patriarchal values on Indigenous peoples throughout the world by colonising nations has undermined treatment and respect for women resulting in high rates of IPV, ECB and EM (Liu et al., 1994; Hellerstedt et al., 2006; Rosay, 2016; Burnette and Renner, 2017; Koski and Heymann, 2018). Yet, problems related to IPV, ECB and EM are often portrayed and treated by social workers without regard to the patriarchal and structural oppression that gave rise to such challenges (Sakamoto and Pitner, 2005). ECB and EM pose risks to women and children’s physical and psychological health and social and educational status (Nour, 2009; Nguyen and Wodon, 2012; Sezgin and Punamäki, 2019), thus these complex concerns must be addressed both systemically and inter-professionally, calling on social workers to join with other health professionals in curbing ECB and EM to promote maternal and child health equity on a global scale.

Within both the USA and the UK, incidents of teenage pregnancy are higher in socio-economically disadvantaged areas (Taylor, 2017; Johnson, 2018). ECB and EM are known to be linked to poverty, maternal health and infant mortality (Nour, 2009; Raj, 2010; Udgiri, 2017). Indigenous women may be more vulnerable to ECB and EM and their health impacts due to the ongoing context of historical oppression that has resulted in poverty, limited access to healthcare and lower access to education (Raj, 2010; Parsons et al., 2015; Burnette and Figley, 2016; Smith et al., 2018). Due to a context of poverty, Indigenous peoples in the USA are likely to bear a higher burden of ECB and EM.

The UK populations of the Roma and Irish Travellers who are estimated to exceed 60,000, have experienced parallel forms of historical oppression through assimilative efforts; they concomitantly experience among the greatest health, socioeconomic and housing inequities of any UK population (Van Hout and Staniewicz, 2012). Increased knowledge of marginalised and women’s experiences of ECB and EM is needed to foster understanding of how the social work profession can work to reduce ECB and EM in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas within wealthy nations.

A crucial aspect of anti-oppressive social work practice is challenging the oppressive social structures that undermine the health and well-being of clients (Sakamoto and Pitner, 2005). Thus, we utilise the culturally based Framework of Historical Oppression, Resilience and Transcendence (FHORT; Burnette and Figley, 2017), which fills this gap in structural and culturally relevant, strengths-based and holistic frameworks, which are needed for social workers to understand, explain and prevent these disparities (McKinley et al., 2019). We situate women’s experiences within a sociohistorical context of patriarchal colonialism (Guerrero, 2003), an example which can be translated to other contexts and historically disenfranchised populations. We highlight strategies of resilience and resistance to colonial oppression that can be built upon in social work practice by practitioners and researchers seeking to redress and dismantle oppressive social structures while fostering resilience.

ECB and EM

Despite alarmingly high rates of ECB and EM, few studies have explored US Indigenous women’s experiences of ECB and EM—a gap this research aims to fill. Research shows that ECB and EM are related; EM often leads to ECB (Kalamar et al., 2016), and ECB may lead to EM as a means of ‘legitimizing’ the resultant child (Udgiri, 2017). The adverse health consequences (i.e. depression, cervical cancer, obstetric fistula, sexually transmitted infections and maternal mortality) and adverse pregnancy outcomes (that is, premature birth, stillbirth, low birth weight, neonatal or infant mortality) associated with ECB are well-documented in the literature (Nour, 2009; Raj, 2010). EM has also been associated with adverse health outcomes for young women, including: depression, isolation and suicidality (Nour, 2009; Raj, 2010); cervical cancer, HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (Nour, 2009); lower access to healthcare, unplanned pregnancy, greater number of children (Raj, 2010); and forced or coerced sex and other forms of IPV (Raj, 2010; Kalamar et al., 2016). EM is also a significant risk factor for IPV (Kidman, 2017), which 80 per cent of Indigenous women experience (Rosay, 2016).

ECB and EM also impact social outcomes. Research shows that becoming pregnant and/or marrying at a younger age truncates women’s education (Raj, 2010; Jain et al., 2011; Parsons et al., 2015; Burnette and Renner, 2017; Udgiri, 2017; Birchall, 2018; Smith et al., 2018). In some areas, school policies force students who are pregnant or parenting to discontinue attendance (Birchall, 2018). EM also negatively influences young women’s labour force participation, often delaying and limiting their entry into the workforce (Parsons et al., 2015). The adverse social outcomes of ECB and EM are more likely to be acutely experienced by members of marginalised groups, including US Indigenous peoples (Burnette and Renner, 2017). The purpose of this study is to explore Indigenous women’s experiences with ECB and EM from two tribes in the southeastern USA. This research offers important implications for preventing adverse outcomes associated with ECB and EM among Indigenous peoples and improving outcomes for Indigenous women through collaborative efforts among social workers and other health professionals.

Understanding ECB and EM through the theoretical FHORT

Because patriarchal cultural ideologies and family pressure influence the age at which girls are expected to marry, especially after becoming pregnant or giving birth to a child (Parsons et al., 2015; Udgiri, 2017), a theoretical framework that accounts for cultural and contextual factors is needed to understand experiences of ECB and EM. For this reason, we use the theoretical FHORT to interpret Indigenous women’s experiences of ECB and EM within a context of historical oppression (Burnette and Figley, 2017). The FHORT is an appropriate theoretical framework as it was developed through years of research to understand and redress IPV (Burnette and Figley, 2017). The FHORT couples Paolo Freire’s critical perspective on patriarchal colonisation and dehumanisation (Freire, 1993) with theories of resilience (Ungar, 2008) to offer a strengths-based approach to interpreting the experiences of Indigenous peoples (Burnette and Figley, 2016, 2017). From an ecological perspective, the FHORT attributes wellness (achieving balance across physical, mental, emotional and spiritual domains) to a balance of intersecting, multi-level risk and protective factors (Burnette and Figley, 2017).

The historical oppression of patriarchal colonialism set the stage for Indigenous women’s experiences of ECB and EM today. When the Indigenous people of the USA were colonised, they were subject to dehumanisation—defined as the inhibition of freedom through oppression, domination and injustice (Freire, 1993; Burnette and Figley, 2017). By imposing patriarchal, Western values and norms upon Indigenous peoples, European colonisers further dehumanised Indigenous women by refusing to recognise and thereby robbing them of their social and political status (LaFramboise et al., 1990). Egalitarian gender norms that existed prior to colonisation (LaFramboise et al., 1990; Shoemaker, 2012) were supplanted by the system of patriarchy, which reduced women to their childbearing function and normalised the practice of marriage following first menses (Rothman, 1988; Lee, 1994; Gamlin, 2020). Forcing them to serve their function, Indigenous women of previously high status were often forcibly married to White men as a means of improving trade relations with tribes and assimilating them (Deer, 2009). These practices instituted through colonisation are examples of how ECB and EM were imposed upon US Indigenous women and became normalised as socially acceptable practices within Indigenous communities.

In examining ECB and EM within Indigenous communities today, the FHORT considers the role of both historical traumas and losses caused by the imposition of patriarchal colonialism in addition to related factors that continue to perpetuate oppression (i.e. poverty, limited healthcare access and patriarchal norms of dominant society) (Burnette and Figley, 2017). Although Indigenous peoples have endured and continue to live in a context of historical oppression, the FHORT recognises the skills and strategies they have developed and enacted to recover from and resist adversity (resilience) and overcome oppression (transcendence) (Burnette and Figley, 2017). The scope of this inquiry is on US Indigenous women’s experiences with the known risk factors of ECB and EM.

ECB and EM amongst US Indigenous peoples

ECB and EM have been frequently investigated among women in developing countries, (Otoo-Oyortey and Pobi, 2003; Nour, 2009; Raj, 2010; Udgiri, 2017), but little research has explored these topics amongst Indigenous peoples in the USA. ECB and EM have been linked to IPV and poverty (Nour, 2009; Raj, 2010; Parsons et al., 2015), both of which are disproportionately experienced by Indigenous populations. As these documented disparities demonstrate, examining Indigenous women’s experiences of ECB and EM is particularly important due to their experience of historical oppression (Burnette and Figley, 2017) as Indigenous women have chronically experienced dehumanisation because of patriarchal colonialism (Guerrero, 2003; Burnette and Figley, 2017; Burnette and Renner, 2017).

To provide effective support and reproductive care, it is important to understand Indigenous women’s perspectives of ECB and EM, yet studies are lacking. One study with Indigenous young people found that teen parents espoused more negative views towards ECB than non-parents and felt that teen mothers are judged more harshly than teen fathers and bear most of the responsibility for the child (Dippel et al., 2017). Another study found that Northern Plains Indigenous youth’s decisions about sexual activity, contraception use and ECB were influenced by beliefs that girls should take responsibility for contraception and childbearing (Hanson et al., 2014). In-depth interviews with reservation-based Indigenous women in the northwestern USA revealed that women’s adverse childhood experiences compelled them to assume adult responsibilities at a young age which may have set them on a course to ECB (Palacios and Kennedy, 2010). This previous research contributes to knowledge of risks associated with ECB for Indigenous peoples. This study builds upon this limited literature by qualitatively examining Indigenous women’s experiences with both ECB and EM across two tribes in the southeastern region of the USA. We examine ‘What are Indigenous women’s experiences with ECB and EM?’.

Materials and methods

Research design

This study focuses on themes related to ECB and EM as part of a larger critical ethnography focused on identifying culturally specific risk and protective factors related to gender relations, IPV, substance abuse and associated health and mental health consequences with two tribes in the southeastern USA (McKinley et al., 2019). A critical ethnographic approach is well-suited for this inquiry as critical theories interrogate power differentials with emancipatory aims (Carspecken, 1996). We adhered to recommendations for ethical and culturally sensitive research with Indigenous peoples throughout the research process (Burnette et al., 2014; McKinley et al., 2019). To make the study more rigorous, we triangulated several sources of data in accordance with the critical ethnographic method (Carspecken, 1996). Forms of data included focus groups, family interviews, individual interviews and ethnographic observation. To ensure a variety of experiences were represented, our sample (N = 436) included participants from across the life span. We recruited participants from the following age groups, which were created based on guidance from a Community Advisory Board of tribal members: elders (fifty-six years or older), adults (twenty-four to fifty-five), young people (eleven to twenty-three) and professional service providers. This sample included 287 women, whose perspectives are the focus of this article.

Setting

Honouring tribal agreements, we keep the identities of the tribes confidential, instead referring to them by the pseudonyms Inland Tribe and Coastal Tribe (Burnette et al., 2014; McKinley et al., 2019). In the USA, there are 574 sovereign tribes that have received federal recognition, a status which entitles them to the right to self-government, certain federal benefits, protections and services, and funding and services from the Bureau of Indian Affairs (Taylor, 2019). Such tribes that live on reservations, reside on land held in trust by the federal government, which was agreed upon in US policy and treaty agreements. The Inland Tribe is federally recognised and therefore able to provide and operate its own healthcare services, schools, tribal services, criminal justice system and law enforcement. The Inland Tribe is located inland from the Gulf of Mexico and resides on a federal Indian reservation held in trust by the US government as their permanent tribal homeland. The Coastal Tribe is not federally recognised, which limits the services it can provide for members. The Coastal Tribe is located nearer to the gulf, and tribal members reside in urban and suburban areas.

Data collection

Tribal Councils and university Institutional Review Board granted approval for all research activities. Participants were recruited through flier circulation online and in-person (through tribal agencies) along with word of mouth. Data collection activities included: participant observation (n = 58) individual interviews (n = 254), family interviews (n = 64 with163 total participants) and focus groups (n = 27 with 217 total participants). Supplementary Table S1 displays both the participant demographics and the multiple forms of data and subsamples. Participants received gift cards to a local store as incentives ($20 for individual interviews, $60 for family interviews).

To increase cultural sensitivity, participants had the option to be interviewed by someone from the tribe; however, in these tight-knit communities, participants preferred to be interviewed by the principal investigator (PI), or first author, to increase confidentiality (Burnette et al., 2014; McKinley et al., 2019). A semi-structured interview guide (developed at the comprehension level of children ten to eleven and reviewed by cultural insiders) provided questions and probes based on the research questions. Questions included: Describe your experiences in romantic relationships; When did you start dating? How did it progress? Interviews followed a culturally relevant, life-history approach (Carspecken, 1996; Burnette et al., 2014; McKinley et al., 2019).

Data analysis

The first author worked with tribal and non-tribal research assistants to analyse data through a team-based analytic approach (Guest and MacQueen, 2008). Data were professionally transcribed and transferred to NVivo, a qualitative data analysis software programme, for processing. Team members conducted reconstructive analysis, an inductive approach to analysing themes in data specific to this methodology and rooted in critical theories (Carspecken, 1996). Analysis proceeded as follows: (i) read transcripts several times to understand content holistically; (ii) inductively coded transcripts line by line; (iii) analysed codes collaboratively to create a hierarchical coding scheme; (iv) discussed implicit and explicit meanings; (v) refined and organised themes and sub-themes. We assessed inter-rater reliability through Cohen’s kappa coefficients (McHugh, 2012) finding extremely high agreement (0.90 or higher). This article focuses on themes related to ECB and EM, which were frequently coded across tribes (156 times across 76 sources in the Inland Tribe and 106 times across 42 sources in the Coastal Tribe), demonstrating the salience of this topic in both communities. As women participants primarily experienced and discussed ECB and EM, a separate examination of their experiences and perspectives was warranted. This article reports on the universal themes and sub-themes coded most frequently for women’s experiences with ECB and EM across two tribes.

Rigour

The first author conducted member checks by sending individual interview transcripts and results summaries to all participants who could be reached. Participants provided feedback, elaborating upon, adding to and confirming findings. The first author presented results to community members on more than ten occasions during community meetings, dialogue groups, trainings and presentations to tribal councils, committees and agencies. Peer debriefing amongst team members occurred weekly throughout the research process. To increase the depth of findings, the first author interviewed over 50 percent of participants multiple times.

Results

The following themes emerged from this exploration of women’s experiences with ECB and EM: (i) ECB as a Precursor to Marriage; (ii) Unequal and Overburdened Marriages; (iii) ECB, EM, & IPV; and (iv) Continued Harmful Effects of Multiple Abusive Relationships.

ECB as a precursor to marriage

Women often reported feeling pressured or expected to enter relationships early on in life. These relationships were expected to result in marriage, especially when ECB occurred. Many women reported feeling pressured to marry by family members, almost as if women were property to be ‘“married off’—consistent with patriarchal notions that dehumanise women. A participant from the Coastal tribe described her family’s expectation that she would marry after becoming pregnant, relating how her mother reacted to the news: ‘She says, “You're pregnant, aren't you?” I said, “Yes,” and she said, “Well, I'll fix that.” So, she called him and said, “Hey, you just got yourself a wife. You need to come and get her”’. The pressure to marry, especially if there was a child or pregnancy, was also described by an Inland tribe youth (19):

It was kind of too early for me… The way it was like in our culture, I think it was saying that I should just get married since I already have a baby and stuff, so I got married. Me and my husband thought of getting married, but not that soon. I found out I was [pregnant], and I said, ‘We should do it now since I'm pregnant’.

Despite not feeling ready, another Inland tribal participant described how her father compelled her to marry young after having children:

Right after I had my son, pretty much got pregnant again and not long after, [name of child] was born. My dad was just like, ‘Look, you have two kids. This is the life you're living. Y' all are going to get married.’ I did not want to marry him. I was just staying together for my child, for my children. He's like, ‘No, if y' all are providing a life together, y' all are going to be married. This is not the way I raised you’…So, we were like, okay, marriage is going to fix it, I guess…All the infidelity and the beating, and everything else like that carried over into my marriage.

This participant’s father’s expectation that she wed the father of her children compelled her to enter an unhealthy marriage fraught with violence and infidelity. Thus, ECB often led to EM for young women in these communities due to cultural and familial pressures.

Unequal and overburdened marriages

Participants’ experiences with EM and ECB often reflected an unequal distribution of labour, with the burden of childrearing responsibilities placed on the mother. Young mothers may have felt increased pressure to marry due to the fear that a single mother must do everything on her own, as one Inland tribe participant in a focus group summarised: ‘If you don't have a husband, you were both Mom and Dad’. In other words, young mothers might be better off with help. Yet, male partners were often not helpful, instead adding more strain and often violence to families. This Coastal participant described her experience:

I was 14 years old when I had my first baby, and I think I did that thinking that okay, ‘Well if I do that, or have a kid I'm going to have more freedom and all.’ Then the guy that I was living with, he didn't work, you know…Then I had another kid and then I had the third one. I got pregnant and we kind of split off… [I was] 16 when I had the 3 boys. I must have been about 17-18 years old when I moved in with my husband.

Through the lens of the FHORT, this woman’s experience shows her agency in a context of historical oppression with limited options. When women had children young, they often ended up doing most of the childrearing on their own, consistent with the patriarchal idea that women serve this function. As one woman from the Coastal Tribe explained in a family interview, marrying young often meant marrying a male partner who was immature and ill-prepared for a relationship:

I married their dad right out of high school. Had them [children], and we stayed married for nine years…. He never grew up. He never matured. He still hasn't socially. He wasn't the father or the husband type. He was, you know, he wanted to be in the car clubs, running the streets, he never did settle down. His family was never a priority.

From the perspective of the FHORT, these participants’ experiences demonstrate the patriarchal notion that women serve the functions of childbearing and childrearing, while men can enjoy greater privileges and freedoms.

ECB, EM and IPV

Women’s experiences with ECB and EM were frequently characterised by violence within the relationship. Even when entering marriage with the best of intentions, women often ended up in unhealthy and abusive relationships, as described by this Inland participant:

But I guess we got married so young, that we didn't have our childhood, you know? … We just thought we loved each other …But, he was, also, an abusive husband… So, I stayed with him because of the children… He didn't want me to work, so I stopped working to take care of the kids …He'd go and drink and then spend the money… I got to the point where I couldn't take it no more.

Because women are expected to marry young and immediately start a family, this speaker noted that both were robbed of their childhoods because of ECB and EM, which may have contributed to the IPV perpetration. Furthermore, the FHORT helps to understand her partner’s unwillingness to allow her to work as a sexist gender attitude that might have made it more difficult for her to leave the abusive situation, as she was not earning income. Attesting to her resilience and resistance, this speaker refused to remain in that relationship. Another Inland participant discussed the IPV that followed from EM:

I lost my virginity at 7th grade [12-13 years old], dated another guy in 8th grade [13-14 years old] …and then the one in 11th grade [16-17 years old]. … One day, he just asked me out and then I looked at him and was like ‘What?’ I said, ‘No, you know, we're just friends and stuff.’… So, at the next game he was like ‘Did you think about it?’ And I was, I gave [in], I told him, ‘All right we can try it.’ And we did. And then I moved in with him like two-three months later and then I lived with him from there all the way until his passing [by suicide]. Two weeks before his passing … he started being controlling, abusive, emotionally … and a little bit of physical I guess; like he was jealous of the one I went out with in 8th grade … He never like punched me, kicked me and stuff like that, he just used to hit me upside the head.

This speaker began living with a partner at a young age after being pressured into the relationship. Perhaps for self-protection, she seems to have minimised the violent nature of this relationship.

Pregnancy was a particularly dangerous time for women in abusive relationships. An Inland participant stated: ‘I ended up getting pregnant 6 months after I started dating him, so me and him dated until I think my son was two. He was more the controlling type, and if I didn't do what he wanted, then he would hit me’. This woman had a series of very violent experiences in her relationship. She went on to describe an IPV experience during pregnancy:

The first time it happened, it shocked me because …I was pregnant, and he punched me. There [in stomach]. Then I was like, ‘I got hit. In my stomach.’ I've always been tomboyish and fighting with my brother, but I've never got hit like that. Kind of shocked.

She went on to describe another incident of severe violence:

He accused me of messing with another guy and he wanted me to stick my arm out the window so he could roll it up on my arm. I didn't…Got to his friend's house and when I got out of the car, he ended up hitting me, but I didn't fall. He grabbed a rock, it was pretty big, I guess. He grabbed it and he threw it at me…It hit my ankle and I lost the whole feeling in my right leg. When I fell, he said he was going to go get something to beat me with. The car was still on with the door open. I couldn't feel this leg, but I ran on it, and got in the car and I left. …The next day it was sore, but I could walk on it.

This participant suffered multiple forms of IPV during her relationship, and during her pregnancy. For these women, IPV was a significant part of their experiences in early relationships, demonstrating the harmful impacts of their patriarchal sociocultural context.

The continued harmful effects of multiple abusive relationships

Some women shared experiences with multiple abusive relationships beginning at a young age, which had lasting negative impacts on the women and their children. Some women believed that IPV was a one-time incident that would improve, rather than a pattern of behaviour that would worsen. One Coastal woman’s story exemplifies this theme. Despite not having experienced or witnessed IPV in her upbringing, she had multiple experiences with abusive relationships, beginning in her adolescence: ‘Before I got married, I had two abusive relationships’. One such relationship was with the father of her child. Although he was abusive, she believed he could change, stating:

That [relationship] was in high school, so I dated him for a while, and it was abusive and controlling, and I thought it would get better. It never did. I really loved this person, but I really wanted to just be with him, but he didn't want it my way, so I just said goodbye.

Entering this relationship at a young age and without having experienced abuse in the past may have contributed to her endurance of the situation. She described her then chaotic life:

I had to drop out [of school] for a little while and go back because I was pregnant. My dad had abandoned me, so I had to go live with somebody, other family. I was just twisted. Pretty much basically lived with my nanny, my cousin. I had to get a job. It was a disaster. I was frustrated cause I'm only 16. I didn't know what to do. I'm young.

Here, the participant reveals that ECB truncated her education, which was compounded by other adverse experiences in her family. She went on to describe a first experience with violence:

It was at school and he slapped me. I was just stunned. Everybody was like, ‘He just hit you.’ I guess I just didn't know what happened because I just was so stunned. I was just in another world. … I'm thinking it's not gonna [sic] happen again. Cause I don't know. I'm young. I guess he was just mad.

The abuse, however, continued. She added that leaving the relationship was difficult, ‘[Be]cause I was young, and I thought he was the only person I was going to ever be with. But turned out, it wasn't’. Despite leaving the previous abuser, struggles with him continued in court:

It took a lot and I'm still going through it. We went through a custody battle in 2012. This man wants to take me to court every single year for my child. He wants to get custody of my child. It's a headache. I'm still waiting to go to court any day now.

This speaker described the continued abuse of the court system as exhausting. From the perspective of the FHORT, this woman’s experiences suggest that early relationships and ECB increase risk for IPV, which leads to continued harmful effects that cumulatively disadvantage young mothers and their children.

Discussion

Following the FHORT, Indigenous women experienced ongoing forms of historical oppression through their lived experiences in a patriarchal context that set them on a path towards ECB and EM. These findings are consistent with research focused on women in developing countries that suggests that gender inequity heightens risk for EM and ECB (Raj, 2010). Women who became pregnant or gave birth to children early reported that they felt pressure to enter EMs, often with ill-suited or ill-equipped partners. The pressure imposed through societal norms and family members reflects the internalisation of oppression over time, as patriarchal colonial oppression reversed the female-centred and egalitarian structures of these Indigenous communities (Burnette, 2015). These findings suggest that young women were seen as possessions to be married off, especially following ECB.

According to the FHORT, patriarchal historical oppression reduces people to objects and possessions meant to serve specific functions in society, namely childbearing and childrearing in service to their male partners. The theme ECB as a Precursor to Marriage illustrated that women’s choice and volition were not significant factors in marriage decisions that profoundly affected their lives. Instead, women who became pregnant or bore children were expected to comply with patriarchal expectations that they marry the father of their children—a norm rooted in the idea that children are only legitimised when their fathers claim them as heirs (Longman, 2006). Fears about single parenthood tended to push women into EMs under constrained circumstances, but often partners did not equally share the burden of parental responsibilities. Rather than gaining economic and practical benefits through marriage, women entering EMs often felt unfairly laden with responsibilities. From the perspective of the FHORT, the imposition of patriarchal colonialism as part of historical oppression has contributed to women being dehumanised and reduced to their childbearing and childrearing functions, which were imposed early in life through ECB and EM.

Consistent with current research focused on developing nations (Nour, 2009; Raj, 2010; Kidman, 2017), IPV was commonly experienced as a part of EM and ECB, as the theme ECB, EM and IPV indicated. IPV frequently occurred during pregnancy, suggesting that pregnant women may be especially vulnerable to such violence. ECB and EM may be risk factors for IPV that should be further examined. A pattern of making consequential decisions under impaired circumstances within the context of patriarchal historical oppression perpetuated a cycle of violence across the life course of Indigenous women and girls, as supported by research (Palacios and Kennedy, 2010). The context of patriarchal historical oppression is an important feature of Indigenous women’s experiences with ECB and EM.

Implications for social work practitioners

Due to a lack of knowledge, practice or ability to connect micro-level social experiences, such as ECB, EM and IPV, to forms of structural and historical oppression, social workers may lack tools to implement anti-oppressive social work practice with their clients (Sakamoto and Pitner, 2005). This failure to connect micro-level problems to macro-level forces may serve to further harm and blame victims who experience the consequences of systemic oppression. Social workers can use women’s experiences to understand the multiple layers of patriarchal pressures they experience from society and as internalised by families who inadvertently may perpetuate oppression. When working with clients, it is important to incorporate problem-posing questions with clients (Freire, 1993), so they can connect their current oppression to extant historical oppression, rather than internalising oppression and blaming themselves for their current position. Moreover, social workers can seek social justice directly, dismantling the oppression imposed by patriarchal colonialism.

Intersectoral strategies requiring interprofessional collaboration are needed to reduce ECB and EM, and the profession of social work should be a vital part of those efforts. In the UK, the teenage pregnancy strategy intervention achieved some success by implementing three main components: an interdisciplinary task force, prevention efforts and support for pregnant teenagers and teenage parents (Skinner and Marino, 2016). Similar approaches focusing on education and increasing contraceptive access have proven successful in the USA (Oringanje et al., 2016). Social workers, especially those in school settings working directly with youth populations, can play a prominent role in the delivery of sex education programmes and supportive services to help ameliorate ECB and EM. Close collaboration between school support staff who provide sex education and family planning services that provide access to contraception have proven effective in avoiding teenage pregnancies in other Western countries (Amu and Appiah, 2006), and should be considered a promising strategy for social workers engaging Indigenous and other socio-economically disadvantaged populations. Community-based, localised solutions can focus on systemic factors that cause sub-populations like US Indigenous peoples to be more vulnerable to ECB and EM (Amu and Appiah, 2006).

Strengths and limitations

This study calls attention to the pressing need to understand Indigenous women’s experiences with ECB and EM as a pathway to preventing and mitigating their associated health and social risks. Applying the FHORT helps ensure that Indigenous women’s experiences of ECB and EM are interpreted through a theoretical framework that accounts for contextual and cultural differences. Future research is needed to explore associations between ECB, EM and IPV, in addition to other associated outcomes to prevent and mitigate negative outcomes and promote health and wellness amongst Indigenous women in the USA Moreover, future research can investigate what supports women use and find useful when experiencing challenges due to ECB, EM and IPV.

The results of this qualitative study are not meant to generalise or represent the diversity across heterogeneous Indigenous groups. Future research is needed in this area to explore women’s experiences with ECB and EM in other communities. Results are based on self-report data. Using additional sources of data to triangulate findings would strengthen this exploratory research. Longitudinal research is also needed to illuminate changes over time.

Conclusion and implications

Given that Indigenous women of the US experience higher rates of IPV, ECB and EM, and the negative psychological, economic and educational risks associated with these experiences (Liu et al., 1994; Hellerstedt et al., 2006; Rosay, 2016; Koski and Heymann, 2018), the dearth of research on these topics is concerning. To our knowledge, this is the first inquiry examining these topics holistically with a focus on Indigenous women. This research paves the way for future research to develop effective prevention and intervention programmes to address these challenges, including adopting and enforcing policies that prohibit child marriage, increasing educational opportunities and supports for young mothers, and challenging cultural norms surrounding EM (Svanemyr et al., 2012).

Indigenous women’s experiences with ECB and EM are situated within a context of patriarchal norms imposed through historical oppression. Results of this inquiry indicate that many Indigenous women and girls experience the ongoing effects of dehumanisation—a process that reduced women to possessions, objects and functions within the patriarchal context that has been internalised by Indigenous communities (Burnette and Figley, 2017). ECB and EM and their associated risks and adverse outcomes are interconnected, and ongoing forms of historical oppression rooted in patriarchal norms. Decolonisation and re-visualisation to promote the status of women and girls are needed to offset women’s constrained wellness, socio-political status and safety. Community awareness campaigns and dialogue sessions may enable community members to reflect on how their societies have been disrupted and harmed by historical oppression and envision self-determined pathways towards emancipation. These culturally affirming practices may offer an important path forward to prevent ECB and EM and improve the lives of Indigenous women.

Supplementary material

Supplementary material is available at British Journal of Social Work Journal online.

Supplementary Material

bcab193_Supplementary_Data
Click here for additional data file. (16.1KB, docx)

Acknowledgement

The authors thank the dedicated work and participation of the tribes and research assistants over the years who have contributed to this work.

Funding

This work was supported by the Fahs-Beck Fund for Research and Experimentation Faculty Grant Programme [grant number #552745]; The Silberman Fund Faculty Grant Programme [grant #552781]; the Newcomb College Institute Faculty Grant at Tulane University; University Senate Committee on Research Grant Programme at Tulane University; The Global South Research Grant through the New Orleans Centre for the Gulf South at Tulane University; The Centre for Public Service at Tulane University; Office of Research Bridge Funding Programme support at Tulane University; and the Carol Lavin Bernick Research Grant at Tulane University. This work was also supported, in part, by Award K12HD043451 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development of the National Institutes of Health (Krousel-Wood-PI); Catherine McKinley (Formerly Burnette)-Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health (BIRCWH) Scholar); and U54 GM104940 from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health, which funds the Louisiana Clinical and Translational Science Centre. Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R01AA028201. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Conflict of interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Contributor Information

Catherine E McKinley, Tulane University School of Social Work, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA.

Jennifer Lilly, Fordham Graduate School of Social Service, New York, NY 10023, USA.

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