Insecure Work, Insecure Housing: Gendered Violence and Mental Distress among Migrant Women in Urban Slums in India
1
Health Systems Research, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India
Popul. Med. 2026;8(Supplement Supplement 1):A2719
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Internal migrant women in India's informal settlements face compounded vulnerabilities from precarious livelihoods, substandard housing, and patriarchal power structures. Despite contributing substantially to urban economies, they remain systematically excluded from violence prevention services, labour protections, and mental health support. Current gender-based violence (GBV) research predominantly emphasizes individual-level risk factors while neglecting how structural conditions collectively influence violence exposure and mental health. Employing a syndemic framework, this study investigates how intimate partner violence (IPV) and structural deprivation jointly affect anxiety among migrant women.
METHODS:
We surveyed 294 ever-partnered migrant women (18-65 years) in Mumbai's informal settlements. IPV assessment encompassed emotional/control, physical, sexual, economic, and reproductive coercion. Structural deprivation included housing quality and sanitation indicators, plus economic precarity combining employment and income. Anxiety severity was measured using GAD-7. Ordinal logistic regression analyzed relationships between IPV, structural deprivation, and anxiety, controlling for sociodemographic variables.
RESULTS:
Emotional and physical IPV demonstrated robust associations with anxiety severity. Women experiencing emotional IPV had threefold higher odds of severe anxiety (OR≈3.1, p=0.001); physical IPV victims showed sevenfold higher odds (OR≈7.1, p<0.001). Housing deprivation exhibited a dose-response relationship, with each additional deprivation increasing anxiety odds by 25% (OR≈1.25, p=0.049). Education proved protective (OR≈0.73, p=0.016). Employment-income status showed no independent effect.
CONCLUSIONS:
Mental distress among migrant women arises from syndemic interaction between interpersonal violence and structural deprivation. These findings challenge conventional approaches treating GBV and mental health as separate concerns requiring individualized clinical interventions. Effective responses must integrate housing security, labour protections, and urban governance reforms alongside interpersonal safety. Practical implications include integrating mental health screening within community-based GBV services; implementing violence-informed approaches in housing programs; and recognizing housing insecurity as simultaneously driving and resulting from gendered violence. This evidence advocates multi-sectoral structural interventions over survivor-focused clinical models.
Internal migrant women in India's informal settlements face compounded vulnerabilities from precarious livelihoods, substandard housing, and patriarchal power structures. Despite contributing substantially to urban economies, they remain systematically excluded from violence prevention services, labour protections, and mental health support. Current gender-based violence (GBV) research predominantly emphasizes individual-level risk factors while neglecting how structural conditions collectively influence violence exposure and mental health. Employing a syndemic framework, this study investigates how intimate partner violence (IPV) and structural deprivation jointly affect anxiety among migrant women.
METHODS:
We surveyed 294 ever-partnered migrant women (18-65 years) in Mumbai's informal settlements. IPV assessment encompassed emotional/control, physical, sexual, economic, and reproductive coercion. Structural deprivation included housing quality and sanitation indicators, plus economic precarity combining employment and income. Anxiety severity was measured using GAD-7. Ordinal logistic regression analyzed relationships between IPV, structural deprivation, and anxiety, controlling for sociodemographic variables.
RESULTS:
Emotional and physical IPV demonstrated robust associations with anxiety severity. Women experiencing emotional IPV had threefold higher odds of severe anxiety (OR≈3.1, p=0.001); physical IPV victims showed sevenfold higher odds (OR≈7.1, p<0.001). Housing deprivation exhibited a dose-response relationship, with each additional deprivation increasing anxiety odds by 25% (OR≈1.25, p=0.049). Education proved protective (OR≈0.73, p=0.016). Employment-income status showed no independent effect.
CONCLUSIONS:
Mental distress among migrant women arises from syndemic interaction between interpersonal violence and structural deprivation. These findings challenge conventional approaches treating GBV and mental health as separate concerns requiring individualized clinical interventions. Effective responses must integrate housing security, labour protections, and urban governance reforms alongside interpersonal safety. Practical implications include integrating mental health screening within community-based GBV services; implementing violence-informed approaches in housing programs; and recognizing housing insecurity as simultaneously driving and resulting from gendered violence. This evidence advocates multi-sectoral structural interventions over survivor-focused clinical models.
| eISSN: | 2654-1459 |
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