Intimate Partner Violence: The Influence of Job Opportunities for Men and Women

Abstract

The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent.

Confinement and intimate partner violence†

“…Second, it links with the long-standing research on the sources of violence against women, especially by intimate partners, that spans various disciplines. In economics, this line of research is related to how violence against women is affected by female economic dependence, wage gaps and job opportunities (e.g., Aizer, 2010;Basu & Famoye 2004;Bhalotra et al, 2020;Bobonis et al, 2013;Bowlus & Seitz, 2006;Farmer & Tiefenthaler, 1997;Munyo & Rossi, 2015), alcohol abuse (Angelucci, 2008), health (Papageorge et al, 2019), or structural poverty (Aizer, 2011).…”

Socioeconomic and geographic correlates of intimate partner violence in Sri Lanka: Analysis of the 2016 Demographic and Health Survey

“…A number of studies from LMIC have shown IPV is less likely to occur among unemployed women compared to employed women (Abramsky et al, 2011; Bhalotra, Kambhampati, Rawlings, & Siddique, 2020; Jewkes et al, 2017; Naved & Persson, 2005; Terrazas-Carrillo & McWhirter, 2015). This is supported by the present study which showed a protective effect for unemployment compared to employment.…”

“…While financial insecurity may be influenced by other factors outside of unemployment such as having a partner employed in a lower wage occupation or husbands/partners deliberately withholding their earnings as a means of control, women who are financially dependent on their partner may find it more difficult to leave an abusive relationship. This is particularly relevant in South Asian settings where access to divorce or separation is limited due to both cultural and legal factors (Bhalotra et al, 2020).…”

Domestic violence and workfare: An evaluation of India’s MGNREGS

“…This paper is motivated by two strands of prior work. The first is research showing that the effect of shocks is more acute on marginalised members of the household, such as women or the elderly (Bhalotra, Kambhampati, Rawlings, & Siddique, 2018;Miguel, 2005;Sekhri & Storeygard, 2014). Sekhri and Storeygard (2014) show that dry rainfall shocks significantly increase the number of officially reported incidences of dowry deaths and domestic violence.…”

“…Studies positing the backlash effect of female empowerment find that relative increases in women's earning abilities challenge the norms of male dominance within the household (Bhalotra et al, 2018). This result of greater marital violence is found in several developing country contexts, e.g.…”