Abstract
AbstractIntimate partner violence is an important global health problem that remains ill understood. Several studies have documented that female empowerment may increase violence against women—the so‐called “male backlash.” We propose a utilitarian explanation for this phenomenon, based on the assumption that violence may be used as an instrument to affect the distribution of the household surplus between the spouses. Our main result is that promoting norms of gender equity (or otherwise enhancing the prospects of divorced women) may inadvertently promote violence against women in settings where production outcomes are uncertain.
Highlights
Violence against women is widespread and persistent
It is intuitive that promoting economic empowerment of women, or norms of gender equality, will result in less Intimate partner violence (IPV) (e.g. Farmer & Tiefenthaler, 1997)
An improvement in the wife’s reservation utility increases her autonomy. This may be accompanied by more intense abuse, depending on how she trades off the cost of IPV against the gains from resource allocations more closely aligned with her own preferences
Summary
IMPORTANT NOTE: You are advised to consult the publisher's version (publisher's PDF) if you wish to cite from it. Document Version Publisher's PDF, known as Version of record. Citation for published version (APA): Bulte, E., & Lensink, R. More information can be found on the University of Groningen website: https://www.rug.nl/library/open-access/self-archiving-pure/taverneamendment. Take-down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. For technical reasons the number of authors shown on this cover page is limited to 10 maximum
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