Structural Advocacy Organizations and Intersectional Outcomes: Effects of Women's Police Stations on Female Homicides

Abstract

AbstractBy introducing the concept of “structural advocacy organizations,” this study theorizes and tests the boundary conditions within which organizations designed to protect the rights of disenfranchised groups promote structural changes at the intersection of gender and race. We test these claims on Brazil's “women's police stations,” a type of structural advocacy organization with greater female representation on staff and with specialized procedures and an institutional mandate to address violence against women. The analysis indicates that homicides are lower among the population of women in municipalities which have women's police stations. However, within this group, homicides committed against women who self‐identify as “black” and “brown” are lower only in municipalities that are characterized by high levels of female education and in metropolitan areas with infrastructure development. The results suggest that improving intersectional outcomes for women who are disenfranchised on race requires complementary policies and institutional mandates to address racialized violence.