Women’s Employment, Contextual Changes in Women’s Employment, and Intimate Partner Violence in India

• In Event: 3523 - Family Section Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 min): Table 5: Gender and Families

Abstract

India is one of the only countries where women’s employment levels are declining. Using two rounds of Indian Demographic and Health Surveys, we examine whether a woman’s probability of intimate partner violence (IPV) varies with contextual changes in women’s employment in her state of residence over the last decade and with her own employment status. Further, we assess the extent to which state-level changes in women’s employment modify the association between her employment status and IPV. Findings indicate that the probability of IPV is highest in states where women’s employment has declined the least and among employed women. Moreover, the positive association between women’s own employment and IPV is largest and strongest in states where women’s employment has declined the least. These findings point to the salience of women’s employment, both at the individual and contextual level, for IPV.

Authors

• Upasana Garnaik, University of Texas at Austin

• Abigail Weitzman, University of Texas-Austin