Planning Families and Preventing Violence: Decision Making Power and Crime Against Women in India

• In Event: Global Dialogues: Women's Reproductive Health and Rights

Abstract

Crimes against women in India have been in the international spotlight following a gruesome and highly publicized rape case in 2012. Scholars, activists, and journalists often credit violence to cultural factors, but this is unsatisfactorily simplistic. An exploration of socio-cultural factors and policy outcomes across India indicates that types of female empowerment are potential causes for - as well as potential solutions to - gender-based violence in some regions. Contraceptive prevalence is one issue of interest, as female decision-making in the home can pose a threat to traditional male leadership in parts of India. These findings have significant implications for the implementation of women's empowerment programs in multi-ethnic states.

Presenter

• Elizabeth Martin, Princeton University