Violence against women and girls (VAWG) poses a major obstacle to achieving inclusive economic growth. This type of violence may involve domestic abuse, sexual harassment, sexual exploitation, genital cutting, and honor killings. VAWG is one of the cruelest human rights violations.
Across the globe, the World Health Organization estimates that nearly 800 million women experience intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence at some point in their life. Moreover, homicides committed by partners remain one of the highest causes of female mortality. VAWG is not a developing country problem and in fact, is widespread across the globe.
There are many areas of research around VAWG. My work has so far been focused on understanding how policing and crime deterrence policies help prevent it. I have also worked on how marriage institutions and economic tools such as employment security and inheritance rights impact domestic violence. With the police in England, Hyderabad, Madhya Pradesh, and Bihar, I investigate what policing interventions can encourage better police performance in VAWG offenses, raise crime reporting and prevent legal attrition. I am also working on the role of women in policing in India and the UK. In Mozambique, I study the consequences of dating violence and violence in schools among adolescents. This work makes use of primary and secondary data. With work that supports primary data collection, I also develop new tools that allow for better measurement of various aspects that involve the study of VAWG. I am also very excited about using large administrative data to study this problem.
My work is seldom done independently; thus, all my co-authors and partner organizations are acknowledged in this website. This topic is complex and requires reaching out to experts outside of the field of Economics.
Resources and Code
I will keep extending this section.
Across the globe, the World Health Organization estimates that nearly 800 million women experience intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence at some point in their life. Moreover, homicides committed by partners remain one of the highest causes of female mortality. VAWG is not a developing country problem and in fact, is widespread across the globe.
There are many areas of research around VAWG. My work has so far been focused on understanding how policing and crime deterrence policies help prevent it. I have also worked on how marriage institutions and economic tools such as employment security and inheritance rights impact domestic violence. With the police in England, Hyderabad, Madhya Pradesh, and Bihar, I investigate what policing interventions can encourage better police performance in VAWG offenses, raise crime reporting and prevent legal attrition. I am also working on the role of women in policing in India and the UK. In Mozambique, I study the consequences of dating violence and violence in schools among adolescents. This work makes use of primary and secondary data. With work that supports primary data collection, I also develop new tools that allow for better measurement of various aspects that involve the study of VAWG. I am also very excited about using large administrative data to study this problem.
My work is seldom done independently; thus, all my co-authors and partner organizations are acknowledged in this website. This topic is complex and requires reaching out to experts outside of the field of Economics.
Resources and Code
- DHS Surveys : multi-country year surveys collecting VAW information through the use of the Conflict Tactics Scale technique. Here is some STATA code to create the measure of intimate-partner violence. Email me if you have questions.
- India's National Crime Records Bureau: A database at the district and city level on many forms of police-reported crimes. It dates back to 1971. I have used this data on multiple projects so if you have questions about it get in touch.
- National Survey of the Dynamics of Household Relationships of Mexico: A repeated cross-sectional data set that includes the domestic violence module for women (as described in 1.). At the moment, this is the best source of intimate-partner violence data for Mexico.
- Crime Survey of England and Wales: An annual repeat cross-section survey on victimization, perpetration and views about the police.
I will keep extending this section.
