Sexual Equality and Violence Against Wives in American States

Abstract

The relationship between increasing sexual equality and the level of violence against wives has been the subject of some debate. A negative relationship has been posited by those who point out that as economic, educational, and legal opportunities and rights for women improve, fewer women remain trapped in violent marriages. Others have suggested that violence may increase as these social changes create additional strain and frustration for males attempting to retain their dominant position. This controversy is the focus of the present study. Using American states as the unit of analysis, the relationship between the societal status of women (in economic, educational, political, and legal spheres) and the rate of wife-beating is empirically examined. A status of Women Index is developed on the basis of U.S. Census and other data. State violence rates are based on data from a representative sample of 2143 American adults. The central finding of the study is that there appears to be a curvilinear relationship between women’s status and wife-beating. In states whre women’s status is lowest, wives are most likely to be assaulted by their husbands. Violence deceases as sexual equality increases—to a point. In those states where the status of women is highest, the level of violence against wives is also quite high. It is suggested that limited options to violent marriage may keep battered wives in abusive relationships in low-status states. In states where women’s status is relatively high, increased conflict and violence may be the consequence of rapid social changes which may be threatening to husbands. The study focuses on short-run consequences of increasing sexual equality. It does not address the impact of institutionalized sexual equality because even the highest status states are far from fully egalitarian.

Langhinrichsen-Rolling’s Confirmation of the Feminist Analysis of Intimate Partner Violence: Comment on “Controversies Involving Gender and Intimate Partner Violence in the United States”

“…A number of studies have demonstrated the effects of gendered social structures on state and national rates of domestic violence (e.g. , Levinson 1989;Yllö 1983) and on women's ability to escape from intimate terrorism (Anderson 2007). Finally, of course, we must not forget all of the evidence cited above that intimate terrorism is largely male-perpetrated, that violent resistance is primarily a woman's response to intimate terrorism, and that all types of intimate partner violence involve more injury, fear, and psychological damage when perpetrated by men rather than women.…”

Drinking Level, Neighborhood Social Disorder, and Mutual Intimate Partner Violence

“…With few exceptions (e.g., Yllo, 1983), little attention was paid to how structural or environmental factors may influence risk for IPV. In an effort to untangle the contributions of person and place to health disparities, a considerable amount of research over the past 2 decades has incorporated measures of neighborhood conditions or contexts into multilevel studies of various individual health risks and outcomes (see reviews in Diez Roux, 2000;Pickett and Pearl, 2001).…”

Acceptability of domestic violence against women in the European Union: a multilevel analysis

“…11 13 14 Also, at the country level, gender inequality will be analysed as research has found that low egalitarianism as well as changes in gender norms toward a higher status of women in society are associated with higher rates of DVAW. [34][35][36][37] METHODS Data from the Eurobarometer 51.0 ''Europeans and their views on domestic violence against women'' was used for this study. It was carried out in 1999 and covered the population of residents 15 years and over in each of the member states of the EU at that time.…”