Income Inequality and Violence Against Women: Evidence from India

Violence against women is a global social problem and could have severe health consequences on women and children. Though the literature is rich with studies on the determinants of violence against women, little attention has been given to the potential impact of income inequality on violence against women. This paper investigates the impact of income inequality, at the state level, on violence against women in India, where violence against women is one of the highest in the world. We use data on a nationally representative sample of 69,704 women from the third National Family Health Survey for India, conducted in 2005-06. We argue that income inequality increases the risk of experiencing violence by eroding social capital in the living community. To estimate the causal impact of economic inequality on violence against women and avoid endogeneity concern, we rely on an instrumental variable approach. As a first step, we use standard regression models and find that state income inequality increases intimate partner violence as well as violence by anyone other than her partner. When tackling the endogeneity issue, our findings suggest that income inequality increases the risk of violence by anyone other than the partner, but it did not increase the risk of spousal violence. The study’s findings are robust to different regression techniques. Policies that reduce income inequality would help in reducing the level of violence against women.