Stigma of sexual violence and women’s decision to work

Tanika Chakraborty (), Anirban Mukherjee, Swapnika Reddy Rachapalli and Sarani Saha

World Development, 2018, vol. 103, issue C, 226-238

Abstract: Our study is motivated by two disturbing evidences concerning women in India. On one hand, crime against women is on the rise while on the other, women’s labor force participation rate (WLFPR) has been declining over the last three decades. We estimate the extent to which the decline in WLFPR can be assigned to increasing instances of crime against women. We argue that an increase in crime against women, increases the non-pecuniary costs of traveling to work, particularly in a traditional society marked by stigma against victims of sexual crimes. Our findings suggest that women are less likely to work away from home in regions where the perceived threat of sexual harassment against girls is higher. The estimate is robust to various sensitivity checks. Moreover, the deterrence effect of crime responds to the opportunity cost of work on one hand and the stigma cost of sexual crimes on the other.

Keywords: Crime-against-women; Labor-force-participation; Stigma-cost (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E24 J16 J18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Stigma of Sexual Violence and Women's Decision to Work (2017)
Working Paper: Stigma of Sexual Violence and Womens Decision to Work (2017)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:103:y:2018:i:c:p:226-238

DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2017.10.031

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