What one thinks, what one says and what one does: Male justifications and practices of gender-based violence in Mali

Olivia Bertelli, Thomas Calvo (), Emmanuelle Lavallée, Marion Mercier and Sandrine Mesplé-Somps
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Olivia Bertelli: LEDA-DIAL - Développement, Institutions et Modialisation - LEDa - Laboratoire d'Economie de Dauphine - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - Université Paris Dauphine-PSL - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Thomas Calvo: LEDa - Laboratoire d'Economie de Dauphine - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - Université Paris Dauphine-PSL - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, LEDA-DIAL - Développement, Institutions et Modialisation - LEDa - Laboratoire d'Economie de Dauphine - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - Université Paris Dauphine-PSL - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Emmanuelle Lavallée: LEDA-DIAL - Développement, Institutions et Modialisation - LEDa - Laboratoire d'Economie de Dauphine - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - Université Paris Dauphine-PSL - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Marion Mercier: Irset - Institut de recherche en santé, environnement et travail - UA - Université d'Angers - UR - Université de Rennes - EHESP - École des Hautes Études en Santé Publique [EHESP] - INSERM - Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale - Biosit : Biologie - Santé - Innovation Technologique - Structure Fédérative de Recherche en Biologie et Santé de Rennes
Sandrine Mesplé-Somps: DIAL - Développement, institutions et analyses de long terme, IRD [Guinée] - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Université Paris Dauphine-PSL - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres

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Abstract: Gender-based violence (GBV) is widespread across the world. While the majority of the literature focuses on women as the victims of GBV, this paper studies men's justifications for and perpetration of GBV in Mali, one of the countries with the highest GBV prevalence rates in the world. We elicit the prevalence of eight GBV-related opinions and behaviors among men in Bamako, the capital city, by administering a set of list experiments that we compare to a set of direct questions to estimate response biases. We find large support for GBV: nearly one respondent in two supports female genital mutilation or intimate partner violence. Besides, one in four has already physically hit an adult woman. Our results also show that several questions suffer from significant response biases when asked directly. Support for female genital mutilation is overreported, with actual approval being lower than openly stated. Conversely, justification of intimate partner violence is underreported, likely due to social pressure against it. While response bias varies little with respondent characteristics, prevalence rates are systematically lower among men with a secondary level of education. Our results are in line with response bias being shaped by the legal framework addressing GBV as well as prevailing social norms, highlighting the need for caution when using data collected through direct questioning.

Date: 2025-09
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Published in Journal of Development Economics, 2025, 176, pp.103479. ⟨10.1016/j.jdeveco.2025.103479⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05151276

DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2025.103479

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