Gender Bias and Male Backlash as Drivers of Crime Against Women: Evidence from India

Abstract

We explore the relationship between the gender gap in earning potential and crime against women in India. We propose a model with two groups in society that have opposing preferences on gender bias in institutions and technology. A shock to the gender bias in technology that increases productivity of women, and their earning potential, increases the feeling of alienation within the group which benefits from status-quo. We call them Patriarchs. In response, both groups invest resources to manipulate outcomes in their favor. This increases the level of hostility between those who want to lower gender bias and those who prefer status-quo. We argue that increased hostility results in more crime against women in society. A decrease in the gender gap in earning potential is hence associated with increased crime against women. We call this a backlash effect. We exploit survey data from India between 2004 and 2011 to construct measures of earning potential for men and women and combine them with administrative records on both domestic violence and rapes and indecent assaults in Indian districts. We provide evidence of backlash. In particular, we find that a lower gender gap is associated with more rapes and indecent assaults. This negative relationship is exacerbated when we focus on the gap among individuals with less than high-school education, in Indian states with high institutional gender bias, and states with a greater percentage of arguably patriarchal households, where women have lower bargaining power than men. As seen in developed counties, a smaller gender gap is associated with lower domestic violence. This is consistent with better outside options for women affording them greater bargaining power in the home. However, this result only holds for states with low gender bias and a low percentage of patriarchal households. There is evidence of backlash in the home in other states. Our study highlights that gender equity may exacerbate crime against women, particularly in the presence of gender biased institutions or culture.