Gender Inequality and Violence Against Women: The Case of Murder (From Crime and Inequality, P 174-205, 1995, John Hagan and Ruth D. Peterson, eds. - See NCJ-157570)

• NCJ Number: 157578
• Author(s): W C Bailey; R D Peterson
• Date Published: 1995
• Length: 32 pages
• Sale Source: Stanford University Press
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined the socioeconomic determinants of female homicide victimization, and the extent to which female homicide results from general societal gender-based inequality.

Abstract

This analysis of female homicide victimization patterns showed no evidence of a positive or negative correlation between indicators of the objective educational, income, occupational, and employment status of women. Rates for total female homicides, felony murders, or killings involving family members, girlfriends, or strangers were not related to any indicators of relative socioeconomic status. The results for rates of marital homicide were most consistent with gender inequality arguments. The analyses showed nonsignificant correlations between rates of wife killing and a gap in female-male college education and employment status. Marital murder was also associated with male-female inequality in income. The gender inequality argument was partially supported in terms of acquaintance and argument-related killings. The analysis showed that higher levels of occupational gender inequality were associated with higher rates of acquaintance killings. Finally, the results showed that for most kinds of female homicide, the marriage variable was related to a greater risk of victimization. However, this relationship depended upon the living arrangement of the marital partners. 9 tables