Thanks for the write up Akhil, one aspect of this cause area you may also like to be aware of is fear/feelings of safety in women. Beyond direct victimisation, fear of violence (which doesn’t require someone to be a victim although it is a primary factor influencing the duration and intensity of fear) also adds to the case for this being a cause area.
I couldn’t find the study but this number sits around 60%+ in Europe’s larger cities (70%+ in London as I recall).
Correspondingly, there is a widespread impact. Fear will influence someone’s pattern of life which will have various health, economic, and social costs. Interventions which also reduce fear in women could therefore also be worth exploring.
I understand you probably haven’t had much chance to delve into interventions and root causes as you are focusing on building this as a worth-while cause area for investment but I would be interested to understand more on what are the cause/sources of violence (is it street crime, violence by male partners, etc.) .
Hey Darren, great point! Fear of violence and the broader affects of that was not something that I had considered, but seems like it is a significant issue that is worth investigation.
In terms of the context within which violence happens (or its source), from my understanding, most of it is within the domestic environment, with the vast majority being by someone who is known to the victim.
Broadly, I think that root cause analysis would be a really interesting step in ‘unlocking’ new and potentially promising investigations in this space. WIth more time, I would love to do this
If you have any more resources on the same, please send them across
Related: workforce participation by women in India is very low (~20%) and has been dropping, partly because women and their families are worried about harassment or violence at work or while commuting. The actual rates of workplace or commuting violence may not be happening as often as violence in the home, but it may cause bigger changes in behavior.
J-PAL just sent in their newsletter this study report from April, that seems to address this exactly, judging by its abstract:
In cities with conservative norms or high crime, female workers may face greater restrictions on their
physical mobility. This limits women’s labor market opportunities and the pool of workers that firms
can attract. In this study, we experimentally vary access to a transport service in Lahore, Pakistan, to
quantify the overall impact of transport to work on men, women, and the differential impact of
transport exclusively for women. We show that reducing physical mobility constraints has a large
impact on job searching for women, including women who are not searching at baseline. Women’s
response is driven by a women-only transport treatment arm, suggesting that safety and social
acceptability, rather than simply cost, are key constraints.
I would like to add to Darren Tindall’s point. The initial post (which was fine in itself) was narrowly focused on individual women who have been victims of violent acts. But widespread violence against women has a cascading and corrosive effect on all women’s wellbeing. There is effectively a “tax” on women, for being women. At night, women and girls will often pay for a taxi or uber, because they are not safe walking or taking public transport. Women everywhere often avoid parks or isolated areas, for fear of being attacked. The constant vigilance required takes a mental toll, as well as restricting their activities. In addition, this is violence aimed at them specifically BECAUSE they are women (a fact they can do nothing about). Continued fearfulness, at home and in public places, has a cost, although it is difficult to assess that in dollar terms. It is not dissimilar to the cost of racism.
Hi Deborah, I completely agree. I think that in particular, the economic and social costs of VAWG extend beyond the victim, and likely have quite significant broader and society level effects.
I think you are right that it is difficult to assess in dollar terms- I have not been able to find anything that explores this in a robust or quantitative way, but I think some of the links that Julia and others pointed to are good starts.
Thank you for your comment and taking the time to read this.
Caveat: one peeve I have with this report is that it omits the fact there is also high levels of urban fear in men also (for example on public transport this is 10% lower than women which seems to suggest high levels of fear in both sexes and therefore a bigger problem at play). None the less, extreme vast majority of sexual harassment/assaults on public transit occur against women.
Thanks for the write up Akhil, one aspect of this cause area you may also like to be aware of is fear/feelings of safety in women. Beyond direct victimisation, fear of violence (which doesn’t require someone to be a victim although it is a primary factor influencing the duration and intensity of fear) also adds to the case for this being a cause area.
95% of women and girls in Delhi surveyed by the UN said they felt unsafe in public spaces.
I couldn’t find the study but this number sits around 60%+ in Europe’s larger cities (70%+ in London as I recall).
Correspondingly, there is a widespread impact. Fear will influence someone’s pattern of life which will have various health, economic, and social costs. Interventions which also reduce fear in women could therefore also be worth exploring.
I understand you probably haven’t had much chance to delve into interventions and root causes as you are focusing on building this as a worth-while cause area for investment but I would be interested to understand more on what are the cause/sources of violence (is it street crime, violence by male partners, etc.) .
Hey Darren, great point! Fear of violence and the broader affects of that was not something that I had considered, but seems like it is a significant issue that is worth investigation.
In terms of the context within which violence happens (or its source), from my understanding, most of it is within the domestic environment, with the vast majority being by someone who is known to the victim.
Broadly, I think that root cause analysis would be a really interesting step in ‘unlocking’ new and potentially promising investigations in this space. WIth more time, I would love to do this
If you have any more resources on the same, please send them across
Related: workforce participation by women in India is very low (~20%) and has been dropping, partly because women and their families are worried about harassment or violence at work or while commuting. The actual rates of workplace or commuting violence may not be happening as often as violence in the home, but it may cause bigger changes in behavior.
J-PAL just sent in their newsletter this study report from April, that seems to address this exactly, judging by its abstract:
Hey Julia really great point. And that World Bank resource that you point to is an excellent read. Thank you :)
I would like to add to Darren Tindall’s point. The initial post (which was fine in itself) was narrowly focused on individual women who have been victims of violent acts. But widespread violence against women has a cascading and corrosive effect on all women’s wellbeing. There is effectively a “tax” on women, for being women. At night, women and girls will often pay for a taxi or uber, because they are not safe walking or taking public transport. Women everywhere often avoid parks or isolated areas, for fear of being attacked. The constant vigilance required takes a mental toll, as well as restricting their activities. In addition, this is violence aimed at them specifically BECAUSE they are women (a fact they can do nothing about). Continued fearfulness, at home and in public places, has a cost, although it is difficult to assess that in dollar terms. It is not dissimilar to the cost of racism.
Hi Deborah, I completely agree. I think that in particular, the economic and social costs of VAWG extend beyond the victim, and likely have quite significant broader and society level effects.
I think you are right that it is difficult to assess in dollar terms- I have not been able to find anything that explores this in a robust or quantitative way, but I think some of the links that Julia and others pointed to are good starts.
Thank you for your comment and taking the time to read this.
Hey All, Akhil there is a good report which delves into the some of the topics highlighted here but it is focused on London. It also discusses how this specific sub-set of women’s safety relates to the domestic setting: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/urban-lab/sites/urban-lab/files/scoping_study-_londons_participation_in_un_womens_safer_cities_and_safe_public_spaces_programme.pdf
Caveat: one peeve I have with this report is that it omits the fact there is also high levels of urban fear in men also (for example on public transport this is 10% lower than women which seems to suggest high levels of fear in both sexes and therefore a bigger problem at play). None the less, extreme vast majority of sexual harassment/assaults on public transit occur against women.