Women’s Employment and Spousal Abuse: A Parallel Cross-Country Analysis of Thirty-Five Developing Countries

This study explores how domestic violence (DV) and employment interact and impact female economic empowerment in developing economies. Using microdata from thirty-five countries, the effect of women’s employment on reported DV is estimated. An instrumental variables model using the 2SRI technique is used to correct for the potential endogeneity of women’s employment, which might bias the relationship between employment and DV. The study also attempts an in-depth analysis of the linkage between types of domestic violence and a breakdown of results by country regions. Taking endogeneity into account, the estimation suggests that employment in most types of occupations increases violence by the sampled women’s spouses, while formal sector employment reduces it. Breaking down the estimation by region and controlling for endogeneity shows similar results as the full sample. Differentiating by employment type shows that women working in formal paid occupations experience less DV.