Women's and men's status

The first European Union Survey on Violence against Women (EU-VAW) released in 2014 revealed the unexpected result indicating that the world's most egalitarian countries have relatively high rates of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women (IPVAW). This phenomenon, referred to as the "Nord...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Gómez-Casillas, Amalia|||0000-0002-3528-7844, van Damme, Maike|||0000-0003-1080-9789, Permanyer, Iñaki|||0000-0002-7051-5144
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2023
País:España
Institución:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ddd.uab.cat:275337
Acceso en línea:https://ddd.uab.cat/record/275337
https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.1177/08862605231158760
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Assessment
Battered women
Cultural contexts
Domestic violence
Violent offenders
Descripción
Sumario:The first European Union Survey on Violence against Women (EU-VAW) released in 2014 revealed the unexpected result indicating that the world's most egalitarian countries have relatively high rates of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women (IPVAW). This phenomenon, referred to as the "Nordic Paradox," revived a heated, intermittently ongoing discussion dating back four decades where several competing hypotheses about the relationship between gender inequality and IPVAW have been proposed, but no consensus has been reached. The main aim of this paper is to revisit the most important of such hypotheses proposed in the last four decades, while proposing a new one that could potentially throw some light on understanding the "Nordic Paradox." Multilevel linear regression models are estimated using data from the EU-VAW survey conducted in 2012, and an alternative operationalization of the Gender Equality Index (GEI) (our measure of gender equality). We did not find any significant effect of gender equality on IPVAW repetition. However, we found that higher country-level status of women and men go together with less IPVAW, with a larger effect of women's status in economic domains compared to the impact of men's economic status, and a larger effect of men's overall status. These findings support the Marxist feminist hypothesis, stating that women's absolute status in the economic and labor domain is critical in lessening IPVAW, as women's real and potential access to resources is key for leaving a violent relationship. At the same time, our results support the "male privilege protection" hypothesis, which states that gains in women's status in certain domains-such as in the economic sphere considering our results for the European Union-would not suppose a threat to men, allowing ameliorative effects. In contrast, if the overall status of men is threatened, backlash effects would be triggered.