GENDER EQUALITY AND VIOLENCE

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GENDER EQUALITY AND VIOLENCE
DEX
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WHY THIS ISSUE MERITS EXTRA ATTENTION

• A MAJOR RISK FACTOR FOR PARTNER VIOLENCE BECAUSE
  IT IS SO PREVALENT, EVEN THOUGH THE EFFECT SIZE
  IS NOT LARGE
• THE EVIDENCE IS STRONG
• AN IMPORTANT SOCIAL GOAL, EVEN IF IT HAD NO
  EFFECT ON PARTNER VIOLENCE
• A SPECIAL CASE OF CONFLICT THEORY
• ILLUSTRATES MACRO-LEVEL RESEARCH USING STATES
• Macro the cases are social units rather than
  individual persons
• Almost any social unit can be the cases
• Geo-political units Nations, States,
  Counties, Towns
• Institutional units Churches, Schools,
  Universities, Corporations, Unions
• ILLUSTRATES HOW THIS AND OTHER MACRO-SOCIOLOGICAL
  CONCEPTS THAT AFFECT VIOLENCE ARE MEASURED
• Social disorganization
• Urbanization, ETC
• ILLUSTRATES THE IMPORTANCE OF TAKING MULTIPLE
  THEORIES INTO ACCOUNT, NOT JUST ONE FAVORED
  THEORY
• They are not necessarily competing theories
• Can be additive
• Can interact, i.e. one can moderate the effect
  of the other

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THE GENDER EQUALITY INDEX (SCALE) USED FOR THIS
RESEARCH THREE SUB INDEXES AND AN OVERALL INDEX
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Correlation with Gender Equality Index

• A. One sentence on what the top correlation shows
  without using numbers
• B. One sentence on how much confidence you can
  have in that result
• 2. Same for the bottom correlation

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• CORRELATION WITH NOW MEMBERSHIP ILLUSTRATES
  LIMITATIONS OF CROSS-SECTIONAL DATA
• NOW membership could be a cause the members
  lobby for equality
• NOW membership could be an effect of gender
  equality in a society where women have rights
  and power, womenorganize to protect and enhance
  their situation
• The correlation could reflect underlying
  condition that lead to both NOW membership and
  gender equality (spurious correlation)
• Shoe size example of spurious correlation
• Possible sources of spuriousness illustrated
  by correlations in chart 3 slides back
• These can be controlled. If relationship
  persists, rules out spurious correlation
• Longitudinal study help can establish which came
  first, and therefore which is the cause and which
  is the effect, or if there is bi-directional
  causation. Time lagged correlations

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196 0
1990
NOW MEMBERSHIP
.42
NOW MEMBERSHIP
.04
.
.23 .
.39
GENDER EQUALITY
GENDER EQUALITY
What can you conclude from the red
coefficients? What can you conclude from the
green coefficients?
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IS EQUALITY RELATED TO THE RATE OF ASSAULTING
FEMALE PARTNERS?
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SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION THEORY
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SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION AS A MODERATOR VARIABLE
Disorganization high 1. High rates of PV
regardless of equality 2. Little effect of
Equality until the high half of equality
Disorganization low 1. Low rates of PV 2.
Equality has strong effect reaches near
zero Shows how one aspect of society influences
the effect of other aspects
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IS GENDER EQUALITY ASSOCIATED WITH A LOWER RATE
OF RAPE
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PARTNER VIOLENCE AND HOMICIDE ARE CORRELATED ILLU
STRATES RELATION OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF VIOLENCE
TO EACH OTHER
50 states r .29
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• THE SAME THING CAN BE SHOWN FOR RACIAL
  INEQUALITY THE GREATER THE DEGREE OF EQUALITY
  BETWEEN RACES, THE LOWER THE RATE OF VIOLENCE
• SUPPOSE WOMEN WERE DOMINANT WOULD THAT ALSO
  RESULT IN HIGHER RATES OF VIOLENCE?

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Males
Females
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Percent who assaulted their partner in the
preceding 12 months
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• DISCUSSION
• Results suggest that steps to end wife assault
  must go beyond treatment and/or punishment of
  individual men
• Treatment and punishment important, but not
  likely to be sufficient
• Basic changes in the structure of society also
  needed
• Increasing social integration
• Equality between men and women in the society
  as a whole,
• not just within the confines of the family.

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SOME KEY POINTS FROM THIS LECTURE

• INEQUALITY INCRESES THE PRBABILITY OF VIOLENCE
• In society, In the family
• HOW CHARACTEREISTICS OF SOCIETY CAN BE MEASURED
• Equality, Social Disorganization
• THERE ARE LARGE DIFFEENCES BETWEEN STATES IN
  GENDER EQUALLITY AND SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION
• AN EXAMPLE OF THE MULTIPLE CAUSES OF VIOLENCE
  BETWEEN PARTNERS
• Male dominance is an important cause, but it
  is only one of many causes
• GENDER EQUALITY IS CORRELATED WITH SOCIAL
  DISORGANIZATION
• Illustrates the fact that even highly
  desirable social changes can have undesirable
  aspects
• THE LINK BETWEEN INEQUALITY IN RELATIONSHIPS AND
  VIOLENCE APPLIES When women dominate as well
  as when men dominate
• In many different national and cultural
  contexts

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END FOR SOC 695
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Kim, J.-Y. A. E., Clifton. (2003). Marital power,
conflict, norm consensus, and marital violence
in a nationally representative sample of Korean
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(2006) So-Kum Tang, C. (1999). "Marital Power
and Aggression in a Community Sample of Hong
Kong Chinese Families. Journal of Interpersonal
Violence, 14(6), 586. Straus, M. A.,
Consortium, Unpublished data from The
International Dating Violence Study. Durham, New
Hampshire http//pubpages.unh.edu/mas2 Family
Research Laboratory, Univ of New
Hampshire Straus, M. A., Gelles, R. J.,
Steinmetz, S. K. (1980). Behind closed doors
Violence in the American family. NY, New York
Doubleday/Anchor. Sugihara, Y., Warner, J. A.
2002. "Dominance and Domestic Abuse Among
Mexican Americans Gender Differences in the
Etiology of Violence in Intimate Relationships."
Journal of Family Violence 17315-339.
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