Send message to Authors

Paper short abstract:

Our study tries to investigate the causal impact of women’s financial inclusion on IPV using a nonparametric bounds approach. We find that financial inclusion leads to an increase in IPV through three channels: violation of patriarchal gender norms, economic abuse, and female guilt.

Paper long abstract:

We empirically examine the causal impact of married women’s financial inclusion on their exposure to Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) using data from the latest round of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) India. Establishing a causal link between women’s financial inclusion and IPV, however, is challenging due to unobserved confounders and reverse causality. To overcome these obstacles, we adopt a nonparametric bounds approach. Relying on fairly weak assumptions, we find robust evidence that women’s financial inclusion leads to a significant increase in their exposure to any type of IPV by at least 10 percent. Further, we provide suggestive evidence that this result arises because married women’s financial inclusion is likely to disrupt patriarchal beliefs about gender roles within the household and increase economic abuse and female guilt. Our findings suggest that empowering women financially, while crucial, may inadvertently increase their vulnerability to IPV unless such initiatives are paired with efforts to shift underlying cultural norms surrounding gender and power.