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Paper short abstract

This paper examines how multilevel normative and economic pathways shape intimate partner violence in Mauritania. Results show that physical/sexual IPV is shaped by injunctive norms on violence while non-physical IPV follows an economic pioneering penalty conditional on union exit credibility.

Paper long abstract

Drawing on original data from 2,400 households across 133 villages, this study examines how community gender norms and local economic contexts interact with individual characteristics to shape intimate partner violence (IPV) risk among poor Mauritanian households. Mauritania’s legal and cultural context –where women’s empowerment and access to paid work are socially and legally constrained, yet female-initiated divorce is prevalent and socially accepted– enables an empirical separation of normative and economic channels. We distinguish physical and sexual IPV from non-physical violence (psychological abuse, economic coercion and controlling behaviors). Results show that these dimensions of IPV operate through distinct multilevel pathways. Physical and sexual IPV is primarily driven by the normative channel and follows a contextual reinforcement mechanism: women who reject the legitimacy of violence face lower risk, and this protection is stronger in communities where such views are widely shared. Non-physical IPV is more closely tied to the economic channel through a pioneering penalty mechanism. Individual employment increases women’s risk of non-physical abuse, but this effect attenuates where female employment is common. We find no evidence that this moderation reflects greater normative acceptance of women’s work in high-employment communities. Instead, elevated risk for “pioneer” workers emerges only when two conditions intersect: paid work remains uncommon and divorce rates are high. In these settings, employment constitutes an empowering norm violation in a context that facilitates union exit, triggering preemptive violence. These findings refine the Pioneering Hypothesis by underscoring its contingency: descriptive norm deviations heighten IPV only when they credibly signal autonomy.