John Simister

Gender-based violence in India: long-term trends.

This article examines long-term trends in Indian society regarding domestic violence between husband and wife, and attitudes to such violence. This article analyzes crime data and uses data from several Indian household surveys: “Work Attitudes and Spending” surveys (1992 to 2007); “World Values Survey” (1990, 1995, 2001, and 2006); and “Demographic and Health Surveys” (1992-1993, 1998-2000, and 2005). Several trends are apparent— some changes suggest that Indian women are becoming more liberated, but others imply worsening conditions for Indian women, such as more violence against women. This increase in violence may be temporary, as India is in transition to a more modern society: There is evidence that some gender-based violence is a male response to increasingly “modern” attitudes among Indian women.

Domestic Violence and Female Genital Mutilation in Kenya: Effects of Ethnicity and Education

This paper investigates domestic violence against women, including definitions of ‘domestic violence;’ and investigates “Female Genital Mutilation.” Data for this paper are from three national household surveys in Kenya: ‘Demographic & Health Survey’ (2003), Afrobarometer (2003), and ‘Work, Attitudes, & Spending’ (2004). Previous research in many countries has found convincing evidence of a tendency for domestic violence to be less common in households where the respondent and/or spouse have more education. This paper adds a new factor: the respondent’s mother’s education also seems relevant to prevalence of GBV (perhaps because of childhood socialization). This pattern applies to both experience of violence, and attitudes to such violence. There also appears to be a strong link between ‘Female Genital Mutilation’ (female circumcision) and mother’s education level. In each case, more education is associated with less violence.

Domestic Violence in India: Effects of Education

This article studies domestic violence between husband and wife in India, and attitudes to domestic violence. We use the term ‘gender-based violence’ because some men use violence to control their wives. Data from the Demographic and Health Survey 1998–2000 has been analysed. This survey includes women in the ages of 15 to 49, in 26 Indian states. We focus only on violence by husbands against wives, ignoring other types of violence (such as a wife being hit by her husbands family, or a man being hit by his wife). Evidence in this paper is consistent with previous research indicating that gender-based violence is very prevalent in India. It seems likely that it is related to whether such violence is seen as acceptable in the perpetrators family and in the local community. We suggest that there are similarities between the behaviour of some Indian men and the ‘machismo’ values reported in other cultures (especially in Latin America). We confirm previous claims that violence is less common if women and men are well educated; we also note that acceptance of domestic violence appears to be related to the respondents education level. Thus, we encourage the Government of India to prioritise education for both boys and girls.

Consumption durables: exploring the order of acquisition

After an overview of alternative methods for analysing the ownership of consumer durables, a particular method is proposed, drawn from the principles of social choice theory, and ultimately leading to the method of ranking durables equivalent to the Borda rule. Methods are also developed for calculating the uniformity of choice and for identifying differences in patterns of ownership across partitions of the sample.

Consumption norms, trickle-down and the video/microwave syndrome

A new method is presented for investigating empirically the presence or not of consumption norms in the ownership of durables amongst different socioeconomic groups (although the method is more generally applicable to any situation in which a number of characteristics, and not just durables, may be acquired in a specific sequence). In order to illustrate the method, some results are presented for the ownership of durables as sampled by the National Readership Survey for 1985 and 1990. As a further application of the method, particular attention is paid to the changing incidence of ownership of videos and microwaves. Both theoretically and empirically, the trickle-down model of consumer choice is critically assessed and found to be wanting.

More Than a Billion Women Face 'Gender Based Violence'; Where Are Most Victims?

Gender-Based Violence (GBV) is a global problem. Many household surveys in the last few decades, by various agencies, have attempted to assess GBV prevalence. There are many problems in comparing data from different surveys, some of which are discussed in this paper. This paper takes the (controversial) approach of assuming findings from different surveys can be compared with each other, despite problems such as different question wording in different surveys. If this approach is accepted, it may help researchers identify which parts of the world have the worst problems of GBV. Evidence reported here can be used to test theories about causes of GBV, such as culture. It appears that GBV is more prevalent in some regions than others, but the cause of this geographical pattern is not clear.

Assessing the ‘Kerala Model’ Education is Necessary but Not Sufficient

Kerala is often praised as being more developed, in some respects, than the rest of India: several development indicators, such as literacy rates and health, suggest that Kerala is much more successful than the rest of India. However, a growing minority of observers have expressed disappointment with Kerala. Some writers suggest Kerala is poorer than we might expect given its high literacy rate; other writers argue that women in Kerala are not as empowered as previous researchers implied. This article tests the hypothesis that successes which have been achieved by the ‘Kerala model’ are mainly a result of education. This ‘education hypothesis’ is contrasted with various other possible explanations of Kerala’s success, which suggest Kerala is unique in some way—for reason(s) which are disputed and which often seem impossible to test by scientific analysis. However, Kerala is not successful in every respect; this article examines some remaining problems in Kerala.

Long-term trends in wage discrimination against ethnic minorities: USA and UK

This paper assesses two economic perspectives on racial discrimination in labour markets: the ‘Chicago school’ claims racial discrimination is a temporary phenomenon which is removed by competition; whereas more recent economics claims that labour markets are imperfect, so discrimination may be long-lasting. This paper reports evidence from USA and UK on earnings of ethnic minorities relative to the white majority. In recent decades, USA and UK governments have enacted legislation to prevent discrimination; this has been partly effective, but discrimination persists in both countries. Further action is required to reduce inefficiencies associated with discrimination.

WIFE'S EARNINGS, CHILD NUTRITION, AND GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE IN EGYPT

This paper investigates the “children fare better” view, that children tend to be better fed if their mother has control over household decisions, using three household surveys in Egypt. It suggests an approach which might improve current economic analysis of household spending, by incorporating “Gender-Based Violence”: there appears to be a link between undernutrition of household members, and violence against mothers (violent men often misspend a large fraction of household income on themselves). Child welfare improves dramatically if the child’s mother earns enough for food. Unfortunately, few mothers in Egypt are employed, putting many children at risk. Agencies such as the Egyptian government could protect children, by paying child benefit to mothers or encouraging female employment.

The importance of being earners: why women in South Africa need well-paid jobs.

The ‘children fare better’ viewpoint claims that children tend to be better fed if their mother (as opposed to father) has sufficient income of her own for food. This paper assesses this claim for South Africa, using data from household surveys. It considers the possibility that this issue is related to domestic violence between husband and wife, and finds an apparent link between wifes earnings, child nutrition and domestic violence. Childrens well-being seems more assured if mothers have an adequate income; but there is more risk of inadequate nutrition in households where there is domestic violence against wives.