NCJ Number
180039
Journal
Violence Against Women Volume: 5 Issue: 11 Dated: November 1999 Pages: 1321-1341
Date Published
1999
Length
21 pages
Annotation
This article considers ideas on sex ratios and female labor force participation as part of the explanation of lethal violence against women.
Abstract
It has been postulated that low sex ratios (more women than men) may combine with increased female labor force participation to expand the incidence of lethal violence against women. Data from the Supplementary Homicide Reports, in conjunction with data from the 1990 U.S. population census, suggest that high sex ratios augment female homicide victimization. But the effect is not mediated by female labor force participation. Nevertheless, to the extent that poverty and female labor force participation rates increase female homicide victimization, they are more salient for the explanation of the victimization experiences of white women. While the study supports the theory that sex ratios may be an important part of the assortment of factors that augment female homicide victimization, it also shows that the effects are not monolithic; race must be taken into account. Also, the study does not explain the difference between intimate and non-intimate female homicide victimizations. Tables, appendix, references