Violence Against Women and the Economy

Violence against women (VAW) is a topic of deep concern among practitioners, academics, and policymakers in the international development sphere. Research in the field has established the impact of VAW for women’s physical, psychological, and reproductive health and their well-being, safety, and economic security, however, the issue has remained largely outside the purview of the economic and developmental policy arena. This book builds on a pioneering methodology developed by the authors to translate the impacts of VAW at the individual level to the macroeconomic and societal level to address this knowledge gap. It contributes to the existing knowledge and provides a broader vision by contextualizing the consequences of VAW to the economy and society. Further, it creates a coherent narrative of the multi-dimensional impacts of VAW that transcend disciplinary boundaries. The book demonstrates clearly how violence impedes agency, capabilities and development, pushing the conversation on violence from a legal and public health concern to one of development and economic growth. It brings together the analysis of large-scale, multi-country case studies, located in the global south and in diverse contexts of social conflict, where novel quantitative and qualitative methodologies were employed to analyse the wider implications of VAW for development, with a focus on social cohesion, social reproduction and the macro-economy. The book describes and discusses the interdisciplinary set of research analysis and findings from the country-case studies with the aim of bringing all these rich and diverse outputs together in an accessible manner. Consequently, it will appeal to a wide range of readers, including academics, researchers, students, activists, and policymakers among others.