The Intersection of Globalization and Violence Against Women: A Micro-theoretic Analysis

Violence against women is a grave violation of their fundamental human rights, impacting a staggering one-third of women globally. This heinous crime takes on different forms, ranging from sexual violence and oppressive patriarchal beliefs to workplace harassment, marital rape, and cybercrime. The correlation between globalization and crimes against women remains inadequately explored; yet, the process of globalization has inevitably added new layers to this pressing issue. Against this backdrop, a two-sector competitive general equilibrium model has been developed with both male and female labor and foreign and domestic capital in the presence of skilled and unskilled wage disparity. We analyze the impact of globalization on violence against women. Interestingly, we find that globalization, in terms of foreign capital inflow, may accentuate crime against women, provided the capital-intensive sector is less discriminatory against women. Furthermore, we explore how variations in market-based discrimination can affect the incidence of violence.