VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN U.S. METROPOLITAN AREAS: CHANGES IN WOMEN'S STATUS AND RISK, 1980–2004*

This article examines the impact of women's status on rates of violence against women using longitudinal data from the National Crime Survey and National Crime Victimization Survey for 40 U.S. metropolitan areas for the period 1980 to 2004. Drawing on feminist and routine activities perspectives, we specify hypotheses about the association between women's status and violent victimization, some of which predict different effects depending on whether the offender is a stranger, intimate, or known (nonintimate) other. Consistent with feminist and other perspectives, we find that absolute increases in women's labor force participation, income, and education are associated with decreases in intimate partner violence. Our findings also provide limited support for the backlash hypothesis by showing that increases in female labor participation relative to men are associated with increases in intimate partner violence but not with increases in violence by others. Consistent with routine activities theory, the data also indicate that absolute increases in female labor force participation are associated with increases in victimization by strangers and by known others. Furthermore, we find that absolute increases in female voter participation are associated with decreases in violence for all victim–offender relationship categories. The findings thus show that changes in the status of women have both positive and negative associations with violence victimization, and that comparative analyses of different types of violence are necessary for clarifying the sources of violence against women.     

Finding Role Models

<正>As a university educator, I employ literature as a guide for young womento navigate the field of choices. Theeducational gap by sex in China waswide in the late 1980s but has     

Child Care and the Liberal Welfare Regime: A Review Essay

A Review Essay of Vicky Randall, The Politics of Child Daycare in Britain (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000); Sally S. Cohen, Championing Child Care (New York: Columbia University Press, 2001); Deborah Brennan, The Politics of Australian Child Care, 2d. ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998).