Test of Impacts of Gender Equality and Economic Development on Sexual Violence

Austin and Kim (International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology 44, 204–221, 2000) tested the relationship between gender equality and rape victimization by employing an international data set. The current study advances Austin and Kim’s (International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology 44, 204–221, 2000) work by employing more variables, such as absolute measures of female socioeconomic status and Muslim and Latin American regional indicators. Additionally, the current work utilizes a larger and updated international data set from The United Nations’ Surveys on Crime Trends and the Operations of Criminal Justice Systems. The results of multiple regression analyses partially support backlash hypotheses, but not the amelioration hypothesis. An interesting finding of this work is that developed countries display a higher level of sexual violence than their developing counterparts, which is inconsistent with the perspective of the civilizing process on violence. Additionally, Muslim countries register lower sexual violence than non-Muslim ones, while Latin American countries exhibit higher sexual violence than non-Latin American ones.