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Abstract
In the first chapter, I study the effects of different survey modes on women's responses to questions about three domains of their lives. Researchers and policy-makers frequently use measures of individuals' beliefs about social norms, and mismeasurement of sensitive norms threaten research efforts. Given limited causal evidence on effective ways of capturing sensitive gender norms, we test whether survey methods that may increase respondent privacy affect the reporting of social norms (such as women’s perceived independence, empowerment, and safety) in the northern Amhara region of Ethiopia. We explore the effect of conducting in-person interviews by comparing responses between women who were asked the survey on the phone and women who were asked the survey in-person. Additionally, we also randomize the gender of the interviewer to measure if women respond differently to male and female enumerators. Results show that the reporting of sensitive topics such as physical safety, emotional well-being, and freedom of movement is not significantly different for respondents interviewed via mobile phone and respondents interviewed in person. We find some evidence that respondents answer differently to female enumerators, conditional on using a phone survey. These effects are similar across women of all empowerment levels and are not affected by the length of the interview. Our results provide evidence in favor of utilizing cost-reducing technologies for surveying sensitive topics.
In the second chapter, I study the relationship between female employment and women's experiences of violence. Thirty-five percent of women worldwide experience either physical and/or sexual domestic violence in their lifetime (WHO). Though the social and economic costs of domestic violence are well studied, the literature on determinants of violence against women is limited. One factor explored by previous research is women's employment outside of the home. There are two main challenges while studying the effects of female employment on domestic violence. First, a woman's decision to take part in the labor force can be jointly determined by factors that affect her exposure to domestic violence. I overcome this challenge by creating a proxy for female employment that is exogenous to factors that also cause domestic violence. The proxy for female employment is estimated as a Bartik-type demand shifter by interacting nationwide employment shocks weighted by the share of the local labor force that is both females and works in that industry. The second challenge is that most data on domestic violence comes from self-reported surveys, which are problematic because women might systematically misreport experiences of domestic violence because of various reasons such as social norms, stigma, and fear of personal safety. To address this issue of misreporting (or systematic measurement error), I use administrative data on hospitalization records due to domestic violence. Results from 377 municipalities in Colombia indicate that a one percent increase in female employment in the manufacturing sector is associated with a 1.7 percent decline in women's experiences of domestic violence in Colombia. These effects are strongest for municipalities that have higher rates of female employment. In India, I find the opposite effect using data from 600 districts. A one percent increase in female employment is associated with a 0.3 percent increase in reported crime against women.
In the second chapter, I study the relationship between female employment and women's experiences of violence. Thirty-five percent of women worldwide experience either physical and/or sexual domestic violence in their lifetime (WHO). Though the social and economic costs of domestic violence are well studied, the literature on determinants of violence against women is limited. One factor explored by previous research is women's employment outside of the home. There are two main challenges while studying the effects of female employment on domestic violence. First, a woman's decision to take part in the labor force can be jointly determined by factors that affect her exposure to domestic violence. I overcome this challenge by creating a proxy for female employment that is exogenous to factors that also cause domestic violence. The proxy for female employment is estimated as a Bartik-type demand shifter by interacting nationwide employment shocks weighted by the share of the local labor force that is both females and works in that industry. The second challenge is that most data on domestic violence comes from self-reported surveys, which are problematic because women might systematically misreport experiences of domestic violence because of various reasons such as social norms, stigma, and fear of personal safety. To address this issue of misreporting (or systematic measurement error), I use administrative data on hospitalization records due to domestic violence. Results from 377 municipalities in Colombia indicate that a one percent increase in female employment in the manufacturing sector is associated with a 1.7 percent decline in women's experiences of domestic violence in Colombia. These effects are strongest for municipalities that have higher rates of female employment. In India, I find the opposite effect using data from 600 districts. A one percent increase in female employment is associated with a 0.3 percent increase in reported crime against women.