Citation

Bose S, Trent K, South SJ. Econ. Polit. Wkly. 2013; 48(35).

Affiliation

Department of Sociology, Center for Social and Demographic Analysis, University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY 12222, , s.south@albany.edu .

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, Sameeksha Trust)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

24511150

Abstract

Theories of the social consequences of imbalanced sex ratios posit that men will exercise extraordinarily strict control over women's behaviour when women's relationship options are plentiful and men's own options are limited. We use data from the third wave of the Indian National Family and Health Survey, conducted in 2005-06, to explore this issue, investigating the effect of the community sex ratio on women's experience of intimate partner violence in India. Multilevel logistic regression models show that a relative surplus of men in a community increases the likelihood of physical abuse by husbands even after adjusting for various other individual, household, and geographic characteristics. Further evidence of control over women when there is a sex ratio imbalance is provided by the increased odds of husbands distrusting wives with money when there is a male surplus in the local community.

Language: en