Abstract
This paper analyses whether living in a locality with high crime against women affects the probability of early marriage—that is, marriage before the legal age of marriage of girls. Using a nationally representative longitudinal data set and tackling the potential endogeneity of local crime rates, we find that perceived crime against women in the locality significantly increases the likelihood of early marriage of girls, while there is no such effect on boys of comparable age group. We also find no such effect of gender-neutral crimes (such as theft and robbery) on the likelihood of early marriage of girls. Moreover, we find that the relationship holds only in conservative households where the purdah system is practised, and also in the northern region of India, where patriarchal culture and gender norms are stronger than in the southern region. A sensitivity analysis assessing the potential impact of unobservable confounders suggests that our estimates are unlikely to be affected by omitted variable bias.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 763-787 |
| Number of pages | 25 |
| Journal | Journal of Development Studies |
| Volume | 60 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| Early online date | 6 Mar 2024 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2024 |
Keywords
- crime
- early marriage
- gender
- India
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Development
