Gender Inequality and Levels of Female Homicide in Cities: Examining the Influence of Race, Poverty Context, and Family Structure for Levels of Female Homicide Victimization and Offending
In the United States, Black women are at an increased risk of homicide victimization and offending when compared to White women. What accounts for these differences in homicide involvement for Black and White females? Spanning the last thirty years, feminist theory has called attention to the importance of examining how structures relating to gender contribute to killings by and of females. Empirical work in this area has highlighted that relative differences in men and women’s social and economic positioning in the United States, known as socioeconomic gender inequality, are important for city levels of female homicide victimization and offending. Few of these studies, however, have considered other structural factors that may be contributing to homicide by and of females. As a result, we know little about how race influences the relationship between socioeconomic gender inequality and female homicide involvement for the 2000 period. We also have limited information on how city poverty contexts or family structure contribute to female homicide victimization and offending for women of different racial groups. As such, our knowledge regarding the differential structural causes of Black women’s increased risk of homicide victimization and offending when compared to White women’s is incomplete. Drawing on feminist theories of homicide, this dissertation attempts to contribute to our current understanding of how structures of gender inequality contribute to killings by and of women from different walks of life. Toward this end, I utilize data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Supplementary Homicide Reports, a voluntary reporting database that includes city level information on the sex, age, and race of homicide victims and known offenders. Social and demographic information is drawn from the United States Bureau of the Census for 2000. These data are used to answer the following questions. First, is socioeconomic gender inequality related to killings by and of both Black and White females for the 2000 period? Based on previous research, socioeconomic gender inequality should be related to White female homicide victimization and offending but not necessarily to Black women’s levels of killing or being killed. This idea is tested using negative binomial regression. The results demonstrate that socioeconomic gender inequality does indeed influence city levels of homicide, but only for White females and with regards to victimization. In particular, higher levels of socioeconomic gender inequality are significantly related to lower levels of White female homicide victimization. No relationship is found between White female homicide offending and socioeconomic gender inequality. And, paralleling prior research, socioeconomic gender inequality is unrelated to city level killings by and of Black females. Rather, women’s absolute status in the most important gender related variable for levels of Black female homicide victimization and offending. This study also examines how city poverty contexts influence the gender inequality-homicide relationship. Some feminist scholars have long asserted that high levels of poverty make women more vulnerable to violence stemming from socioeconomic gender inequality. Accordingly, the relationship between gender inequality and homicide may be expected to be stronger in high poverty city contexts for both Black and White females. Alternatively, socioeconomic gender inequality matters less in low poverty city contexts. The results from the negative binomial regression are contrary to some feminist arguments. With regards to high poverty city contexts, no relationship is observed between levels of socioeconomic gender inequality and rates of homicide victimization or offending for Black or White females. In low poverty city contexts, socioeconomic gender inequality only exhibits a relationship to city levels of White female homicide victimization. No relationship is observed between these factors for Black females in low poverty city contexts. In a final set of exploratory analyses, I examine the effects of four familial related variables, along with socioeconomic gender inequality, on levels of killings by and of Black and White females. I do so in response to arguments presented by scholars of female homicide that family structure potentially captures aspects reflecting gender inequality that are not reflected in traditional measures used in feminist research of homicide. I ask: Are variables argued to represent women’s greater independence from men and more familial equality between the sexes, (for example, non-traditional family structures such as higher rates of cohabitation, single father households, and female divorce and separation rates) related to lower rates of female homicide as suggested by Vickie Jensen (2001)? Or, as suggested by other scholars of female homicide, are more extensive levels of non-traditional family arrangements associated with higher levels of female homicide, as might be expected if these factors reflect aspects of general social instability? The results for family variables indicates that, by and large, non-traditional family arrangements are related to higher levels of killings by and of White females, but are unrelated to Black female homicide involvement. Overall, this dissertation shows that socioeconomic gender inequality influences Black and White female homicide differently. The findings also reveal that city poverty contexts, in addition to race, matter for female homicide victimization, although not in the way anticipated. Rather than demonstrating that gender inequality exerts a stronger effect on levels of female homicide in high poverty city contexts, the results indicate that socioeconomic gender inequality is only important for White females in low poverty city contexts. When high poverty contexts are taken into account, the relationship between socioeconomic gender inequality and White female homicide victimization no longer holds. In this regard, the findings for White females in high poverty contexts parallel those of Black females that women’s absolute status is related to levels of homicide victimization. Family structure also emerges as an important factor for levels of White, but not Black, female homicide. In contrast to arguments that greater levels of cohabitation, single father households, and divorce and separation rates reduce homicide, in general higher levels of non-traditional family structures seem to contribute to more homicides by and of White females. Certainly, the structures contributing to killings by and of females are multifaceted and merit further investigation. By evaluating the multiple ways in which gender inequality may potentially be related to city levels of female homicide victimization and offending, this dissertation advances research on female homicide in several ways. First, the findings highlight that women are not situated similarly with regards to their multiple statuses, and this fact may shape the relationship between gender inequality and city levels of female homicide. Second, the results call attention to the potential role of family structure for influencing city levels of homicide victimization and offending, and point to multiple indicators specific to women that have implications for analyses of female homicide. Third, this dissertation calls into question extant theories on the relationship between socioeconomic gender inequality, poverty, and homicide by demonstrating that the role of socioeconomic gender inequality is variable depending upon poverty context, as well as women’s racial background. In total, this study accentuates the need for empirical work to identify and examine additional status differences among women that may help to illuminate the structural causes of female homicide and, in turn, point to solutions that could benefit those most at risk for high levels of homicide victimization or offending.
Criminology, Sociology, Gender Inequality, Women, Homicide Victimization, Homicide Offending
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