In the 2024 general election, the Labour Party promised to halve
violence against women and girls within a decade. This then
became one of the long-term objectives of the government's ‘Safer
Streets' mission. This increased focus from government coincides
with a new wave of cutting-edge economic research, which is
advancing our understanding of the causes, costs and consequences
of gender-based violence. This new research also highlights the
wider impacts of what has been traditionally treated primarily as
a legal or social issue. In this briefing, produced as part of
the IFS Transforming Justice project, funded by the Nuffield
Foundation, we summarise recent advances from economists working
in the field and review some of the emerging international
evidence on the economic impacts of domestic abuse, sexual
assault and workplace harassment.
Key takeaways from the research include:
- Gender-based violence has large economic
costs, including significant losses in employment,
earnings and job stability for victims.
- Economic harm can occur even without recorded
physical violence, consistent with harms from coercive
control, financial sabotage and restricted autonomy.
-
Institutions and workplaces matter:
organisational responses and the effectiveness of the justice
system can both shape the scale of harm suffered, and victims'
prospects for recovery.
Further advances in research in this area depend on
high-quality linked data, to enable robust
measurement of harms, identification of mechanisms, and rigorous
evaluation of what works.
Professor Abi Adams, IFS Research Fellow and co-author of
several of the research papers discussed in the briefing,
said:
‘Gender-based violence has not historically been a major area of
study for economists, but cutting-edge research in this area is
shining a new light on the damaging, long-lasting economic
impacts felt by survivors. Much of the research to date has been
conducted internationally, in large part due to the availability
of high-quality administrative data. Places such as Finland link
police records to information about how much individuals earn and
where they work. The economic research made possible by this
shows that violence against women reduces their employment,
earnings and job stability, and highlights that the scale of harm
depends on workplaces and public institutions. Similar research
in the UK is hampered by the absence such data linkages. If we
want to better understand the causes of gender-based violence in
the UK, and the best ways of preventing it, better data and
further analysis would be a huge gain.'
Rob Street, Director of Justice at the Nuffield
Foundation, said:
‘Given the huge societal and individual harm it causes, tackling
violence against women and girls is rightly a governmental
priority. This paper usefully and accessibly highlights the
growing evidence around the economic impacts of this abuse, and
underscores the need for better data and deeper analysis to
inform an effective whole-system response to tackle gender-based
violence.'
ENDS
Notes to Editor
The economic consequences of gender-based violence is an
IFS briefing by Abi Adams and Magdalena Domínguez.
The briefing is
available to read here
