Gender Inequality and Rates of Female Homicide Victimization Across U.S. Cities

Abstract

This study adds to a growing body of literature that explores patterns and correlates of homicide among specific populations within the United States. Seeking to improve our understanding of correlates of female homicide, the authors explore the possibility that female victimization rates are influenced by conditions of sex-based inequality. Using data from 177 central cities of the United States, they develop a model that tests separately, and in combination, the effects of seven sociodemographic variables and six measures of differences in male and female socioeconomic status. The authors find that the social-structural model is neither altered nor improved by inclusion of the inequality variables. Further, no single inequality variable is found to be a statistically significant predictor of female homicide rates when controlling for social-structural effects. Based on these results, they find little support for a gender inequality/female homicide connection.