Skewed sex ratios and violence against women in Pakistan
Concerns have been raised that an excess of men leads to societal violence, including violence against women, although recent evidence has challenged this view. One area that remains untested is honour killings, a type of femicide perpetrated by unrelated family members, such as intimate partners, a...
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Cambridge University Press
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Evolutionary Human Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2513843X25100030/type/journal_article |
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| author | Olympia L. K. Campbell Maheen Pracha Ruth Mace |
| author_facet | Olympia L. K. Campbell Maheen Pracha Ruth Mace |
| author_sort | Olympia L. K. Campbell |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Concerns have been raised that an excess of men leads to societal violence, including violence against women, although recent evidence has challenged this view. One area that remains untested is honour killings, a type of femicide perpetrated by unrelated family members, such as intimate partners, and related family members, such as parents and siblings. Using a novel data set of media reports of honour killings from Pakistan we test whether the sex ratio is associated with femicide. To address reporting bias, we implement two case-control studies. The first compares media reports of honour killings to male suicides. The second compares honour killings perpetrated by unrelated individuals to those perpetrated by kin. We find evidence that honour killings perpetrated by unrelated individuals are higher in male-biased areas compared to those perpetrated by kin. Honour killings of women by kin therefore appear less sensitive to the sex ratio. Results align with sexual selection theory, suggesting more male competition may lead to more violence. We also find weak evidence that male-biased areas report more male suicides than honour killings. However, we caution against drawing causal conclusions due to potential confounding variables, particularly economic deprivation. This highlights the challenges of studying sensitive topics quantitatively. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-422ed7cd113b4c5bbb1775c6e8e04af9 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2513-843X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Evolutionary Human Sciences |
| spelling | doaj-art-422ed7cd113b4c5bbb1775c6e8e04af92025-08-20T03:16:16ZengCambridge University PressEvolutionary Human Sciences2513-843X2025-01-01710.1017/ehs.2025.10003Skewed sex ratios and violence against women in PakistanOlympia L. K. Campbell0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8818-637XMaheen Pracha1Ruth Mace2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6137-7739Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, University of Toulouse Capitole, Toulouse, FranceHuman Rights Commission of Pakistan, Lahore, PakistanDepartment of Anthropology, University College London, London, UKConcerns have been raised that an excess of men leads to societal violence, including violence against women, although recent evidence has challenged this view. One area that remains untested is honour killings, a type of femicide perpetrated by unrelated family members, such as intimate partners, and related family members, such as parents and siblings. Using a novel data set of media reports of honour killings from Pakistan we test whether the sex ratio is associated with femicide. To address reporting bias, we implement two case-control studies. The first compares media reports of honour killings to male suicides. The second compares honour killings perpetrated by unrelated individuals to those perpetrated by kin. We find evidence that honour killings perpetrated by unrelated individuals are higher in male-biased areas compared to those perpetrated by kin. Honour killings of women by kin therefore appear less sensitive to the sex ratio. Results align with sexual selection theory, suggesting more male competition may lead to more violence. We also find weak evidence that male-biased areas report more male suicides than honour killings. However, we caution against drawing causal conclusions due to potential confounding variables, particularly economic deprivation. This highlights the challenges of studying sensitive topics quantitatively.https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2513843X25100030/type/journal_articlesex ratioviolence against womensuicidePakistannewspaper reports |
| spellingShingle | Olympia L. K. Campbell Maheen Pracha Ruth Mace Skewed sex ratios and violence against women in Pakistan Evolutionary Human Sciences sex ratio violence against women suicide Pakistan newspaper reports |
| title | Skewed sex ratios and violence against women in Pakistan |
| title_full | Skewed sex ratios and violence against women in Pakistan |
| title_fullStr | Skewed sex ratios and violence against women in Pakistan |
| title_full_unstemmed | Skewed sex ratios and violence against women in Pakistan |
| title_short | Skewed sex ratios and violence against women in Pakistan |
| title_sort | skewed sex ratios and violence against women in pakistan |
| topic | sex ratio violence against women suicide Pakistan newspaper reports |
| url | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2513843X25100030/type/journal_article |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT olympialkcampbell skewedsexratiosandviolenceagainstwomeninpakistan AT maheenpracha skewedsexratiosandviolenceagainstwomeninpakistan AT ruthmace skewedsexratiosandviolenceagainstwomeninpakistan |