Concering domestic violence against women, is there a threshold for empowerment?: the cases of two areas in Mexico.

Abstract

A rural town (Morelos) and another urban (Cancun) in the state of Quintana Roo, México, have been analyzed, and paradoxically we discovered that women suffer higher degrees of violence by their partners in the environment with a higher level of female empowerment, measured through different indicators. We came to the conclusion that, in underdeveloped societies, there must be a "threshold" from which female empowerment implies a decrease in domestic violence. However, as long as this threshold is not reached, women will pay a price in terms of male violence against them, in the process of gaining more partipation in society.