The MeToo movement made workplace sexual harassment salient, leading to an increase in media coverage and a sequence of high-profile cases. Soon after, Covid-related lockdowns generated a global increase in domestic violence. As a result, violence against women (VAW) has been under the spotlight in recent years. However, the evidence to support changes in policy has not grown as rapidly as public and policy attention.

Professor Sonia Bhalotra, from the Department of Economics, is working to evaluate and identify policies to address VAW. To do this she is working to understand the causes of violence, to uncover its impact and to identify why and when certain policies may have unexpected and adverse consequences. The evidence she is generating is expected to underpin the argument for lasting change, both in the UK and internationally.

A quarter of all women in the UK have reported experiencing domestic violence, and the number of reported sexual harassment in the workplace is more than double that, standing at 52%. Working women are further exposed as they commute to work; in the UK, stalking and harassment constitute a third of all police-recorded violence.

The repercussions of violence against women are vast. They do not only affect the individual, they also significantly impact the economy and wider society.

At the individual level, VAW can cause distress, anxiety and depression with consequences for women’s health and work. At the economy level, it can cause a misallocation of talent, as women are less likely to enter and more likely to leave high-risk work environments. There are no easy solutions - since the MeToo movement which encouraged reporting of harassment, men and women in academia are less likely to collaborate.

Abuse and harassment can impact bystanders who are not directly involved, and children are commonly victims of domestic abuse. In the workplace, this can lead to a toxic environment, with innocent, non-abusive men feeling misunderstood and misrepresented.

These alarming numbers and widespread repercussions indicate that a change in policy is needed. But, it can be difficult to get it right. One example of this is the Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH) Act passed in India in 2013. It mandated that firms establish an internal complaints committee to encourage reporting with assurance of anonymity and redressal of workplace sexual harassment. The policy intended to improve the workplace environment, making it a safer place for women and, ultimately, increasing productivity.

However, the POSH policy misfired, and Professor Bhalotra’s research with Kanika Mahajan, Daksh Walia and Medha Chatterjee revealed that it caused firms to hire men instead of women. Women were displaced into smaller firms with lower wages and amenities and a higher proportion of men – a risk factor for the risk of facing sexual harassment.

Whilst the policy intended to make a positive change, the results show that this type of legislation needs careful calibration and evaluation to minimize the risk of negative consequences.

Historically, policy around VAW has taken a reactive approach focused on rehabilitation of victims, but a proactive approach focused on prevention could drastically improve the impact.

In order to implement an effective preventative approach, we need to isolate and understand the causes of VAW. For this, we need data not only on victims, but also on potential victims.

Professor Bhalotra’s research seeks to bridge this gap, connecting administrative and primary data on VAW to relevant causal phenomena, and developing hypotheses for the causes or triggers for abuse. She uses scientific evaluation to reveal whether a policy works. She argues that this is just the beginning. To implement real change, we also need to understand how it works or why it doesn’t. Research on this topic by economists is now advancing rapidly but there remain many unanswered questions.