1 October 2025, 11:00 CET
1.205
Charlotte Ringdal
Chr. Michelsen Institute
This paper examines how armed conflict intensifies domestic violence in Ethiopia, focusing on intimate partner violence (IPV) and child-directed punishment. Linking georeferenced data from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) project with six waves of a longitudinal household survey collected between 2016 and 2021, we find that heightened conflict intensity, measured by the frequency of violent events and related fatalities within 50 km, is associated with substantially higher rates of physical and sexual IPV, as well as increased physical punishment of children by both fathers and mothers. Specifically, a one standard deviation rise in conflict-related fatalities correlates with a 12% increase in physical IPV and a 33% increase in sexual IPV relative to sample means, while child-directed punishment escalates by roughly 5%. Mechanism analyses indicate that economic hardship and heightened stress—particularly among husbands play a key role in fueling this violence. Sensitivity tests and placebo analyses confirm the robustness of our findings, which are especially pronounced in conflictaffected regions like Tigray.
Giulia Ferrero
University of Torino and Collegio Carlo Alberto
Armenia and Azerbaijan, engaged in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, are known for their strong son preference and widespread use of abortion. In such a peculiar setting, we ask: does ethnic conflict affect son preference? By merging Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data with two different sources of conflict-related casualties, we investigate the effect of ethnic conflict on fertility decisions. To do so, we leverage variations in geographic and temporal exposure to conflict-related violence in the context of the First Nagorno-Karabakh War (1988–1994), alongside variation in the gender composition of children between families. We find that families with only daughters exposed to conflict increase their fertility in the very short term. Furthermore, our analysis of births by gender reveals that this result is driven by the birth of sons. Conflict intensifies son preference, manifesting in son-targeted fertility behavior and sex-selective abortions. Lastly, we identify child replacement as a mechanism contributing to the increase in fertility, driven primarily by the replacement of male children.
Roxana Gutiérrez-Romero
Queen Mary University of London
This paper evaluates the effectiveness of femicide laws in combating gender-based killings of women, a major cause of premature female mortality. Focusing on Mexico, a pioneer in adopting such legislation, the paper exploits variations in the enactment of femicide laws and prison sentences across states. Using the difference-in-differences estimator, the analysis reveals femicide laws have not impacted femicides, homicides, disappearances, or suicides of women. Results remain robust when considering differences in prison sentencing, states introducing unilateral divorce, equitable divorce asset compensation, or decriminalizing abortion. Findings also hold with synthetic matching, suggesting laws are insufficient to combat gender-based violence in contexts of impunity.