Violent crime, gender inequalities and well-being : models based on a survey of individual capabilities and crime rates for England and Wales

Drawing on data from a new survey of individual capabilities across a range of life domains, the paper explores gender inequalities in the causes, experiences and consequences of violent crime. Measuring not only experienced violence, but also feelings of fear and vulnerability to future experiences of violence, we attempt to show how these two types of variables interact and how they impact on well-being. Socio-demographic, economic, personality and environmental differences are taken into account. Key empirical findings include: the identification of a particularly vulnerable group using data for men and women separately; gender inequalities in the propensity to experience different forms of violence; gender inequalities in the impact of key factors, such as the number of dependent children, employment status, income (household and personal) and education, on the likelihood of experiencing violence; a strong link between experienced domestic violence and vulnerability to future domestic violence for women; and strong evidence of the negative impact of self-assessed vulnerability on well-being.