myAIPMWhen women earn more than their male partners, domestic violence risk goes up 35 per cent
Shane Wright | Sydney Morning Herald
"A pay rise that means a woman earns more than her male partner increases her chance of domestic violence by 35 per cent, ground-breaking Australian research has revealed, suggesting men struggle to deal with not being the family breadwinner.
Based on surveys done by the Australian Bureau of Statistics over more than a decade, the same research shows as soon as women earn more than half a couple’s income they face a 20 per cent increase in the chance of suffering from emotional abuse.
Previous US research that found a narrowing income gap associated with a drop in domestic violence focused on the most devastating cases where victims ended up in hospital. It was also focused on disadvantaged groups.
But the Australian study, because of its wide-ranging data set over a decade, was able to look at the entire population through de-identified survey responses that also measured one-off or occasional cases of violence. It also took into account cases of emotional abuse.
Researchers Robert Breunig, director of the Tax and Transfer Policy Institute at the Australian National University, and institute fellow Yinjunjie Zhang found across age, income or country of birth, whenever women earned more than their male partner there was a substantial increase in the chance of domestic violence."
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When women earn more than their male partners, domestic violence risk goes up 35 per cent, Shane Wright, Sydney Morning Herald, 2021