Media-Reported Violence and Female Labor Supply

This paper explores how safety concerns and cultural norms associated with female purity have an impact on labor supply in urban India. I find that a 1 standard deviation increase lagged media reports per 1,000 people of local sexual assaults reduces the probability woman is employed outside her home by 0.67 percentage points (or 5.5% sample average). this short-lived effect significant despite controlling for underlying level violence against women reported to police or after exogenous gender-specific demand shocks.