This study asks whether local state action—specifically women’s police stations (WPS)—shapes citizens’ attitudes toward gender-based violence. Using evidence from Brazil, the authors examine whether the existence and duration of WPS in a municipality are associated with men’s rejection of violence and support for bystander intervention, and assess alternative explanations for those associations.
Policy feedback framing, municipal-level treatment, attitude measures on violence, linked IPV rates
Data and methods
The authors analyze municipal-level variation in the presence and longevity of women’s police stations and survey measures of attitudes toward gender-based violence. The paper frames the analysis as a contribution to the literature on “public opinion on policy feedback effects” and reports additional tests to probe endogeneity, social desirability bias, and deterrence explanations.
Main findings
According to the abstract, men in Brazilian municipalities with WPS are more likely to reject violence against women and to endorse bystander intervention, with stronger associations where WPS have operated longer. The authors report that these attitude differences do not appear to be driven solely by endogeneity, social-desirability reporting, or deterrence, and note that improved attitudes co-occur with lower intimate partner violence rates.
- Associations are stronger for longer-operating WPS.
- Analyses include robustness checks addressing endogeneity and reporting bias.
