Bitter Result of Economic Problems, Football, and Curfew Policy: Violence against Women Under Economic and Psychological Stress

Recently Sakarya Province of Turkey, with its unique mixed socio-cultural structure has often become home to reported violence cases. The aim of this paper is to identify the effects of economic hardship, football games and COVID-19 curfews on violence against women in Sakarya, between 2021 and 2022. This period covers both the COVID-19 curfews and curfew-free times. Using the novel data obtained from a government agency that aims to combat violence against women, this paper particularly tests the underlying factors behind various types of violence, i.e. sexual, economic, physical, psychological and stalking using a multinomial logit model. Findings suggest that the costs of living crisis during the recent periods contributes to a higher risk of violence against women, especially in populated regions where higher crime and migration rates were observed. Local football events and curfews seem to have increased the incidence of violence. The results highlight larger reported violence cases against women in 2022, that can be attributed to easier access to public authorities and increased media campaigns of governmental agencies. We add to the literature first by examining a novel data from a unique province of Turkey that include official reported violence cases. Second we underline the roles of COVID-19 curfews and local football events which are not widely addressed in literature in addition to a popular reason, i.e. economic hardships. Third, we distinguish violence types of physical, economic, sexual, and psychological violence in addition to stalking, and observe determinants for each type of violence.