Virtual Mobility: Mitigating the Adverse Effect of Violence Against Women on the Development of Employment Capabilities

Abstract

Violence against women (VAW) is an endemic phenomenon that adversely affects the entire female population, even those who might not have directly experienced violence. This paper examines VAW's adverse effects on all women's employment capabilities by imposing restrictions on mobility in public spaces, a fundamental resource required for capability development. Drawing upon the new mobilities paradigm, this study also posits that information and computer technologies (ICTs) can enable virtual mobility, which could reduce women's reliance on mobility in public spaces to develop employment capabilities. Country-level data from the WomanStats Project, the World Bank and the International Labor Organization are used to test the propositions. Implications for viewing virtual mobility as a resource to develop women's employment capabilities in the presence of VAW are discussed. © 2025 The Author(s). Information Systems Journal published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Keywords

Author Keywords

Capabilities Mobility employment violence against women virtual mobility

Index Keywords

Capability mobility Virtual environments Adverse effect Capability development Computer technology Female population Public space Violence against woman Virtual mobility Women employments

Author Affiliations

Youngstown State University, Youngstown, OH, United States

Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH, United States

Funding & Acknowledgements

U.S. Department of State, USDOS

The first author acknowledges the Fulbright-Nehru program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, for providing partial financial support for this research. The support allowed the author to study the effects of Violence Against Women on women\u2019s everyday lives in India, allowing the author to refine the arguments presented in the paper. The contents of this paper are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Fulbright Program or the Government of the United States. The second author gratefully acknowledges the Lariccia Family, benefactors of the Lariccia Family Endowed Professorship.

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Virtual Mobility: Mitigating the Adverse Effect of Violence Against Women on the Development of Employment Capabilities

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