In almost all nations of the world, women are killed by others at a lower rate than men. One hypothesis suggests that this difference reflects the greater involvement of men in homicide, thus the female/male homicide ratio should be negatively related to the total homicide rate. A second theory suggests that male and female homicide rates may be more similar in nations where there is greater female equality. The study found that the higher a nation's overall homicide rates, the lower its female/male homicide rate ratio. Study results also indicated that, in the more egalitarian nations, women were murdered relatively less often. This was in opposition to the hypothesis which guided the study, which predicted that social equality might result in equality in the risk of being murdered. The result was, however, contingent upon the economic level of the nation being controlled for in the statistical analysis. References