The backlash theory suggests that female labor force participation results in increased femicides partly because of competition and violence from jealous husbands and boyfriends. The perceived reduction in gender inequality can generate violence against women by frustrating males into intensifying their use of brute force to reassert their diminishing patriarchal power and authority. Using data from the Supplementary Homicide Reports in conjunction with 1990 U.S. census data in a cross-sectional analysis, results in part support the backlash hypothesis. Specifically, they suggest that a growth in the female labor force participation rate decreases the poverty rate. Reductions in the poverty rate, in turn, augment the incidence of intimate lethal violence against women. Tables, notes, references