Genocide, women’s empowerment, and intergenerational transmission of violent attitudes

In this paper, we explore how mass violence shapes attitudes on violence against children, and we examine how these attitudes are transmitted across generations in the context of the Rwandan genocide. We exploit spatial variation in genocide intensity from the Gacaca records and temporal variation in women’s timing of socialization from three rounds of the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) in a difference-in-differences framework and find that younger women from regions more affected by genocide hold less violent attitudes compared to their peers from less-affected regions. Using an instrumental variable approach to estimate the transmission effect, we also show that descendants of these younger women from regions more affected by genocide are similarly less likely to develop violent attitudes. We provide evidence that genocide-induced women’s empowerment is the underlying mechanism. As such, our findings underscore previous evidence on the conflict–prosociality link by showing that mass violence can catalyze progressive norm change across generations, but also call for a more detailed investigation of the underlying adaptation mechanisms of the second generation. • Exposure to the 1994 Rwandan genocide during adolescence shapes women’s attitudes and norms. • Young women from regions more affected by genocide are less likely to justify violence against children (VAC). • Descendants of these younger women from regions more affected by genocide are similarly less likely to develop violent attitudes. • The effect is driven by genocide-induced women’s empowerment in the post-genocide period. • Under certain conditions, mass violence can catalyze progressive norm change across generations, consistent with the conflict–prosociality link.