Sexual violence, as a human rights and public policy issue, has emerged as a critical area of scholarly inquiry in local and global contexts. Studies by the World Health Organization, World Bank, and others point to the macroeconomic impact of gender-based violence on survivors’ health and well-being as well as on public budgets, through healthcare expenditures, legal services, and diminished educational outcomes. Does financial inclusion and equitable access to care change women’s experiences of sexual violence in private and public? How do we assess policies which empower women by eliminating lending bias, but which purportedly frame women as vulnerable rather than as risk-taking, ensuring sexual/financial safety through stereotypically female workspaces? Drawing from a mixed-methods study of rape victims’ public suicides in postcolonial India, this interdisciplinary blue bag lunch talk will explore the insights it can offer to our gendered understandings of violence, vulnerability and risk, and discuss innovative policy measures.