Domestic violence is recognised as a serious violation of women’s basic rights. Conventional economic models of domestic violence suggest that higher participation by women in the labour force leads to a decrease in domestic violence. In this paper, we study the relationship between women employment and domestic violence in India. We used a nationally representative database, National Family Health Survey Data III (2005–06), for our analysis. We found that employed women are more exposed to intimate partner violence. We argue that the higher emotional cost of men through the violation of traditional gender norm leads to increased domestic violence.