Honour and Prestige: The Influence of Social Norms on Violence against Women and Girls in Karnataka, South India

"...interventions that integrate a norms approach can contribute to strengthening the rights of women and girls and reducing the violent practices that affect the health and human rights of hundreds of millions globally."

Social norms play an important role in driving violence against women and girls (VAWG) and in sustaining practices such as child marriage (CM) and intimate partner violence (IPV). This is one of the key findings of a qualitative paper drawing on findings from Samata and Samvedana Plus, two STRIVE evaluation studies of norms interventions, implemented by the Karnataka Health Promotion Trust (KHPT). These programmes, both set in Karnataka, South India, aim to reduce rates of girl school drop-out and CM (Samata) and to decrease female sex workers (FSWs)' experience of IPV (Samvedana Plus).

In brief (see Related Summaries, below, for details):

• Samata has multiple components, working with girls, boys, families, village members, and school staff. Activities for girls and boys include: games, participatory trainings and discussions (some gender-segregated and some mixed); community outreach to ensure girls’ participation at school; and tuition classes for girls. Family members and other people in the villages receive information on social entitlements, participate in parents' meetings, and join street theatre events and discussion forums. School systems are strengthened through: teacher training on gender issues; creation of a safety committee to guarantee girls' protection; and the drafting and implementation of a gender-sensitive school plan to improve school facilities.
• Implemented by KHPT in partnership with a local community-based organisation led by FSWs (Chaitanya Tadegattwa AIDS Mahila Sangha), Samvedana Plus includes activities with FSWs, their intimate partners (IPs), and other members of the FSWs' villages. Activities with FSWs include: training on IPV; community outreach; participatory group meetings (12 sessions over 3 months); and the creation of a Crisis Management Committee. IPs also participate in specific training and group discussions. Other community members are reached through street plays and forums.

Participants (n=76) in 8 focus group discussions (FGDs) held in August 2016 were both project staff members and project participants. Asked to reflect on their experiences in the two programmes, informants mentioned various positive outcomes. For Samata informants, these included: more positive parental attitudes toward delaying their girls' marriage, less girls' drop-out from school, parents trusting their girls more, less boys harassing girls, more girl-friendly school facilities, and more girls re-taking the 10th grade exams after failing. Samvedana Plus informants recalled: less violence perpetrated by IPs; increased FSW capacity to seek help in case of violence crisis; and more support received by FSW from their families and other FSWs in case of IPV.

Informants were also asked to discuss the challenges they witnessed during the projects' implementation and the obstacles to the sustainability of the positive changes they had seen. They answered by frequently referring to participants' fear of what other people in their villages would say if 1) girls received sexual attention from boys as they were going to school (either as sexual harassment or genuine romantic interest) (Samata) or 2) FSWs reported violence and/or their relationship with the IP ended (Samvedana Plus). In particular, Samata informants said that the honour of their families would be threatened if their girls received boys' sexual and/or romantic attentions; they said that parents were much less concerned with economic consequences of sending girls to school, and that their decision was much more influenced by their fear of what others would say if their daughter received attention from boys on her way to or at school. Samvedana Plus informants said that an IP's prestige would be compromised if others knew that he wouldn't beat his wife or lover to discipline her. Generally, FGD participants (themselves IPs) agreed that their friends would think they were not real men if they told them they did not beat their lovers when "necessary". They also said that FSWs would be rebuked by other FSWs and friends if they left their IPs because of IPV. They would ridicule the FSW, saying that she wasn't capable of managing her relationship and that all women cope with similar acts.

Put another way, one social norm in particular emerged from the accounts of Samata participants: the belief that respectable unmarried girls do not receive boys' attention (a descriptive norm, or belief of what is typical) and that people disapprove of girls who receive such attention (an injunctive norm, or belief of what is appropriate). Strong sanctions are anticipated for girls and their families: loss of the reputation of purity for the girl and loss of honour for their families. Norms related to a girl's purity seem to have a powerful influence on parents' decision to keep their girls from school. Two norms emerged from Samvedana Plus informants' narrative. The first included the belief that "real men" hit their partners or wives (typical) and that other men disapprove of those who do not hit their wives or lovers (appropriate). When IPs were asked how many men in India they thought hit their partners, they said they believed 90% did. "IPV seems to be an important case to deepen our understanding of how descriptive and injunctive norms reinforce each other, and of how normative beliefs of undetectable practices [like IPV] are created and can be changed." The second norm includes the belief that women generally tolerate violence from their IP (typical) and that people disapprove of women who do not accept violence and are left by the IPs (appropriate).

Although it seems unrealistic to think that the presence of social norms alone explains why girls' parents, FSWs, and their IPs engage in the actions that KHPT is trying to influence, "social norms can emerge as important obstacles to the success of a GBV [gender-based violence] prevention programme."

As a result of these observations, KHPT practitioners have decided to increase the publicity around the positive changes they have witnessed in project participants. In the case of Samata, for instance, boys were changing and committing to stop harassing girls during the discussions with Samata's outreach workers, but others in their community didn’t know that. If parents' motivation to keep their girls at home is the fear that boys would harass them, then they should be informed publicly of boys' coordinated commitment to stop. Similarly, other boys in the villages need to know that many boys do not tease girls and disapprove of those who do. Public events or news coverage of the positive changes happening in the villages would also inform parents that other parents are being exposed to the same information that they are. If parents are afraid of what other parents might say if they send their girls to school, exposing them to the risk of being approached by boys, knowing that other parents too are aware that schools are safer might reduce the fear of being sanctioned for sending girls to school.

In the case of Samvedana Plus, to offer another example of potential revisions to KHPT implementation, some FSWs were changing their attitude towards speaking out about instances of violence, but they didn't share these new attitudes with non-participating FSWs. It might be important to make sure that FSW who are not participating in the programme witness this change and have the opportunity to be exposed to FSWs' new collective attitudes towards seeking help when they experience violence. That way, participating FSWs will know that they don't risk shame for leaving their IPs should they decide that the relationship is abusive and unacceptable. Also, KHPT could invite IPs who have changed their behaviour to make a public commitment of abandoning violence. This would contribute to shattering people's strong normative belief that "all men in India beat their wives and lovers" and would offer new models for other men who might not engage in IPV or might be contemplating stopping it.