Honour and prestige: The influence of social norms on child marriage and intimate partner violence in Karnataka, India - Ben Cislaghi and Parinita Bhattacharjee
Themes:
What role do social norms play in intimate partner violence (IPV) and child marriage? This Learning Lab draws on the preliminary findings of two STRIVE evaluation studies: Samata and Samvedana+ implemented by the Karnataka Health Promotion Trust (KHPT). These projects aim to reduce rates of girl school drop-out and child marriage and to decrease female sex workers (FSW) experience of IPV.
The research methods included in-depth conversations with project staff and community members about the reasons they practice IPV and child marriage. In the course of focus groups, the study probed for social norms and observed participants' responses. Qualitative evidence revealed that honour and prestige were recurring themes that participants recognised as obstacles to sustainable positive outcomes. This webinar reports these responses and their implications for programmes.
Ben Cislaghi is Assistant Professor in Social Norms at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (Gender, Violence and Health Centre), where he coordinates a learning initiative on social norms and gender-based violence. He collaborates with international organisations and global/local NGOs in designing and evaluating programmes to change social norms and ultimately reduce violence against women and children. He has published on community-led solutions to locally identified social problems and on facilitating social norms change in the ground.
Parinita Bhattacharjee is the Senior Technical Advisor at the University of Manitoba and Karnataka Health Promotion Trust. She co-leads two randomised control trials on reducing intimate partner violence and child marriage in Karnataka, India under the STRIVE consortium. Her expertise lies in designing and implementing interventions and using evidence to influence policy. Currently, she provides technical support to the government of Kenya to scale up interventions with key populations and is based in Nairobi, Kenya.
Resources
Norms measurement meeting learning report
Download a pdf of the presentation here.
