Countering Violence Against Women by Encouraging Disclosure: A Mass Media Experiment in Rural Uganda

Violence against women (VAW) is widespread in East Africa, with almost half of married women experiencing physical abuse. Those seeking to address this issue confront two challenges: some forms of domestic violence are widely condoned and it is the norm for witnesses to not report incidents. Buildin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Comparative political studies 2020-12, Vol.53 (14), p.2283-2320
Main Authors: Green, Donald P., Wilke, Anna M., Cooper, Jasper
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abused women
Behavior change
Behavior modification
Campaigns
Disclosure
Domestic violence
Entertainment
Gender-based violence
Intervention
Mass media
Media violence
Norms
Rural areas
Villages
Violence against women
Witnesses
Wives
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Summary:Violence against women (VAW) is widespread in East Africa, with almost half of married women experiencing physical abuse. Those seeking to address this issue confront two challenges: some forms of domestic violence are widely condoned and it is the norm for witnesses to not report incidents. Building on a growing literature showing that education-entertainment can change norms and behaviors, we present experimental evidence from a media campaign attended by more than 10,000 Ugandans in 112 rural villages. In randomly assigned villages, video dramatizations discouraged VAW and encouraged reporting. Results from interviews conducted several months after the intervention show no change in attitudes condoning VAW yet a substantial increase in willingness to report to authorities, especially among women, and a decline in the share of women who experienced violence. The theoretical implication is that interventions that affect disclosure norms may reduce socially harmful behavior even if they do not reduce its acceptability.
ISSN:0010-4140
1552-3829
DOI:10.1177/0010414020912275