Can human-based approaches address all aspects of Gender-Based Violence?

In the latest edition of our masters student blog series, MPH International Development student Amy Rhodes discusses the advantages and limitations of using community-focused development theories to tackle Gender-Based Violence.

Masters student blog series: Ideas and practice in International Development 9: Amy Rhodes

By Amy Rhodes. Amy is a student on our MPH International Development programme. You can follow her on LinkedIn or Twitter.


One in three women will experience some form of gender-based violence (GBV) during their life, a statistic that has led The World Bank to call GBV ‘a global pandemic’. GBV encapsulates any violent acts, whether it be physical, psychological or sexual, carried out against a person due to the social differences between men and women. Although men can be victims, most cases involve men assaulting women.

Unequal gender relations are deeply interwoven into many cultures and ‘social norms’ around the world and can manifest in the form of GBV. This is most obvious in African countries with the example of Female Genital Mutilation, where although it is banned in nearly all 29 countries most still continue to practice it as a part of their culture.

Development approaches and the theories behind them can be applied through development schemes to address issues such as gender-based violence. The theory provides a framework on which to model an intervention and evaluate its effectiveness (Novotný et al., 2021). Further, the practical implementation of multiple theories can produce numerous innovative ways to address development issues each favouring a particular environment or population (Yorks, 2005).

Human-centered approaches work with the community as a way to target GBV. For example, gender-transformative approach links GBV with the long-held belief that men are superior to women. This approach works with both men and women, to address these ‘social norms’; it educates women about their rights and empowers them to find their voice and addresses negative gender messages such as ‘men don’t cry’, that have an adverse effect on boys and men (Casey et al., 2018). This approach works on the individual level but, to achieve long-term change theories need to be applied into the community and broader state or governmental polices as well. 

Community development puts the power into the hands of the community when tackling GBV. It empowers people by teaching them skills which they can then apply to tackle local problems ensuring that the solution is tailor made for the local community. However, due to the stigmatisation of GBV and the usual lack of governmental support given to victims, it could be difficult to get participation. Furthermore, the application of the approach on a large scale may be difficult given the variety of people who may then be involved.

Using an area-based approach, although mainly used in crisis response, could tackle this problem. This looks at the issue of GBV within certain borders, assesses what that area already has in terms of support and generates solutions that will specifically help the people within that area. In terms of GBV this may be important when it comes to migrant populations who may not be supported by the state but have an increased risk of GBV for both themselves and the local community they live alongside (González, 2016). This case study also demonstrates the complexities of this approach as an area can encompass many types of people in terms of culture, religion and heritage. 

All the approaches work with the local communities putting them at the centre. This is effective when tackling local stigma and social norms, but it could be argued that when it comes to tackling systemic inequality they won’t be as effective. To tackle national scale inequality, we may need to look more into the laws supporting GBV or the implementation of the laws discouraging it.

References

Casey, E. et al. (2018) ‘Gender Transformative Approaches to Engaging Men in Gender-Based Violence Prevention: A Review and Conceptual Model’, Trauma, Violence, and Abuse, 19(2), pp. 231–246. doi: 10.1177/1524838016650191.

González, O. M. (2016) ‘Refugees and “host communities” facing gender-based violence: developing an area-based approach to gender-based violence around Mbera Camp, Mauritania’, Gender and Development, 24(3), pp. 375–390. doi: 10.1080/13552074.2016.1233669.

Novotný, J. et al. (2021) ‘Why do theories matter? The Czech scholarships programme for students from developing countries examined through different theoretical lenses’, International Journal of Educational Development, 80(November 2020). doi: 10.1016/j.ijedudev.2020.102307.

Yorks, L. (2005) ‘Nothing So Practical as a Good Theory’, Human Resource Development Review, 4(2), pp. 111–113. doi: 10.1177/1534484305276176.

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