You can’t burn the house down because of one bedbug: a qualitative study of changing gender norms in the prevention of violence against women and girls in an urban informal settlement in India.
Outcomes: Gender‑Based Violence
View SourceKey Social Norms Take-aways The study highlights that norm change is most promising where descriptive norms (what people actually do) are starting to shift ahead of injunctive norms (what people believe should be done). Programs should focus on creating spaces where women and men can connect with broader, more progressive reference groups, helping reinforce new, non-violent social expectations. Simply targeting attitudes or delivering information is insufficient — real change requires reshaping the social networks and collective beliefs that maintain gender inequality and violence.
Objectives This study explored how gender norms shape the prevention of violence against women and girls (VAWG) in an urban informal settlement in Mumbai, India, focusing on the differences between what people believe others do (descriptive norms) and what they believe others approve of (injunctive norms), to identify opportunities for change.
Methods Researchers conducted a qualitative study that included five focus group discussions and 13 individual interviews with 71 women and men from diverse backgrounds. They used biographical vignettes to explore attitudes and social expectations around marriage, childbearing, education, income control, domestic responsibilities, mobility, dress, and intimate partner violence. Thematic framework analysis was applied to compare descriptive and injunctive norms and explore the influence of reference groups.
Intervention Details The study was conducted within the context of the SNEHA (Society for Nutrition, Education and Health Action) community mobilisation program, which aims to prevent VAWG through community engagement, survivor support, and strengthening responses from police and health services.
Results Findings showed that descriptive and injunctive norms were strongly aligned around the importance of marriage, motherhood, female obedience, and male authority, but there were growing mismatches in areas like women’s education, control of earnings, and premarital relationships. While physical violence was widely disapproved of in principle, certain forms (such as slapping or shouting) were still considered acceptable under specific circumstances, especially when women were seen as neglecting traditional roles. Women’s reference groups were often limited to close family, reinforcing restrictive norms, while men had broader social networks.
Conclusions To effectively prevent VAWG, interventions must leverage areas where social norms are already shifting by amplifying evidence of changing descriptive norms and expanding women’s reference groups to include others who challenge harmful practices.
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