HIGHLIGHTS

• Across Latin America and the Caribbean, sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) against women, girls, and those who have other gender identities is common.
• We worked with Fos Feminista and three of its partner organizations to identify harmful narratives influencing gender-based violence and develop values-based messages to combat them.

The Challenge

One-quarter of women ages 15-49 in Latin America and the Caribbean have experienced physical or sexual violence in their lifetime. As part of Fòs Feminista’s Feminist Futures Free from Violence project, Fòs Feminista and its partners aim to enhance gender equality and empowerment of women and girls and those who have other gender identities in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Our Approach

We partnered with Fòs Feminista to develop value-based messages to address and counteract harmful arguments that minimize, victim-blame, or normalize sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV).

First, we reviewed literature and partner materials to identify existing narratives related to the perpetuation and normalization of gender-based violence. After identifying the harmful narratives, we applied a behavioral lens to understand the drivers of the harmful narratives and conceptualize ways to address them. Finally, we developed messages to combat those narratives and iterated on these messages together with Fos Feminista’s partner organizations.

Results

We identified four prominent narratives. 

1. Men are violent by nature. Women must not trigger them.
2. Jealousy equates to love. 
3. A man’s role is to protect women and controlling women is a means of protection, not violence.
4. Being “macho” is outdated. 

In addition to these narratives, we shared potential messages and narrative strategies. These results were used by Fos Feminista’s partner organizations in Mexico, Paraguay, and Ecuador to employ in their ongoing campaigns and programming.

Takeaway

Harmful narratives foment gender-based violence. Behavioral science can be used to develop strategies to combat these narratives. Interested in our work applying behavioral science to global health? Email health@ideas42.org or reach out to us on LinkedIn to join the conversation.