Intervention (Hidden)
Our video will incorporate four carefully selected news snippets: three IPV incidents unrelated to dowry and 1 IPV incident related to dowry, thus highlighting the broader context of IPV. This balanced representation will help shed light on the multifaceted nature of IPV. Additionally, we will select news snippets that were covered in the media and newspapers but exclude those that have received excessive attention to prevent preconceived biases. The video will be organized by intensifying the severity of the incidents, progressively covering more severe examples of both physical and psychological partner violence. We work in close collaboration with gender experts from Kerala, India that helped us identifying these four relevant news stories and ensure these are relevant and appropriate for the context. After the video participants are asked to join an interactive group discussion about the video. The discussion will be led by a gender expert and comprises three phases for a total duration of about 2 hrs.
The first step of the interactive session will involve a brainstorming session led by a gender expert. The expert will start by asking participants what they think of a particular video, specifically which part caught their attention the most. The discussion will then move on to how intimate partner violence (IPV) is perceived in the community, its prevalence, and the types of IPV that are most common. Towards the end of this phase, the expert will summarize the session, highlighting that IPV exists in the society.
In the second step of the interactive session, the focus will be on identifying the causes of IPV. This part of the session will begin with a card game. Each participant will pick a card from a deck containing cards numbered from 2 to 10. Without looking at the card’s value, participants will pin it to the back of their shirt collar so that they cannot see it, but others can. Participants are instructed to give cold or indifferent reactions to those with lower-value cards, while giving encouraging and positive reactions to those with higher-value cards. After organizing themselves in a line based on the value of their cards, participants will discuss how they felt about their treatment. They will be asked if they have witnessed similar treatments in their lives or community. This exercise aims to help participants understand how women often do not receive the same status and respect as men and how systematic bias affects women. The discussion will then steer towards rigid gender roles and stereotypes, emphasizing that one of the main reasons women experience partner violence is because society often does not value or respect them as much as it should. The conversation will explore how gender stereotyping from an early age forms people's beliefs. To further highlight the severity of the issue, we will also show participants a series of images that clearly illustrate differences in gender roles.
The third phase of the interactive session will focus on solutions. It will start with assessing individuals' readiness to change through a few questions, weighing the pros and cons of changing gender inequality, stereotyping, and violence against women. Next, participants will take part in a brief training exercise focused on managing their emotions, which will involve a reverse counting task. Finally, the gender expert, with the facilitator's help, will lead a discussion on exploring community solutions to prevent intimate partner violence by changing community attitudes and behaviors. Participants will work in groups to reflect on how to create change, discussing ideas to improve the situation. An incentive will be given to the group with the best project. Towards the end of the session, the gender expert will discuss the feasibility of the ideas suggested by each group, marking the conclusion of the discussion session.
Next to the video and interactive group discussion treatment Group 2 will be invited to join a social media platform (e.g., WhatsApp) created by the researchers, where gender-positive messages will be posted for one month. The social media content will primarily focus on topics such as gender norms, social norms, and intra-household dynamics. To achieve this, we will use a combination of existing videos, images and articles, ensuring that each piece of content is engaging and concise. Videos will have a maximum duration of 3 minutes, while articles will be brief but may take slightly longer to read. This approach will help convey the key messages effectively while maintaining the audience's attention.