Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T05:03:19.475Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

3 - Domestic Violence and Community Organizing in India

from Part I - Organizing and Activism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 April 2024

Brian D. Christens
Affiliation:
Vanderbilt University, Tennessee
Get access

Summary

Efforts to respond to women’s risk of domestic violence in India have resulted in two kinds of systemic responses. First, the formal or institutional response has focused on systems reforms to better meet the needs of survivors. Second, nongovernmental and grassroots responses to domestic violence have emphasized supporting survivors through survivor-centered and empowerment-based approaches. These include primary prevention through community activism aimed at transforming community norms, survivor empowerment, capacity-building, and community mobilization. This chapter describes an exemplary effort by “Shakti” (pseudonym), a grassroots agency based in India, to engage in community mobilization that facilitates psychological empowerment of survivors and community empowerment processes to respond to domestic violence in rural communities in the Delhi National Capital Region, India. The case example draws on data collected by the authors in 2017. Community organizing efforts like those described in this chapter along with individual-level work with survivors can together play an important role in fueling counter-narratives that facilitate disclosure of violence and support survivors.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abramsky, T., Devries, K., Kiss, L., Nakuti, J., Kyegombe, N., Starmann, E., … Watts, C. (2014). Findings from the SASA! Study: A cluster randomized controlled trial to assess the impact of a community mobilization intervention to prevent violence against women and reduce HIV risk in Kampala, Uganda. BMC Medicine, 12(1), 117.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ahmed-Ghosh, H. (2004). Chattels of society: Domestic violence in India. Violence Against Women, 10(1), 94118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aiyer, S. M., Zimmerman, M. A., Morrel-Samuels, S., & Reischl, T. M. (2015). From broken windows to busy streets: A community empowerment perspective. Health Education and Behavior, 42, 137147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alinsky, S. D. (1971). Rules for radicals: A pragmatic primer for realistic radicals. Vintage.Google Scholar
Allen, N. E. (2006). An examination of the effectiveness of domestic violence coordinating councils. Violence Against Women, 12(1), 4667.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Babu, B. V., & Kar, S. K. (2009). Domestic violence against women in eastern India: A population-based study on prevalence and related issues. BMC Public Health, 9(1), 115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Biswas, C. S. (2017). Spousal violence against working women in India. Journal of Family Violence, 32(1), 5567.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradley, J. E., Bhattacharjee, P., Ramesh, B. M., Girish, M., & Das, A. K. (2011). Evaluation of Stepping Stones as a tool for changing knowledge, attitudes and behaviours associated with gender, relationships and HIV risk in Karnataka, India. BMC Public Health, 11(1), 111.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Browning, C. R. (2002). The span of collective efficacy: Extending social disorganization theory to partner violence. Journal of Marriage and Family, 64, 833850.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cattaneo, L. B., & Chapman, A. R. (2010). The process of empowerment: A model for use in research and practice. American Psychologist, 65(7), 646.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cattaneo, L. B., & Goodman, L. A. (2010). Through the lens of therapeutic jurisprudence. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 25(3), 481502.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cattaneo, L. B., & Goodman, L. A. (2014). What is empowerment anyway? A model for domestic violence practice, research, and evaluation. Psychology of Violence, 5(1), 8494.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chakraborty, P., Osrin, D., & Daruwalla, N. (2020). “We learn how to become good men”: Working with male allies to prevent violence against women and girls in urban informal settlements in Mumbai, India. Men and Masculinities, 23(3–4), 749771.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chatterji, S., Stern, E., Dunkle, K., & Heise, L. (2020). Community activism as a strategy to reduce intimate partner violence (IPV) in rural Rwanda: Results of a community randomised trial. Journal of Global Health, 10(1), 117.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chaudhuri, S., & Morash, M. (2019). Analyzing the importance of funding for gender focused empowerment programs. Advances in Gender Research, 27, 167181.Google Scholar
Christens, B. D. (2010). Public relationship building in grassroots community organizing: Relational intervention for individual and systems change. Journal of Community Psychology, 38(7), 886900.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christens, B. D. (2019). Community power and empowerment. Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christens, B. D., & Speer, P. W. (2015). Community organizing: Practice, research, and policy implications. Social Issues and Policy Review, 9(1), 193222.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christens, B. D., Gupta, J., & Speer, P. W. (2021). Community organizing: Studying the development and exercise of grassroots power. Journal of Community Psychology, 49(8), 30013016.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clark, C. J., Shrestha, B., Ferguson, G., Shrestha, P. N., Calvert, C., Gupta, J., … Oakes, J. M. (2020). Impact of the Change Starts at Home Trial on women’s experience of intimate partner violence in Nepal. SSM – Population Health, 10, 100530.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Daruwalla, N., Jaswal, S., Fernandes, P., Pinto, P., Hate, K., Ambavkar, G., … Osrin, D. (2019a). A theory of change for community interventions to prevent domestic violence against women and girls in Mumbai, India. Wellcome Open Research, 4, 54.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Daruwalla, N., Machchhar, U., Pantvaidya, S., D’Souza, V., Gram, L., Copas, A., & Osrin, D. (2019b). Community interventions to prevent violence against women and girls in informal settlements in Mumbai: The SNEHA-TARA pragmatic cluster randomised controlled trial. Trials, 20(1), 112.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Daruwalla, N., Pinto, P., Ambavkar, G., Kakad, B., Wadia, P., & Pantvaidya, S. (2015). Increased reporting of cases of gender based violence: A retrospective review of a prevention programme in Dharavi, Mumbai. Women Health Open Journal, 1(2), 2230.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dave, A. (2013). Strategic alliance, a way forward for violence against women: A case for the Special Cells, India. Violence Against Women, 19(10), 12031223.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Davies, J., & Lyon, E. (2014). Domestic violence advocacy: Complex lives/difficult choices. Sage.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doyle, K., Levtov, R. G., Barker, G., Bastian, G. G., Bingenheimer, J. B., Kazimbaya, S., Nzabonimpa, A., Pulerwitz, J., Sayinzoga, F., Sharma, V., & Shattuck, D. (2018). Gender-transformative Bandebereho couples’ intervention to promote male engagement in reproductive and maternal health and violence prevention in Rwanda: Findings from a randomized controlled trial. PLoS ONE, 13(4), e0192756.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ellsberg, M., Arango, D. J., Morton, M., Gennari, F., Kiplesund, S., Contreras, M., & Watts, C. (2015). Prevention of violence against women and girls: What does the evidence say? The Lancet, 385(9977), 15551566.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ellsberg, M., Ullman, C., Blackwell, A., Hill, A., & Contreras, M. (2018). What works to prevent adolescent intimate partner and sexual violence? A global review of best practices. In Wolfe, D. A. and Temple, J. (Eds.), Adolescent dating violence: Theory, research, and prevention (pp. 381414). Academic Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
García-Moreno, C., Jansen, H. A., Ellsberg, M., Heise, L., & Watts, C. (2005). WHO multi-country study on women’s health and domestic violence against women. World Health Organization.Google Scholar
Goodman, L., & Epstein, D. (2008). Listening to battered women: A survivor centered approach to advocacy, mental health, and justice. American Psychological Association.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grabe, S., Dutt, A., & Dworkin, S. L. (2014). Women’s community mobilization and well‐being: Local resistance to gendered social inequities in Nicaragua and Tanzania. Journal of Community Psychology, 42(4), 379397.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gram, L., Fitchett, A., Ashraf, A., Daruwalla, N., & Osrin, D. (2019). Promoting women’s and children’s health through community groups in low-income and middle-income countries: A mixed-methods systematic review of mechanisms, enablers and barriers. BMJ Global Health, 4(6), e001972.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gram, L., Kanougiya, S., Daruwalla, N., & Osrin, D. (2020). Measuring the psychological drivers of participation in collective action to address violence against women in Mumbai, India. Wellcome Open Research, 5, 22.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gupta, J., Falb, K. L., Lehmann, H., Kpebo, D., Xuan, Z., Hossain, M., … Annan, J. (2013). Gender norms and economic empowerment intervention to reduce intimate partner violence against women in rural Côte d’Ivoire: A randomized controlled pilot study. BMC International Health and Human Rights, 13(1), 112.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Holden, J., Humphreys, M., Husain, S., Khan, S., & Lindsey, S. (2016, August 1). Evaluation of the Madhya Pradesh safe cities initiative 2013–2016. DFID India. www.sddirect.org.uk/resource/evaluation-madhya-pradesh-safe-cities-initiativeGoogle Scholar
Hotaling, G. T., & Buzawa, E. S. (2003). Forgoing criminal justice assistance: The non-reporting of new incidents of abuse in a court sample of domestic violence victims. Department of Criminal Justice, University of Massachusetts.Google Scholar
International Institute of Population Sciences. (2017). National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4), 2015–16. International Institute of Population Sciences.Google Scholar
International Institute for Population Sciences. (2007). National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3), 2005–06: India: volume I. International Institute of Population Sciences.Google Scholar
Jarrett, R. L., Sullivan, P., & Watkins, N. (2005). Developing youth social capital in extracurricular programs. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 33, 4155.Google Scholar
Jejeebhoy, S. J., & Santhya, K. G. (2018). Preventing violence against women and girls in Bihar: Challenges for implementation and evaluation. Reproductive Health Matters, 26(52), 92108.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jeyaseelan, V., Kumar, S., Jeyaseelan, L., Shankar, V., Yadav, B. K., & Bangdiwala, S. I. (2015). Dowry demand and harassment: Prevalence and risk factors in India. Journal of Biosocial Science, 47(6), 727745.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jeyaseelan, L., Kumar, S., Neelakantan, N., Peedicayil, A., Pillai, R., & Duvvury, N. (2007). Physical spousal violence against women in India: some risk factors. Journal of Biosocial Science, 39(5), 657670.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kalokhe, A. S., Iyer, S. R., Kolhe, A. R., Dhayarkar, S., Paranjape, A., Del Rio, C., … Sahay, S. (2018). Correlates of domestic violence experience among recently-married women residing in slums in Pune, India. PLoS ONE, 13(4), e0195152.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kalokhe, A. S., Potdar, R. R., Stephenson, R., Dunkle, K. L., Paranjape, A., Del Rio, C., & Sahay, S. (2015). How well does the World Health Organization definition of domestic violence work for India? PLoS ONE, 10(3), e0120909.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kasturiranjan, A. (2008). Empowerment and programs designed to address domestic violence. Violence Against Women, 14(12), 14651475.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaur, R., & Garg, S. (2010). Domestic violence against women: A qualitative study in a rural community. Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health, 22(2), 242251.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krishnan, S. (2005). Do structural inequalities contribute to marital violence? Ethnographic evidence from rural South India. Violence Against Women, 11, 759775.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Krishnan, S., Subbiah, K., Khanum, S., Chandra, P. S., & Padian, N. S. (2012). An intergenerational women’s empowerment intervention to mitigate domestic violence: Results of a pilot study in Bengaluru, India. Violence Against Women, 18(3), 346370.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maton, K. I. (2008). Empowering community settings: Agents of individual development, community betterment, and positive social change. American Journal of Community Psychology, 41(1–2), 421.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maton, K. I., Seidman, E., & Aber, M. S. (2011). Empowering settings and voices for social change: an introduction. In Aber, M. S., Maton, K. I., & Seidman, E. (Eds.), Empowering settings and voices for social change (pp. 111). Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Menon, S. V., & Allen, N. E. (2018). The formal systems response to violence against women in India: A cultural lens. American Journal of Community Psychology, 62(1–2), 5161.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Menon, S. V., & Allen, N. E. (2020). Community organizing and transformative change in the response to domestic violence in India. American Journal of Community Psychology, 66(1–2), 106118.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Menon, S. V., & Allen, N. E. (2021a). Community organizing and counter narratives in the response to domestic violence in India. American Journal of Community Psychology, 67(1–2), 184194.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Menon, S. V., & Allen, N. E. (2021b). Empowering practices with domestic violence survivors in India. Violence Against Women, 28(3–4), 10081032.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
More, N. S., Das, S., Bapat, U., Alcock, G., Manjrekar, S., Kamble, V., … Osrin, D. (2017). Community resource centres to improve the health of women and children in informal settlements in Mumbai: A cluster-randomised, controlled trial. The Lancet Global Health, 5(3), e335e349.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Muthal-Rathore, A., Tripathi, R., & Arora, R. (2002). Domestic violence against pregnant women interviewed at a hospital in New Delhi. International Journal of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, 76, 8385.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nair, N., Daruwalla, N., Osrin, D., Rath, S., Gagrai, S., Sahu, R., … Prost, A. (2020). Community mobilisation to prevent violence against women and girls in eastern India through participatory learning and action with women’s groups facilitated by accredited social health activists: A before-and-after pilot study. BMC International Health and Human Rights, 20(1), 112.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ohmer, M. L. (2007). Citizen participation in neighborhood organizations and its relationship to volunteers’ self- and collective efficacy and sense of community. Social Work Research, 31, 109120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perkins, D. D., Hughey, J., & Speer, P. W. (2002). Community psychology perspectives on social capital theory and community development practice. Community Development, 33(1), 3352.Google Scholar
Pronyk, P. M., Hargreaves, J. R., Kim, J. C., Morison, L. A., Phetla, G., Watts, C., … Porter, J. D. (2006). Effect of a structural intervention for the prevention of intimate-partner violence and HIV in rural South Africa: A cluster randomised trial. The Lancet, 368(9551), 19731983.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Putnam, R. (1995). Bowling alone: America’s declining social capital. In Crothers, L. & Lockhard, C. (Eds.), Culture and politics: A reader (pp. 223234). Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Raj, A., Silverman, J. G., Klugman, J., Saggurti, N., Donta, B., & Shakya, H. B. (2018). Longitudinal analysis of the impact of economic empowerment on risk for intimate partner violence among married women in rural Maharashtra, India. Social Science & Medicine, 196, 197203.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rappaport, J. (1987). Terms of empowerment/exemplars of prevention: Toward a theory for community psychology. American Journal of Community Psychology, 15(2), 121148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sampson, R. J., Raudenbush, S. W., & Earls, F. (1997). Neighborhoods and violent crime: A multilevel study of collective efficacy. Science, 277, 918924.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Semahegn, A., Torpey, K., Manu, A., Assefa, N., Tesfaye, G., & Ankomah, A. (2019). Are interventions focused on gender-norms effective in preventing domestic violence against women in low and lower-middle income countries? A systematic review and meta-analysis. Reproductive Health, 16(1), 131.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Speer, P. W., & Hughey, J. (1995). Community organizing: An ecological route to empowerment and power. American Journal of Community Psychology, 23(5), 729748.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Speer, P. W., Christens, B. D., & Peterson, N. A. (2021). Participation in community organizing: Cross‐sectional and longitudinal analyses of impacts on sociopolitical development. Journal of Community Psychology, 49(8), 31943214.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Speer, P. W., Peterson, N. A., Zippay, A., & Christens, B. D. (2010). Participation in congregation- based organizing: Mixed-method study of civic engagement. In Roberts-DeGennaro, M. & Fogel, S. J. (Eds.), Using evidence to inform practice for community and organizational change (pp. 200217). Lyceum.Google Scholar
Stark, E. (2007). Coercive control: How men entrap women in personal life (1st ed.). Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sullivan, C. M., & Bybee, D. (1999). Reducing violence using community-based advocacy for women with abusive partners. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 67, 4353.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Suneetha, A., & Nagaraj, V. (2006). A difficult match: Women’s actions and legal institutions in the face of domestic violence. Economic and Political Weekly, 41(41), 43554362.Google Scholar
Trickett, E. (2011). Settings and empowerment. In Aber, M. S., Maton, K. I., & Seidman, E. (Eds.), Empowering settings and voices for social change (pp. 94106). Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
United Nations‐Habitat. (2004). The challenge of slums: Global report on human settlements 2003. Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal, 15(3), 337338.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Visaria, L. (2000). Violence against women: A field study. Economic and Political Weekly, 35(20), 17421751.Google Scholar
Wagman, J. A., Gray, R. H., Campbell, J. C., Thoma, M., Ndyanabo, A., Ssekasanvu, J., … Brahmbhatt, H. (2015). Effectiveness of an integrated intimate partner violence and HIV prevention intervention in Rakai, Uganda: Analysis of an intervention in an existing cluster randomised cohort. The Lancet Global Health, 3(1), e23e33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watts, R. J., Diemer, M. A., & Voight, A. M. (2011). Critical consciousness: Current status and future directions. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 134, 4357.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Welzel, C., Inglehart, R., & Deutsch, F. (2005). Social capital, voluntary associations and collective action: Which aspects of social capital have the greatest “civic” payoff? Journal of Civil Society, 1(2), 121146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
World Health Organization. (2013). Global and regional estimates of violence against women: Prevalence and health effects of intimate partner violence and non-partner sexual violence. World Health Organization.Google Scholar
Yoshikawa, K., Agrawal, N. R., Poudel, K. C., & Jimba, M. (2012). A lifetime experience of violence and adverse reproductive outcomes: Findings from population surveys in India. Bioscience Trends, 6(3), 115121.Google ScholarPubMed
Zimmerman, M. A. (1995). Psychological empowerment: Issues and illustrations. American Journal of Community Psychology, 23, 581600.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zimmerman, M. A. (2000). Empowerment theory: Psychological, organizational, and community levels of analysis. In Rappaport, J. & Seidman, E. (Eds.), Handbook of community psychology (pp. 430463). Plenum Press.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×