Download V4C`s Approach to Changing Discriminatory Social Norms

V4C’s Approach to Changing
Discriminatory Social Norms
Introduction
This document outlines V4C’s approach to shifting harmful social norms. It outlines why
social norms need to change in order to achieve DFID’s desired results for women and girls;
it offers a definition of social norms; and it describes how the V4C programme will change
social norms which marginalise and discriminate against women and girls.
Why are social norms important?
The social norms approach adopted by V4C has its origins in the DFID Strategic Vision for
Girls and Women. The Vision “aims to unlock the potential of women girls, to stop poverty
before it starts. It empowers girls and women, enabling them to have voice, choice and
control.”
The four pillars of the gender strategy are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Completion of primary and secondary education;
Economic empowerment;
Universal sexual and reproductive health and rights;
Ability to live free from violence.
These are viewed as “game changing” outcomes which are critical to empowering women
and girls. To achieve this, an “enabling environment” is also required, defined as one in
which:






Discrimination against women and girls is challenged;
Effective legal frameworks exist;
Women and girls are valued in society;
Women and girls can make informed choices and control decisions affecting their
lives;
Women’s participation in politics is enabled;
There is sustained political commitment to services and opportunities for women and
girls.
Discriminatory social norms are a crucial factor in the enabling environment. Such norms
include views about women’s roles in the family, community, and wider society, and the
acceptability of violence against women. Thus, in order to create a better enabling
environment for women and girls – necessary to achieving DFID’s wider goals – social
norms need to change. V4C has a strong focus on changing social norms, whilst also
addressing legal norms, political representation and the allocation of resources to women
and girls.
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What are social norms?
Social norms are different from individual attitudes, beliefs or opinions in that they depend
upon an individual’s expectations of other people. Following UNICEF, the following is a good
definition of a social norm:


A social norm is a pattern of behaviour that individuals prefer to conform to on
condition that they believe that:
o most people in their relevant network conform to it (empirical expectations),
and that
o most people in their relevant network believe they ought to conform to it
(normative expectations).
Changing a social norm entails changing current social expectations, creating new
social expectations, or both.
Social norms are difficult to change on an individual basis, because they are interdependent. Even if specific individuals change their attitudes, they may not change their
behaviour because they feel constrained by the expectations of others. They may also fear
sanctions applied to those who do not conform to the norm, such as loss of respect in the
community or exclusion from significant events or institutions.
In order to shift social norms a society-wider approach is required. This needs to target those
who are affected by harmful norms – adolescent women and girls in the case of V4C – and
also those who maintain and support these norms. These include men and boys, religious
and traditional leaders, and older women.
Thus, a social norms approach needs to be implemented at a community, rather than
individual, level; and this leads to the question of how we define “community.” V4C is not a
traditional community development project, working with geographically bounded groups
such as villages or local government areas. Our definition of community is more fluid and
extends to social group who share a common institutional context, workplace, religious
identity, or political interest.
V4C’s Targeted Social Norms
V4C has selected three social norm areas for change, based on research and analysis,
consultations with experts, and internal discussions among the V4C team and DFID. The
issues targeted for change by V4C are as follows:
1. Violence against women;
2. Women in leadership;
3. Women’s role in decision-making.
These issues were chosen on the basis of their relevance to our core target audience
(women and girls aged 16-25), the likelihood of achieving results within the programme
lifetime, and the importance of these issues to creating a better enabling environment.
Further details about the selection of these issues can be found in the Social Norms Process
Documentation paper.
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V4C’s Approach to Shifting Social Norms
V4C’s approach is based on the insight that a society-wide response is required, working at
the individual, community, and social-structural levels. Through interventions at all three
levels, V4C believes that social change can be prompted, sustained and accelerated more
effectively than by working on one level alone. The programme includes a strong social
marketing element. This uses behaviour change communications to shift attitudes in the
wider society, and to inform citizens that others have changed their attitude.
1. At the individual level, V4C works with adolescent women and girls to provide them
with the skills, knowledge and confidence to challenge discriminatory social norms
and create change in their colleges, homes, workplaces and communities;
2. At the community level, V4C works with men and boys, religious and traditional
leaders, and networks of women and girls to create a critical mass of support for
gender equality, accelerating change and shifting negative norms;
3. At the social-structural level, V4C works to change discriminatory laws, create better
policies, and direct assets towards women and girls, sending a message about
changed social norms through political and legal structures.
Practical Tactics for Shifting Social Norms
V4C has developed a checklist of tactics which have been found to be effective in shifting
harmful social norms to translate this strategy into practice. This is derived from the
experience of other programmes which have focused on harmful social norms, such as
Female Genital Mutilation and child marriage.
In summary, the checklist is as follows:
Community Awareness Factors
1.
2.
3.
4.
Individual attitudes need to change; new information can help drive this, and can
also inform citizens that others have changed their attitudes;
Individuals need to know that others are ready to change;
Public debate and deliberation are required;
Communities need to change together;
Publicising the Change
5.
6.
7.
Positive deviants/ role models need to be publicised, in ways which normalise the
desired new behaviour;
The benefits of the new behaviour should be demonstrated;
Influential people/ early adopters can spread the new norm through diffusion;
Reinforcing new norms
8.
9.
Opportunities to behaviour in line with the new norm should be highlighted;
A new set of sanctions and rewards needs to be created.
The checklist is used to guide strategies, proposals from agencies and partners, and to
assess the extent to which the programme is making full use of the most successful
approaches to shifting social norms.
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How Change will take place
Our review of approaches to behavioural change identified two main theories as to how
change occurs:
1.
2.
Stages of Change;
(Organised) Diffusion;
The Stages of Change model proposes that individuals move through stages when changing
behaviour. These range from “Pre-contemplation”, through to “Action” and “Maintenance.”
Individuals can be categorised according to their readiness to change, and interventions and
messages can be designed for each stage along the pathway to change. This model has
been widely used for designing health interventions, such as those addressing smoking,
weight loss or drug addiction. The Stages of Change model can be seen as more
appropriate to issues where individual attitudes are more important than shared social
norms. It suggests that each individual proceeds along the pathway to change at his or her
own pace, and is not strongly influenced by the rate at which others in society change. It
suggests that change will be gradual and incremental, rather than sudden and
transformational. However, it is possible to adapt this model to accommodate a social norms
based approach, by including two alternative routes to change:
1. Attitude change before behaviour change, which is a more conventional
individualistic model. This route to change is more likely where the desired new
behaviour is not easily visible to others, and therefore people do not see others
modelling the new norm. An example of such a behaviour might be domestic
violence.
2. Behaviour change before attitude change, where individuals change to the new
behaviour because they see others change around them, although they may not
change their attitude. This route is more likely where the desired change is clearly
visible and public, such as child marriage, and is therefore subjected to social
regulation and peer pressure.
Diffusion is based upon ideas about how new ideas spread through society and has been
used to understand the up-take of new technologies. The theory suggests that individuals fall
into groups based on their openness to new ideas. Some people - “Innovators” and “Early
Adopters” – are quick to take up new ideas, whilst others are slower - the “Late Majority” and
“Laggards”. Diffusion relies upon ideas of social influence: a “critical mass” of “Opinion
Leaders” spread new ideas; a “tipping point” is reached when change rapidly accelerates;
and the new behaviour is widely adopted and becomes the new norm. The Diffusion
approach is more appropriate when social norms are strong and where people’s behaviour is
driven by their expectation of others. This model suggests that change may occur quickly
once a tipping point is reached, but reaching this point may take a long time.
V4C is an innovative programme, and therefore we do not know to what extent the
behaviours targeted by V4C are driven by individual attitudes or by social norms. Our
hypothesis is that social norms are a strong influence, and research is planned to assess the
influence of social norms and individual attitudes on the target behaviours. But as yet, we do
not know whether to expect a longer period of preparation followed by a relatively quick
change in behaviour, or a gradual and steady change over time. The baseline survey of
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knowledge, attitudes and practices will track these changes and will provide an insight into
the pace and extent of change in both attitudes and behaviour.
V4C’s model of social norm change uses elements of both theories – and in fact, the
Diffusion model also includes stages of change, where the individual becomes aware of the
innovation, considers it, and decides whether or not to adopt it. Thus, in reality the two
approaches are not mutually exclusive and can complement each other.
The Diffusion model guides the V4C communications strategy, using Opinion Leaders,
celebrities, religious and traditional leaders, brand ambassadors and social networks to
spread new ideas through society. The approach is designed to maximise the exposure
which any individual may have to V4C’s messages, and to use popular and respected
figures to promote the change. The idea of a group of young women who are change agents
of the future is in line with diffusion theory, as the intention is that they spread the new ideas
in their colleges, homes, work places and communities.
When individuals do come into contact with the V4C messages and interventions the Stages
of Change model explains their individual pathway to change. Adoption of new ideas about
gender equality is not a one-off decision like buying a smart-phone. Rather, it involves
receiving new information, considering the arguments for and against change, public debate
and discussion, a shift in attitudes, and a decision as to change to the new norm. V4C’s
monitoring and evaluation strategy is based on tracking movement along a continuum of
attitude and behaviour change, and communications will be designed to target different
stages in the change process. The more contacts an individual has with the V4C programme
and messages, the more likely he or she is to progress along the pathway to change.
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A model of how social norms will change – combining Diffusion and Stages of Change Theories
Stages of change
1. Pre-contemplation
2. Contemplation/ awareness-raising
Old behaviour is maintained;
Old attitudes are maintained;
Social norms are unquestioned;
There is no awareness of the
possibility of change;
Old behaviour is maintained;
Old attitudes are maintained;
The individual is aware of the new
behaviour/ social norm;
Social norms are become explicit and
are questioned;
3. Planning the change/
persuasion
4. Action/ making the change
Individual Attitude Route
Old behaviour is maintained;
A new attitude is developing;
The individual is contemplating the
benefits of changing;
Social norms are questioned and are
perceived as changing.
Attitudes have changed;
Behaviour has changed;
Expectations of others are shifting;
The individual experiences the
benefits of changed behaviour.
OR: Social norms route
Old attitude is maintained;
New behaviour is adopted as a result
of social pressure;
Diffusion of new
norms
Outdoor media
Public Events
Celebrity testimonials
Religious and traditional leaders
Radio Spots and discussion
Radio drama
Nollywood movies
Public discussion and debate
Campaigning on political and legal reform
Endorsement from religious and political leaders
Examples of role models and early adopters
Messages from radio drama
Promotion of benefits of change
Women’s groups challenge discrimination
Men’s networks promote new norms
Contact and discussion with Early Adopters
On-line discussions promoting change
Public examples and case studies
Legal changes send message about changed
norms
Political leaders’ strategy
Peer pressure is created by visible changes in
social norms
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Safe Spaces Alumni accelerate change through the stages by example and active campaigning
Brand ambassadors promote and publicise new norms
Evidence of benefits of new norms changes attitude and prompts behaviour change