IN BRIEF


NURTURE NETWORK The e-Nurture Network is a new collaborative, cross-sectoral initiative to explore how to equip parents, teachers, practitioners, policymakers and young people with support and resources that promote positive mental health in a digital age. Researchers will explore the digital environment’s impact on young people’s wellbeing, develop intervention programmes to improve mental health outcomes and identify ways to disseminate new knowledge. ESRC grant number ES/S004467/1


GROUNDWATER PLANS Billions of people worldwide rely on groundwater for their everyday existence. Yet groundwater’s invisibility makes it difficult to govern. Researchers aim to study promising grassroots initiatives of people mobilising to protect groundwater in places where pressures on the resource are particularly acute (eg, India, Algeria, Morocco, USA, Chile, Peru and Tanzania). The study will focus on groundwater practices of knowing, accessing and sharing. ESRC grant number ES/S008276/1


DRIVERLESS FUTURES Self-driving cars promise to be one of the most disruptive technologies of our age. Researchers suggest that rather than ‘sleepwalking’ into a driverless future, now is the time for democratic discussion of the opportunities and uncertainties that these cars bring. Their study aims to be the world’s first major social science project that brings the public voice into the debate on the future of self-driving cars. ESRC grant number ES/S001832/1


Better interventions to target domestic violence


towards domestic violence in 49 low- and middle-income countries across Central, East and South Asia, Central Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, North- and Sub-Saharan Africa. “Our findings show that more than one third of people in these countries believe that domestic violence is justified in situations where the woman is seen as transgressing traditionally expected gender roles,” says lead researcher Dr LynnMarie Sardinha. “Domestic violence prevention policies tackling harmful gender norms are thus urgent and vital.”


D Based on Demographic and Health


Survey data from 1.17 million men and women, the study provides insights into attitudes towards domestic violence in the Global South and the influence of country-level socioeconomic and political factors on its acceptance. The surveys asked whether people thought a husband or partner was justified in beating his wife or partner if she goes out without telling him, argues with him, neglects the children, refuses sex, burns the food or if he suspects her of being unfaithful. On average 36% of respondents justified it in at least one of these situations. Justification of domestic violence varied significantly across the 49 countries. Overall, acceptance was highest in South Asia (47%) and Sub-Saharan Africa (38%) compared with Latin America and the Caribbean


4 SOCIETY NOW SUMMER 2011 WINTER 2018


OMESTIC VIOLENCE IS widely accepted in most developing countries, says a new study of attitudes


(12%). And in 36 of the 49 countries (mainly in south-east Asia and Sub- Saharan Africa), women were more likely to justify the behaviour than men. “Women in these contexts may often internalise the idea that the physical ‘punishment’ is a husband’s legitimate reprisal for a wife’s disobedience, and may view this as ‘disciplining’ rather than ‘violence’,” says Dr Sardinha. Macro contexts, such as political


environment, play an important role in acceptance of domestic violence. For example, acceptance is more prevalent in countries that have experienced political conflict in the past five years and lower in countries with more democratic regimes.


“Commonly-used measures


of countries’ gender equality – for example, women’s labour force participation and number of seats held by women in national parliament – did not significantly influence society’s acceptance of domestic violence,” says Dr Sardinha. “International policies that focus on narrowly defined economic or political ‘empowerment’ alone will not be sufficient in tackling domestic violence and its acceptance. We need tailored, context- and gender-specific interventions that target existing discriminatory gender norms.” n


i


Contact Dr LynnMarie Sardinha, University of Bristol Email lynn.sardinha@bristol.ac.uk Web www.bristol.ac.uk/sps/research/projects/ current/attitudes-to-domestic-violence/ Telephone 0117 954 5582 ESRC Grant Number ES/L009811/1


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