Perceptions on gender norms and gender based violence among women in a rural community in Sri Lanka: Findings from a cross sectional study

Abstract

Studies around the world have found that gender based violence is most common where gender roles are rigidly defined and enforced. Evidence also suggests that justifications for violence frequently evolve from gender norms. Based on this, this study was aimed to identify the perceptions on gender norms and gender based violence among women in a rural community in Sri Lanka.A cross sectional study was conducted by recruiting seventy four women and a same number of families, randomly. Six gender norms that were assumed to have a commitment to create gender based violence were assessed using five-point likert type scales and perceptions on violence were assessed by using four statements on violence positive attitudes included in a self-administered questionnaire. Majority (91.5%) of the women agreed that responsibility for nurturing and caring children is mostly lies with women than men and household activities should be known by women than men.Lowest acceptance (22.1%) reported for the norm 'consuming alcohol and tobacco is a masculine thing' among women. High number of women (81.9%) perceives that behaving violently by men can be justified if the violence act occurs due to a failure of women's duties. Majority of the families (91.6%) accept that 'responsibility for nurturing and caring children is mostly lies with woman than man.'More than 50% of the women showed an agreement on five norms out of the six norms that were assessed during the study. Majority of them also possess violence supportive attitudes. Most of the families believe that child care is a responsibility of women. Therefore these prominent norms and violence supportive attitudes need to be considered in designing interventions targets to prevent the gender based violence among a rural community.