Reducing Violence against Women in Uganda through Video Dramas: A Survey Experiment to Illuminate Causal Mechanisms

Abstract

A randomized trial was conducted in rural Uganda in which 112 villages were exposed to video dramatizations about violence against women (VAW) or placebo topics. The treatment videos encouraged viewers to report VAW. Eight months later, surveys showed increased willingness to report in treatment villages as well as lower reported rates of VAW. The present survey experiment suggests a possible causal mechanism: the videos made allegations more credible so that those who come forward with reports are more confident that they will be believed.

Countering Violence Against Women by Encouraging Disclosure: A Mass Media Experiment in Rural Uganda

“…In our survey, community members indeed do not appear well informed about the prevalence of VAW in their village (exluding their own household). 5 In line with this idea, our survey evidence suggests that respondents are more willing to report hypothetical incidents of VAW if they are primed to think that the incident has also been observed by others who may be able to confirm the report (see section F.1 of the Online Appendix for details and Cooper et al, 2020).…”

Can Media Campaigns Empower Women Facing Gender-Based Violence amid COVID-19?

“…While some studies emphasize the relevance of individual role-modeling within dramatized media (16,17,22), others emphasize the importance of peer effects, whereby communal delivery of information shapes individuals' perceptions about the attitudes and behaviors of others in their immediate community (21,23,24). Studies that apply informational or edutainment interventions around GBV and IPV (22,(24)(25)(26) have produced mixed findings. Some have found that interventions increase rejection of violence (22,24), especially when delivered via communal channels, while related studies have found these interventions do not shift attitudes but increase individuals' willingness to report violence (25,26).…”

“…Studies that apply informational or edutainment interventions around GBV and IPV (22,(24)(25)(26) have produced mixed findings. Some have found that interventions increase rejection of violence (22,24), especially when delivered via communal channels, while related studies have found these interventions do not shift attitudes but increase individuals' willingness to report violence (25,26).…”

“…Our intervention resembled those fielded in person in contexts as diverse as India (37), Mexico (24), and Uganda (25,26), but distinctively differred in how we recruited participants into the study and especially in how we delivered the content. We identified 5,618 Egyptian women recruited through Facebook advertisements who completed a baseline survey and expressed interest in receiving information and about women's issues in Egypt and randomly assigned them into different treatment arms, described below.…”

“…Because our study is unlike other edutainment interventions around GBV and IPV in its use of social and traditional media to deliver content rather than communal screenings or radio broadcasts (22,25,26), a first challenge was whether individuals would consume the content, given their limited attention and especially the significant amount of information and notifications they receive online. For those in the social media treatment arms, who received messages with links to a server that showed videos hosted on YouTube, we are able to measure their aggregate visits to the server and total YouTube views.…”