Trouble in Paradigm: “Gender Transformative” Programming in Violence Prevention

Abstract

The World Health Organization encourages a “gender transformative” paradigm for preventing violence against women and girls. Gender transformative interventions engage men and boys to reflect critically on—and then to challenge and change—gender-inequitable attitudes and behaviors. To interpret the mixed findings of research evaluating such programs, we review the “social norms” model that informs the paradigm. We bolster the paradigmatic conceptualization of social norms through insights about how exposure to trauma shapes gendered patterns of victimization and perpetration, about gendered violence from research on homophobic bullying, and about transforming local regimes of gender accountability.