Social Networks and Gender-Based Violence

• In Event: Networked Peace? Network Approaches to Peace and Conflict

Abstract

How do social network structures affect whether individuals choose to report gender-based violence (GBV) to authorities? Trusted social networks may provide victims with the support and connections they need to report violence, but networks can also generate shame and social sanctions that dissuade reporting. In this study, we examine these processes by combining large-scale data on family networks in thousands of Philippine villages with several years of crime reports and crime victimization surveys in these same villages. We hypothesize that, all else equal, victims are less likely to report GBV when community-level networks are densely connected, creating the conditions for rapid rumor spread and social sanction that dissuade reporting. At the individual-level, we predict that victims will be more likely to report instances of GBV when they have direct social network ties to village authorities, police officers, and when the perpetrators are socially isolated. The results of this study will provide a more sophisticated understanding of the role of social networks in both encouraging and dissuading GBV reporting, opening the door for improved interventions to respond to GBV in the developing world.

Authors

• Dotan Haim, Florida State University

• Cesi Cruz, University of Michigan