Violence Against Women in Cambodia: Towards a Culturally Responsive Theory of Change

Maurice Eisenbruch

doi:10.1007/s11013-017-9564-5

Abstract

Almost one in four women in Cambodia is a victim of physical, emotional or sexual violence. This article brings together two seldom connected fields: Theory of Change (ToC) and cultural responsiveness in international development. It applies these approaches to a priority in global health, which is to prevent violence against women (VAW) and, drawing on my research on the epigenesis of VAW in Cambodia, develops an argument on the need for interventions to work with tradition and culture rather than only highlight it in problematic terms. The research draws on an ethnographic study carried out in Cambodia with 102 perpetrators and survivors of emotional, physical and sexual VAW and 228 key informants from the Buddhist and healing sectors. The eight ‘cultural attractors’ identified in the author’s prior research highlight the cultural barriers to acceptance of the current Theory of Change. ToC for VAW prevention in Cambodia seems to assume that local culture promotes VAW and that men and women must be educated to eradicate the traditional gender norms. There is a need for interventions to work with tradition and culture rather than only highlight it in problematic terms. The cultural epigenesis of VAW in Cambodia is an insight which can be used to build culturally responsive interventions and strengthen the primary prevention of VAW.

Highlights

This article brings together two seldom connected fields: Theory of Change (ToC) and cultural responsiveness in international development. It applies these approaches to a priority in global health, which is to prevent violence against women (VAW) and, drawing on my research on the epigenesis of VAW in Cambodia, develops an argument on the need for interventions to work with tradition and culture rather than only highlight it in problematic terms
Apart from citing ‘cultural obstacles to violence prevention, because these beliefs hamper the fair treatment of victims’ (Royal Government of Cambodia 2009:4), the Second National Action Plan to Prevent Violence Against Women 2014–2018 (NAPGBV) works to change cultural attitudes through primary prevention and initiatives such as the ‘good men campaign’, which aims to get men to question the norms of masculinity (UNFPA 2015) in order to develop new cultural values and norms that are incompatible with violence
(3) Culture as the solution rather than the problem: By discovering how culture can be part of the solution, rather than the core of the problem, the cultural epigenesis places culture and GBV in a relationship that makes better sense, but opens possibilities for using cultural capital to the best effect in the primary prevention of GBV. This is no small matter in a country such as Cambodia with its potential of an estimated 100,000 monks immersed in the teachings of non-violence

Summary

Introduction

This article brings together two seldom connected fields: Theory of Change (ToC) and cultural responsiveness in international development. It applies these approaches to a priority in global health, which is to prevent violence against women (VAW) and, drawing on my research on the epigenesis of VAW in Cambodia, develops an argument on the need for interventions to work with tradition and culture rather than only highlight it in problematic terms.

Results

Conclusion