From Thought to Action: Building Strategies on Violence Against Women

Published by India's KRITI (a development research, praxis and communication team) in 2004, this book presents a conceptual framework within which to understand gender-based violence, especially physical violence. It also suggests strategies that can be used by fieldworkers/activists who work within the non-governmental sector to prevent and eliminate this form of violence at home, at workplaces, on the streets, and in society in general.

Based on two years of research throughout eight states of India that included interviews with individuals, communities, and institutions, the book explores the ways in which women themselves, local communities, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), institutions of the State (police, health centres, educational institutes), and community institutions (panchayats, youth groups, men and women's groups, self-help groups - SHGs) understand and respond to violence against women.

The authors argue that violence has usually been understood only in its manifest forms, as an "act" (envisioned in its more extreme forms: severe physical abuse, rape, murder) and not as a "process". The authors suggest that this line of reasoning has led to a "normalising" of many other forms of violence that women face daily. They claim that this perception, in turn, determines the kind of interventions that are made by different institutions, some of which are usually reactive to a "case" and not responsive to the context, continuity, and consequence of the act.

It is argued in the book that, while immediate interventions designed to relieve women facing violence (shelters, legal aid, and counselling) are crucial, a more proactive approach is required to prevent violence from happening in the first place. According to the authors, this means challenging gendered attitudes, behaviours, and practices on the part of society - not only by the victims and perpetrators of violence but also by passive spectators to violence. To them, what follows is that, above all else, the community must have a stake in preventing violence. The book outlines strategies of mobilisation, networking, and advocacy to effect such changes.

The book also contains information on organisations and institutions working in this area, existing laws on the issue, and myths/facts about issues of violence that are designed to guide the work of fieldworkers, activists, and students. An appendix including questionnaires and information on the methodology used could benefit researchers working on the issue.