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. 2025 Oct 16;20(10):e0297426.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0297426. eCollection 2025.

Social norms and security and justice services for gender-based violence survivors in Nepal: Programmatic implications from a mixed-methods assessment

Cari Jo Clark  1 , Brian Batayeh  1 , Iris Shao  2 , Irina Bergenfeld  1 , Manoj Pandey  3 , Sudhindra Sharma  4 , Shikha Shrestha  3 , Amritha Gourisankar  5 , Anudeeta Gautam  6 , Tehnyat J Sohail  7 , Holly Shakya  8 , Grace Morrow  1 , Abbie Shervinskie  1 , Subada Soti  5
Affiliations

Social norms and security and justice services for gender-based violence survivors in Nepal: Programmatic implications from a mixed-methods assessment

Cari Jo Clark et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: Gender-based violence (GBV) is highly prevalent throughout the world. Only a small fraction of survivors seek help from security and justice (S&J) providers such as the police or courts, due in part to social norms that discourage help-seeking. The prevention of GBV requires attention to both demand- and supply-side factors and programming is moving toward this integration, including in Nepal. However, little research exists at the nexus of these issues. To address this gap, we provide a comprehensive mixed-methods situation analysis of GBV-related social norms, help-seeking, and S&J service provision.

Methods: Data included a household survey (N = 3830), a sub-study of youth (N = 143) and married adults (N = 464) in one site and qualitative data collection including interviews with S&J service providers, help-seeking GBV survivors and families (N = 68), and focus group discussions with police, youth groups, and school management committees (N = 20) in four sites. Descriptive analysis of survey data was triangulated with findings from a modified grounded theory analysis of the qualitative data to elucidate the role of social norms and other barriers limiting help-seeking.

Results: GBV was perceived to be common, especially child marriage, domestic violence, eve-teasing, and dowry-related violence. Formal help-seeking was low, despite positive attitudes towards S&J providers. Participants described injunctive norms discouraging formal reporting in cases of GBV and sanctions for women violating these norms.

Conclusions: Norms favoring family- and community-based mediation remain strong. Sanctions for formal reporting remain a deterrent to help-seeking. Leveraging gender-equitable role models, such as female S&J providers, and connecting S&J providers to women and youth may capitalize on existing shifts.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no competing interests to disclose.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Map of Nepal provinces and districts with study sites.
Data by GeoBoundaries provided under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license (https://www.geoboundaries.org/) Licensed Under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Fig 2
Fig 2. Mean percent agreement with descriptive norms items, by province, household survey.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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