Conclusion

Over the past four decades, violence against women (VAW) has come to be seen as a violation of human rights and an important concern for social policy. Yet government action remains uneven. Some countries have adopted comprehensive policies to combat VAW, whereas others have been slow to address the problem. Using an original dataset of social movements and VAW policies in 70 countries over four decades, we show that feminist mobilization in civil society—not intra-legislative political phenomena such as leftist parties or women in government or economic factors like national wealth—accounts for variation in policy development. In addition, we demonstrate that autonomous movements produce an enduring impact on VAW policy through the institutionalization of feminist ideas in international norms. This study brings national and global civil society into large-n explanations of social policy, arguing that analysis of civil society in general—and of social movements in particular—is critical to understanding progressive social policy change.

Emerging out of increased attention to gender equality within HIV and violence prevention programming has been an intensified focus on masculinities. A new generation of health interventions has attempted to shift norms of masculinity to be more gender equitable and has been termed "gender-transformative." We carried out a systematic review of gender-transformative HIV and violence prevention programs with heterosexually-active men in order to assess the efficacy of this programming. After reviewing over 2,500 abstracts in a systematic search, a total of 15 articles matched review criteria. The evidence suggests that gender-transformative interventions can increase protective sexual behaviors, prevent partner violence, modify inequitable attitudes, and reduce STI/HIV, though further trials are warranted, particularly in establishing STI/HIV impacts. In the conclusion, we discuss the promises and limitations of gender-transformative work with men and make suggestions for future research focused on HIV and/or violence prevention.

The social justice roots and theory of the Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) model is presented, followed by an empirical study examining the influence of MVP in high school settings. Findings reveal students exposed to the MVP model are more likely to see forms of violence as being wrong and are more likely to take actions to intervene than students not exposed to the program. Findings support the premises on which MVP is founded.