Combating Gender-Based Violence Using Evidence-Based Research

Recent campus allegations, global protests, and institutional responses to sexual assault have raised questions around the prevalence and incidence of gender-based violence, as well as our legal, institutional, and preventative responses to these cases. 

The WAPPP team understands the importance of supporting survivors and victims of sexual assault, and we aim to further these critical conversations around gender-based violence through sharing research and resources. Below, find research, seminars, and evidence about gender-based violence to shed light on some of the dimensions of this issue.

Are Sexual Harassment Trainings Effective?

Many academic institutions and workplaces have responded to sexual assault and harassment by expanding their mandatory trainings, reporting, and other prevention programs. However, evidence suggests these interventions produce mixed results and in some cases may make reporting less likely. 

A GAP study by Htun et al., found that mandatory university training did improve students’ recognition of sexual misconduct and reduced agreement with several rape myths. However, women who completed the training were less likely to say they would report misconduct and more likely to view reporting as risky.

Read the GAP summary

Additionally, research by WAPPP affiliate Frank Dobbin and Alexandra Kalev on workplace harassment programs finds that training and grievance procedures have mixed effects. Formal complaint systems may be associated with distrust and retaliation, while training alone does not reduce harassment. 

Read the Dobbin and Kalev paper

Tinkler et al., found that sexual harassment training has varying effects on men’s perceptions of women’s competence, status, and likability, depending on whether the training is led by a woman or a man. When a woman led sexual harassment training, male participants described women and men as more equal overall, but unconsciously associated women and men with more stereotypical roles. When a man led sexual harassment training, male participants described women as more likable, with no other significant change in explicit or implicit beliefs about gender.

Read the GAP summary

How Do Gender Stereotypes Shape Perceptions of Sexual Harassment?

Evidence suggests that stereotypes, including  of victims’ perceived femininity, appearance, and behavior, influence people’s views on the severity of sexual harassment and credibility of its victims. 

A GAP study by Goh et al., found that when it comes to sexual harassment, people perceive women who possess less feminine features as less credible victims and view their perpetrators as less deserving of harsh punishment. Study participants – students and adults – consistently perceived sexual harassment targets as more prototypical of women than non-harassed targets.

Read the GAP Summary

Susanne Schwarz (MPP 2015) and WAPPP Faculty Affiliates Dara Kay Cohen and Matthew Baum found that certain legally irrelevant features of rape (such as details relating to the victim's gender and criminal record) decrease the likelihood of reporting an incident to the police or its perceived severity. 

Read the GAP summary

Who Reports Witnessing Sexual Harassment?

All observers of sexual harassment intend to report incidents at much higher rates than they actually report, according to research by former WAPPP research fellow Rachel Goodwin et al. Women, however, are more likely to report observing sexual harassment than men. Providing multiple opportunities to report sexual harassment increased the number of participants who reported sexual harassment, and female observers were more likely to report, but not to confront, sexual harassment than male observers. 

Read the GAP Summary

What Will it Take to Prevent Campus Sexual Assault?

Campus sexual assault is not an individualized issue, researchers argue; it is shaped by the people, places, and social dynamics around it. WAPPP seminar speakers Ana Gantman and Betsy Paluck bring a behavioral science approach to addressing campus sexual assault and explore how it is shaped by interactions between individual psychology and specific environments, including social norms, peer influences, local cues, and power dynamics. Their framework shows why prevention must also address the environments in which assault becomes more or less likely. They suggest future research should take a behavioral science approach, which can create context-sensitive and testable interventions that may differ from other approaches.

Read the paper and listen to the WAPPP seminar