The violence scale
The violence scale is a self-assessment tool for sexual and gender-based violence. It is used as a prevention and information tool on the subject of domestic and intra-family violence. It can also be used to run awareness-raising and training sessions, as is the case with Cenca in Peru.
Objectives : The aim is to enable participants to (re)understand the types of violence they may encounter, and to offer them the opportunity to respond collectively.
This tool can be adapted to different audiences : it can be used to understand the type of violence that women face, but also to collectively consider ways of overcoming violence.
Duration : 1h to 1h30
Practical use
Let’s get animated !
Two versions of the activity exist for using the violence scale with a group of 10 to 15 women. One is for use with women who have not previously received support on the subject of violence, and will enable the different types of violence that women may face to be discussed, and to raise their awareness of the need to develop healthy relationships between women and men. The other version is run with women who have already received initial support on the subject of violence and will enable them to classify the violence and look for actions to combat it.
> For each event, print out a violence scale to display at and several violence scale to hand out to participants, as suggested in the appendix.
First version
> Before the workshop, prepare sheets of paper with examples of violence or a brief description of a conflict or violent situation.
Here are a few examples to inspire you, that can be adapted to your context :
- Your partner raises his voice when he gets annoyed. He often uses insults.
- Your husband manages the household money and doesn’t always leave you enough to take the bus.
- Your partner slapped you during an argument, but has since apologised.
Indicate positive situations on certain sheets.
For example :
- You feel able to talk about anything with your partner.
- Your husband trusts you.
> At the start of the workshop, all the sheets are folded so that their contents cannot be read, and placed in an open box.
Each participant is then given a printed copy of the violence scale, as shown in the appendix.
> The women are asked to pick out a piece of paper and read out the situation on their sheet. You then ask them to match the situation described on their sheet with the corresponding box on the violence scale.
Example : "Your partner raises his voice when he gets annoyed. He often uses insults" can be compared to levels 16 and 17.
The participant explains why she had chosen to classify the situation she had chosen in this way.
> The rest of the group is asked to comment on the proposal made by the first participant. Together, the group makes the final decision.
> When all the sheets have been collected, make another list of all the conflicts or violent situations that appear in orange and red on the violence scale. You can then inform the participants of the legal, social and psychological mechanisms that exist to support them if they are confronted with some of these violent situations.
> Before finishing the workshop, it is a good idea to list the positive situations that have been picked out by the candidates again. You can then stress the importance of building a healthy, violence-free relationship within a couple.
Second version
This second way of working with the violence scale involves 4 stages :
> Identify the types of violence : form two groups. Each group is asked to list what they think constitutes violence (not having access to money, being hit, shouting, etc.). As a group, the women list these different forms of violence and write them down on sheets of paper.
> Ranking types of violence : Once all the types of violence have been identified, ask the participants to rank them. You then ask the participants, still in groups, to draw up their own rankings.
Example : from the most harmful in the development of the empowerment process , to the most mundane form of violence, depending on the age at which women encounter this violence (from birth to adulthood)...
The aim of this is to enable each group to rank the violence they experience according to their own perceptions. As the process continues, the group arranges the sheets on the floor so that the two violence scale represented by both groups are side by side.
> Compare the violence : ask each group to explain its classification system. The women take the floor to explain the progression of their violence scale. Each group can question the other group about the way they have organised their ideas, the representations and the impact underlying these forms of violence.
> Responding to violence : Once the types of violence have been identified and classified, ask each group to share the actions they are taking or think they could take to combat this violence !
What’s the final word ?
Once the activities are completed, you can inform the women about the legal, social and psychological support available to them. If you have resource people on your team (lawyers, psychologists, etc.), women can be offered individual follow-up sessions after this group workshop. If you don’t have in-house ressources, don’t hesitate to refer women to the appropriate structures to guide them through the process.
