Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is not inevitable.
It is preventable.
Yet preventing it requires more than awareness campaigns, policy changes or enforcement alone. It requires a deeper understanding of the behaviours, beliefs, environments and social norms that allow violence to occur and continue.
Behavioural science offers a powerful framework for understanding these complex influences and designing interventions that create meaningful, measurable change.
At MacMartin, we believe lasting prevention begins by understanding behaviour.
Violence against women and girls is a societal issue.
Violence against women and girls affects every community.
It cuts across age, ethnicity, geography and socioeconomic background, leaving profound and lasting impacts on individuals, families and society.
According to UN Women, around 736 million women, almost one in three globally, have experienced physical and/or sexual violence at least once during their lifetime. This is one of the world’s most significant public health and human rights challenges.
Preventing violence requires action across multiple levels of society.
It means supporting victims and survivors.
It means holding perpetrators accountable.
It also means addressing the wider social, cultural and environmental factors that influence behaviour long before violence occurs.
Behaviour change provides a framework for prevention.
Behaviour does not happen in isolation.
It is shaped by capability, opportunity and motivation.
One of the behavioural science frameworks we frequently use is the COM-B Model, developed by Professor Susan Michie and colleagues at University College London.
COM-B helps identify why behaviours occur by exploring three interacting components:
Capability
Do individuals have the knowledge, emotional skills and confidence required to build respectful, healthy relationships and manage conflict without violence?
Opportunity
Do social norms, environments and systems encourage respectful behaviour, or do they reinforce harmful attitudes, inequality or abuse?
Motivation
What beliefs, emotions, habits and social influences drive behaviour?
Understanding these factors enables organisations to design interventions that address root causes rather than symptoms.
Looking beyond individual behaviour.
Preventing violence against women and girls is not solely about changing the behaviour of those who use violence.
It also requires changing the systems and cultures that allow harmful behaviours to develop, persist or go unchallenged.
Behaviour change interventions can therefore target multiple audiences, including:
- Individuals using harmful behaviours
- Friends, peers and bystanders
- Schools, colleges and universities
- Employers and workplaces
- Community organisations
- Professionals working across health, education, policing and local government
- The wider public
Each audience has a role in creating safer communities.
Challenging harmful social norms.
Social norms strongly influence behaviour.
When harmful attitudes towards women become normalised, accepted or minimised, they create environments where abuse is more likely to occur and less likely to be challenged.
Behaviour change communications can help reshape these norms by:
- Promoting healthy, respectful relationships
- Challenging gender stereotypes
- Encouraging positive masculinity
- Increasing confidence to intervene safely as an active bystander
- Reinforcing that abuse is never acceptable
Changing what people believe others think and do is often just as important as changing individual attitudes.
Creating opportunities for positive change.
People are more likely to change when support is accessible.
Behaviour change programmes can increase opportunities by:
- Signposting specialist support services
- Promoting behaviour change programmes for those using harmful behaviours
- Improving awareness of healthy relationship resources
- Creating safe opportunities for discussion and reflection
- Reducing barriers to seeking help
Communications are most effective when they make positive action easier rather than simply telling people what they should do.
Strengthening motivation.
People rarely change because they are told to.
They change when the benefits of change outweigh competing motivations.
Behavioural science helps identify what motivates different audiences, whether that is protecting relationships, being a positive role model, supporting friends, improving emotional wellbeing or contributing to safer communities.
Campaigns can strengthen motivation by:
- Demonstrating positive social norms
- Challenging inaccurate beliefs
- Highlighting achievable actions
- Reinforcing hope and self-efficacy
- Showing that change is possible
Building prevention into communities.
Lasting behaviour change happens when communication is supported by wider systems.
That means working collaboratively across sectors to create environments where respectful behaviour becomes the easier, expected choice.
Effective programmes often combine:
Education
Providing age-appropriate education around healthy relationships, consent, emotional regulation and respectful communication.
Community engagement
Working alongside local communities, lived experience groups and trusted organisations to co-design interventions that reflect local needs.
Positive role models
Highlighting individuals who demonstrate empathy, respect, accountability and equality to reinforce positive social norms.
Digital engagement
Using digital channels strategically to reach audiences, challenge misinformation and encourage constructive conversations.
Measuring meaningful impact.
Preventing violence against women and girls requires long-term commitment.
That is why evaluation should be embedded from the beginning.
Using recognised evaluation frameworks such as RE-AIM, organisations can assess not only campaign delivery, but whether interventions influence attitudes, behaviours and long-term outcomes.
For commissioners, this provides confidence that public investment is creating measurable social value.
Creating safer communities through behaviour change.
There is no single solution to preventing violence against women and girls.
It requires collaboration across public services, education, healthcare, policing, charities, employers and communities.
Behavioural science helps bring these efforts together by providing a shared understanding of why behaviours occur and how positive change can be achieved responsibly.
At MacMartin, we combine academic evidence, behavioural science and creative communication to help organisations design interventions that address complex social challenges with confidence, compassion and measurable impact.
Because preventing violence against women and girls is not simply about raising awareness.
It is about changing behaviour, strengthening communities and creating a society where respect, equality and safety become the norm.
