CONFERENCE-SVRI

WMW Presents Jamaican Research at South Africa Conference 

Kingston, October 21, 2024.

WMW Jamaica is excited that two of our members are bringing Jamaican research on gender-based violence (GBV) to the pre-eminent Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI) Global Forum, October 21 – 25 in Cape Town, South Africa. Helen Atkins and Ruth Howard are presenting on harmful gender stereotypes in Jamaican digital spaces, specifically online searches and social media.

Based in Pretoria, SVRI has become the global lead on supporting GBV researchers in low and middle income countries. Since 2003 their projects, grants and gatherings have helped “build evidence, strengthen research capacity, promote partnerships and influence change,” in a research sector still pushing against the dominance of harmful gender norms. 

As a core part of their role in the “WE-Talk for the Prevention of Gender Based Violence” project, funded by Global Affairs Canada and Oxfam Canada, WMW Jamaica undertook ground-breaking research. We found that eleven harmful gender narratives continue to negatively impact the lives of women and men of all ages. 

Consultant Quilt.AI analyzed hundreds of thousands of social media posts and online queries from 2021 to 2023, and the results have confirmed what Jamaican women and gender advocates have long experienced in their homes, on their bodies, in society, and now on social media. These data are being translated through WMW’s nationwide training on GBV, providing clear language to Jamaican women that is already helping them explain the gender based violence that they’ve struggled to disclose, discuss and find community support to address. 

The report, Tapping Social Media Using Artificial Intelligence to Understand Gender-Based Violence Norms and Perceptions in Jamaica, its findings and implications are being discussed in an oral presentation on October 22, and a poster presentation on October 23. 

We look forward to sharing WMW Jamaica’s research and advocacy with participants engaging these matters in South Africa, in Global South societies around the world, as well as being engaged by our sisters in this worldwide struggle for women’s liberation and intergenerational healing from gender-based trauma.