‘They Say it was Her Fault… This is Not True!’ Using Vignettes With Adolescent Girls to Collectively Address Norms About Sexual Violence

Abstract

This article discusses the piloting of vignette research tools within focus group discussions involving 34 adolescent girls aged 15–19 in Rwanda. The purpose of the research was to elucidate norms around sexual violence. Through a ‘collective capabilities’ lens, which focuses on ways to move beyond change at the individual level towards empowerment processes that benefit all girls, we reflect on the opportunities this methodological tool offers for expanding girls’ understanding of the norms that enable sexual violence, and the context-specific ways they can respond. After providing an overview of the vignettes exercise and the way in which the vignette on sexual violence was used with participants, we present girls’ accounts of sexual violence drawn from discussions based around the vignettes and our analysis of these findings. We find that gendered social norms around gender, sexuality, age, and responsibility for safety that apportion blame to girls who experience sexual violence play a role in preventing girls from using reporting mechanisms. Although girls have a strong sense of this being unfair, they realise they must also find ways to navigate these norms to avoid being blamed for their own victimisation. Based on this data, we suggest that the use of vignettes in the context of qualitative longitudinal research offers insights into norms about the drivers and causes of sexual violence that are otherwise challenging to elicit because of the sensitivity of the topic. We find that vignettes can be an empowering tool, both in raising ‘unspoken’ issues girls face and in creating the opportunity for girls to collectively work out pathways to accountability in a context where sexual violence is widespread but underreported. However, strategies to address sexual violence must account for barriers to reporting that include the social implications for girls of identifying perpetrators and exposing themselves to stigma and blame.

Introduction

This article reflects on the use of vignette-based research with adolescent girls in Rwanda to elucidate norms around sexual violence. Despite laws to prevent and punish sexual violence, in the 2019–20 Demographic and Health Survey, 22.5% of Rwandan women reported having experienced sexual violence by a husband or partner (National Institute of Statistics Rwanda, 2020). Adolescence is recognised as a life stage during which girls are at particular risk of sexual violence and harassment (Devries et al., 2018).

There is a large body of research from Rwanda on sexual violence and the role of social norms in perpetuating its acceptability. Cialdini et al. (1991) define social norms as being either descriptive or injunctive; descriptive norms are beliefs about what other people do, whereas injunctive norms are beliefs about what behaviours others approve of. The difference between personal beliefs and attitudes, and a perception of what others do or think about a practice or issue, can explain why certain forms of sexual violence continue (Cislaghi et al., 2019). Tensions can therefore emerge between what people personally believe about sexual violence, and wider social norms about sexual violence.

Social norms about sexual violence shape adolescent agency and decision-making when it comes to navigating abusive and violent encounters. Van Decraen et al. (2012) find that young Rwandans perceive sexual violence by men as part of traditional male and female dynamics. Umubyeyi et al. (2014) observe that gender norms shape consent and decision-making within relationships in ways that legitimise male violence against their partner. Stern and Heise (2019) observe that interrelated cultural patriarchal norms continue to legitimise sexual violence despite a wealth of laws that promote women’s empowerment. Whilst there has been little written about the consequences of these dynamics for the reporting of sexual violence, in Tanzania, Wamoyi et al. (2021) find that social norms around male and female interactions and romantic or sexual courtship, as well as the pervasive nature of harassment, mean that women and girls may not perceive unwanted attention as worthy of reporting. Yet despite brushing off their significance, girls felt distressed and embarrassed by such encounters (Wamoyi et al., 2021) - underlining that they are still distressing and worthwhile of attention from a policy and intervention perspective.

Contextual factors are central to shaping social norms about sexual violence and women and girls’ attitudes to reporting. Deming et al. (2013) observe that sexual violence is often experienced in ambiguous ways that make it difficult to identify and label it as such. This is further complicated when sexual violence occurs within environments in which it has become normalised due to repeated exposure, which increases tolerance of it and it is therefore not seen as notable or worth reporting (Belknap, 2010). Wamoyi et al. (2021) observe that sexual violence is under-conceptualised, especially within the context of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where it may take different forms and have different consequences for women and girls than in high-income countries (HICs). Their research underlines the context-specificity and fluidity of the meaning of sexual violence; it is therefore important that methods for exploring the issue engage with these broader dynamics of girls’ lives in order to provide this essential contextualisation.

A key dimension of sexual violence that is underexplored within the literature is how age-related norms intersect with gender norms in Rwanda, and the vulnerabilities this generates for adolescent girls. Although research points to discriminatory norms and practices based on age and gender as having a significant impact on the life chances of girls in LMICs (Harper et al., 2018; Patton et al., 2016), there is relatively little quality evidence on the Rwandan context or on the implications for sexual violence. However, research with Rwandan adolescents exploring how age and gender norms shape sexual health points to puberty as a time when societal expectations of girls shift, and when girls must assume increasing responsibility for controlling their sexuality and protecting themselves from sexual violence (Coast et al., 2019). Relatedly, adolescent girls report stigma as a barrier to accessing justice for sexual violence (Coast et al., 2021).

Methods used in extant studies on sexual violence in LMICs mostly prioritise traditional interviews or focus group discussions, or a combination of the two. More creative and innovative methods are often introduced as an afterthought rather than a cornerstone of knowledge production. Although vignettes have been widely used within group-based research on sexual violence to explore issues including blame and accountability for rape (Gunby et al., 2012; Johnson, 1994), interpretation of consent (Holmström et al., 2020), and rape myths (Deming et al., 2013), they have not been extensively used in LMIC contexts such as sub-Saharan Africa.

Where research in sub-Saharan Africa has used vignettes to explore young people’s sexual and reproductive health – for example, in South Africa (Mantell et al., 2006) and in Mozambique (Hutchinson, 2018) – there has been limited discussion in the literature as to the ethical and methodological implications of using this research tool, especially with young people. Gourlay et al. (2014) critically examine the use of vignettes to explore the uptake of HIV prevention services, and suggest that a participatory approach to the development of vignettes and use by trained local field researchers is important, finding that vignettes had helped to promote free and comfortable discussion by participants. However, that study focused on adult participants. Mantell et al. (2006) describe the use of vignettes in the context of the Mpondombili project in rural South Africa, when they were used with 14–17-year-olds as a tool to stimulate discussion about choices around when to first have sex. However, vignettes were intended to emphasise project norms that it was okay to choose not to have sex in a relationship; there is no analysis of the role of injunctive social norms in shaping the perspectives offered by participants who affirmed this message.

Vignettes offer a means to freely discuss and reflect upon abstract and personal experiences and have been successfully used with young people to explore experiences of violence (Barter & Renold, 2000). That study finds that in researching children’s experiences of violence, vignettes depicting simple and internally consistent storylines were a useful tool for foregrounding young people’s own definitions and experiences. Torronen (2018) suggests that vignettes can be used in various ways: as clues as to the logics and meanings attributed to particular situations, especially when features of their protagonist are varied; as a microcosm of certain social encounters or practices; and as ‘provokers’, which not only surface invisible or unspoken social processes but create space for participants to discuss all sorts of related issues that the vignette invokes for them. Research by the Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE) programme has found that asking more indirect questions of younger adolescents – using vignettes that present fictionalised characters and scenarios, and keeping questions abstract – can help to minimise their embarrassment (Pincock & Jones, 2020).

Barter and Renold (1999: 1) suggest that vignettes have three purposes within research: to allow actions to be explored within a given context; to clarify judgements that people made about the actions; and ‘to provide a less personal and therefore less threatening way of exploring sensitive topics’. Barter and Renold (2000) suggest that the use of multiple different vignettes where protagnists vary by age, gender and other identities can help researchers explore cultural norms and moral codes within different contexts. However, they observe that there may be gaps between social reality and vignettes, as people’s real-life responses may differ from their reaction to a story. They suggest that embedding vignettes within multi-method approaches can enable the complexity of social processes to be captured through triangulation of data from vignettes with data generated through other techniques (Barter & Renold, 2000: 312).

In Rwanda, exploring topics such as sexual violence is challenging due to social norms that render such discussions as taboo. Research by Michielsen et al. (2014) finds that young people perceive abstinence as the appropriate behaviour, despite sex for pleasure being widespread; a positive discourse on adolescent sexuality and relationships is almost entirely absent. Van Nuil et al. (2014) report similar findings, with negative words in Kinyarwanda (one of Rwanda’s four official languages) generally used to describe premarital sex. This taboo also makes it difficult to elicit responses that reflect genuine perceptions of the issues at hand rather than responses shaped only by injunctive social norms. In such a context, vignettes can be protective of participants, as the distance they create between participants and a sensitive subject can minimise harms such as being upset or embarrassed, which can happen during disclosure such as in interviews (Bradbury-Jones et al., 2014). However, vignettes must be culturally and contextually appropriate in order for these discussions to be possible.

Conceptual Framework

The theoretical framework for this research draws on the GAGE conceptual framework, which is premised on the capabilities approach developed by Amartya Sen (2004) and Martha Nussbaum (2011). Informed by evidence that adolescence represents a time in which gendered social norms are increasingly enforced, constraining the life choices of girls in particular, the GAGE conceptual framework attends to what are termed the ‘3 Cs’: Capabilities, Change strategies and Contexts. ‘Capabilities’ are the opportunities available to adolescents to achieve a quality of life that they personally value. ‘Contexts’ refers to the integral role played by the socioecological environment in shaping these opportunities, while a focus on ‘Change strategies’ underlines the need for multi-level policy and programmatic interventions to expand adolescents’ capabilities.

GAGE research attends to the factors that limit or expand girls’ individual capabilities in six key domains: bodily integrity and freedom from violence, including sexual violence; health; voice and agency; education; economic empowerment; and psychosocial wellbeing. It also attends to the conditions necessary to enable collective capabilities, which are the benefits that accrue to all members of a marginalised group as the result of transforming social norms (Ibrahim, 2006). Collective capabilities are the product of empowerment, and are generated through consciousness-raising, solidarity and action. The literature on collective capabilities highlights the need for collective learning, shared goals and opportunities for broader transformation to be accessed and supported by stakeholders (Pahl-Wostl, 2006; Pelenc et al., 2015). Collective capabilities as an approach also has its own ‘3 Cs’: Conscientisation, Conciliation and Collaboration. Informed by the work of Paulo Freire, conscientisation describes the process of critical thinking that leads individuals to reflect upon the challenges they face and the differences they want to see in their lives (Freire, 1972; Ibrahim, 2017). The next steps, conciliation and collaboration, are about finding ways to (re)concile individual and community goals so that collective action can be pursued, and then working with other actors and stakeholders to promote institutional reform (Ibrahim, 2017).

The growing body of research on collective capabilities has focused largely on social movements and economic development; there is limited data on young people’s collective capabilities or their gendered dimensions, and an absence of literature on Africa (GAGE consortium, 2019). However, evidence reviews of interventions to address sexual violence in Rwanda and other sub-Saharan contexts show that critical reflection and communication about the issue can help to address it, by addressing and slowly changing the gender norms which enable sexual violence to be perpetuated (Ligiero et al., 2019). Both adolescent-focused and community-level interventions that change attitudes, norms and behaviours have been shown to contribute to reductions in intimate partner violence (including sexual violence in dating relationships) and in shifting attitudes about violence more broadly (Ligiero et al., 2019). For example, Stern and Heise’s (2019) review of an intervention in Rwanda to promote critical reflection on and communication within communities about norms around sexual violence and its consequences also found that participants were less likely to see coercive sex as acceptable.

Vignettes and the space they create for surfacing ‘unspoken’ issues can give girls an opportunity to learn about pathways to accountability in a context such as Rwanda where sexual violence is widespread but underreported. Informed by the capabilities approach and research on gender-based violence in Rwanda, Ho and Pavlish (2011) argue that assurance of accountability is essential for empowering people to make their own choices and demand rights. Although their work examines the experiences of refugees, the authors point to the importance of an accountability-enabling environment that upholds the rights of women and girls. Following this line of thought, we suggest that vignettes can be a tool for expanding girls’ capabilities in the context of research where this is a key objective. As observed by Warshak (2003), creating space for young people to express themselves on their own terms is key for their empowerment, within research processes and beyond.

Methods

The vignettes exercise, used with groups of 15–19-year-old Rwandans, aimed to explore their attitudes about key issues (sexual violence, disability, education, marriage, psychosocial wellbeing) and options for change. It involved the researchers reading aloud short stories about fictionalised adolescents and inviting participants to reflect on what they – and their communities – would think if they or someone they knew were in a similar situation. Prior to starting the study, a pilot was conducted to test the vignettes and the guiding questions to ensure that they were culturally and contextually relevant, and age-appropriate. The design of the vignettes and the guiding questions allowed researchers to explore adolescents’ attitudes on these key issues.

This article focuses on the vignette and guiding questions about sexual violence (see Appendix 1), which was the story of a 14-year-old girl called Claudine. Her story was based on a composite story drawn from real findings from formative research undertaken in Rwanda by the same research team that conducted the vignettes exercise. Claudine is sexually assaulted by her male cousin when she visits her uncle’s house and there are no adults around. She becomes pregnant; her mother is unsupportive and her cousin refuses to take responsibility for the baby and threatens her with violence if she names him as the father. The vignette is followed by questions about the realism it depicts, what participants in the group discussion would do in Claudine’s position, what might happen next if she took certain courses of action, and other questions designed to explore social norms about sexual violence.

The interviewer who conducted the vignettes exercise was a female research specialist working at FATE Consulting Ltd (FATE). She has a Master’s degree in Applied Statistics and professional experience in qualitative and quantitative research, including facilitating focus group discussions. Prior to carrying out the study, the researcher received further specialised training on its objectives and on the use of vignettes as a research tool. The researcher and participants had no existing relationship prior to the study. Eligible participants were purposively sampled on the basis of age and gender from a sample of adolescents who were part of a broader pilot study of GAGE baseline quantitative research tools. Participant recruitment was carried out by local leaders and community health workers. At the beginning of each focus group discussion, the researcher provided some basic information about herself (name, occupation) and detailed information about the research, which was also shared in written format in the assent and consent forms. Each participant also received a copy of the assent or consent form after signing.

The researcher conducted five focus group discussions with girls aged 15–18 years, most of whom were either in high school or primary school although some had dropped out. The number of girls in each group was 7, 8, 7, 4 and 8, giving a total of 34 participants. None of the adolescents were mothers and none were married. Local leaders and community health workers who contacted potential participants informed them there was a researcher who would like to talk to them and that they would receive more details about the research when they came to the research site.

The researcher conducted the vignette exercise in comfortable and quiet places where girls felt safe, including unused classrooms and offices; apart from the participants and the researcher, no one else was present. The interviewer used a printed version of the vignettes and the guiding questions. All focus group discussions were audio recorded and were between 1h06’38 and 1h19’07 in duration. During the discussions, the researcher also took field notes of findings that required further probing and follow-up in future research, as well as key and surprising findings to be shared during the debriefing sessions. After each focus group discussion, the researcher identified emerging themes through debrief sessions. As the vignette exercise was part of a larger study, the debrief sessions were attended by other FATE researchers who were using other methods with adolescents and informants. The debrief sessions were guided by the GAGE ‘3 Cs’ conceptual framework to discuss key findings. Upon the finalisation of data collection, the researcher who conducted the vignettes exercise then coded the data using MAXQDA software following a coding guide developed by GAGE.

Findings

The vignette stimulated animated discussions among participants, which provided rich insights into what adolescent girls perceived as the drivers of sexual violence in their communities. Drivers identified by girls included: the age of those at risk of sexual violence (and specifically younger children’s lack of knowledge of sexual violence); the lack of supervision of girls, in particular being unaccompanied while out in the community; and power inequalities that enable perpetrators to silence survivors of sexual violence and thus allow them to harass them with impunity.

All participants stated that they were familiar with the type of sexual violence described in the vignette. Because they recognised the scenario and understood the issues at play, girls made reference to various incidents of sexual violence that had happened in their own communities. However, as a result, the discussions of different incidents revealed different dynamics about how the drivers and consequences of sexual violence were perceived, depending on who was involved.

Risk, Blame and Consent

The context in which sexual violence happened was an important factor in girls’ consideration of both its causes and outcomes, particularly in relation to culpability. Some girls considered that ‘visiting a guy’ was a driver of sexual violence, and felt that the girl in the vignette had chosen to put herself at risk by visiting her uncle’s house despite not knowing who would be there and whether adults would be present. As one girl observed:

‘Sometimes one might visit a guy and he rapes her when the girl is in ovulation and she gets pregnant. The boy tells her to abort and the girl refuses. That boy then tells you that he will harm you if you refuse or if you say that he is the responsible one. In such a case, the girl can abort and die or keep it and report to the authorities and get help.’

However, even in the context of such risks, girls made reference to the matter of consent to sexual activity. As one girl stated:

‘So, you need to avoid visiting boys because they could rape you if you don’t consent.’

For some participants, therefore, not consenting to sexual activity is not the end of the negotiation over sex; saying ‘no’ might simply lead boys and men to pressure or force them to engage in sexual activity. This also underlines the power inequalities and sense of male sexual entitlement that contribute to widespread sexual violence. However, it should also be noted that during adolescence, girls may begin to explore their sexuality and engage in relationships with boys, but in the absence of good-quality information about consent and safe sex, and in the context of a wider narrative that pre-marital sex is forbidden, girls may struggle to safely negotiate these encounters.

When asked how community members perceive those who have been subjected to sexual violence, most participants stated that often, the girls are the ones who are blamed:

‘When some talk about a raped girl, they say that it was her fault that she was the one who went to visit the boy… This is not true because no one plans to be raped, it can happen as an accident and to anyone.’

‘Even if you were considered as a girl of values, they could never understand that what happened to you was an act of rape but that you were a prostitute/someone with no moral values.’

‘They say a lot of things about that. Sometimes they say that it was by consent, money, it was the girl’s fault, or that she accepted gifts from the man.’

‘They insult her by saying that she brings a shame on them [parents of victims of sexual violence] because she misbehaved.’

These quotes demonstrate how girls have internalised the social norm that boys and men cannot be expected to control their sexual desires or even be questioned about their actions – despite girls recognising that sexual violence is a crime. Girls also observed these differences in how they themselves perceive people who have experienced sexual violence, and the perceptions of their communities; girls felt generally supportive towards these individuals while they perceive that the community blames survivors for their experiences.

Family Responsibility

Despite a perception that the community will blame girls if they experience sexual violence, girls revealed that within the family, it is often the father who blames the girl’s mother for not protecting her adequately:

Participant 1:‘The father argues, saying that it is the fault of the mother to see what happened to the girl.’

Facilitator:‘Is the mistake [blamed on] the mother?’

Participant 1:‘Yes.’

Participant 2:‘A lot.’

Participant 1:‘The majority of men say that during his absence, the mother didn’t take care of the daughter as she is now pregnant and has bad behaviours… He thinks that some boys were visiting her daughter and made her pregnant. Such situations could generate into problems.’

Particpant 1:‘Most of the times the child is not accused of that [being careless] but the mother…’

Participant 2:‘[They say] that she didn’t talk to the child and give advice…’

Participant 1:…‘that the stupid child is [the fault of] the mother.’

Gendered expectations of care within households thus mean that even when the girl is not held responsible or blamed if she is sexually assaulted, the responsibility and blame may be shifted onto her mother. As discussed among the girls, fathers’ perception of the role of mothers is that of educating, giving advice and caring for their daughters so that they do not ‘misbehave’ (such misbehaviour includes ending up pregnant as a result of rape). Just like the community who victim-blame girls who are harmed, by attributing the fault to the mothers, fathers do not attend to the role of perpetrators.

A lack of (adult) supervision was also seen as an enabling factor for the recurrent rapes discussed by girls. A few adolescents felt that lack of supervision or being unaccompanied in the evening contribute to sexual violence:

‘Nothing could have been different because she got raped on her way alone to her home. So, her father could have changed nothing.’

‘Again, you can go home in the late hours and meet a drunk person, and he rapes you.’

How Age Intersects with Gender Norms

The vignettes created space for girls to raise and discuss other incidents of sexual violence they were aware of. One of the girls who participated in a focus group spoke of a man in her community who raped a 14-year-old girl at least four times before she got pregnant. As in the vignette, the perpetrator told the girl to not reveal that he was responsible:

‘There is a man that has been put in jail for making a 14-year-old girl pregnant… Then, after making her pregnant, the man told the young girl to keep quiet and not reveal that he is the father as that man had a wife and children. From there, the girl kept quiet.

‘It got to a point that she could not go to school. They took her to the hospital and found out that she was pregnant. They asked her about the father of the child, and she was saying that a man got her pregnant four times… As she was very young, she had no idea what she was talking about. By saying four, she was referring to the [number of] times she slept with the man who made her pregnant.’

Girls identified several factors in this specific case that enabled the man to rape the girl. The excerpt above emphasises the power of perpetrators of sexual violence to silence the girls they harm in a context of strict gender and age hierarchies. Just as in the vignette, it is only after the 14-year-old girl found that she was pregnant that the man who raped her asked her not to reveal that he was responsible. Had a pregnancy not occurred, the girl could have been raped more times.

The perpetrator’s demand that the girl say nothing because of his status as a father and a husband reflects a norm of both male authority and respectability, and the importance of community cohesiveness and avoiding fracture. Girls also uphold this norm, however, as reflected in the suggestion by girls – while discussing how to handle an incident of abuse perpetrated by a male cousin – that sexual violence can and should be ‘handled’ within the family.

However, the 14-year-old girl was also seemingly unaware that she was being raped, and this lack of knowledge is what allowed the man to rape her repeatedly. Some girls made a connection between the age of the girl whose story was discussed, and her vulnerability to sexual violence. Older girls were perceived to be more aware of the risks of sexual violence and how to avoid it, leading men to target younger girls who lack such awareness, and are less able to avoid it as a result.

Sexual Violence Within Families: Challenges for the Pursuit of Justice

Different types of sexual violence had implications for girls’ perceptions of what the appropriate recourse might be. Participants generally expressed supportive attitudes towards girls who had experienced sexual violence, asserting that it is a crime that is punishable by laws and should therefore be reported. Reporting cases of sexual violence was also seen as a way to enable victims to receive the assistance they need, especially when the rape results in unwanted pregnancy. As in the earlier discussion of social norms that hold mothers responsible for their daughters’ behaviour, it should be noted that this accountability also manifested in girls’ belief that girls who had experienced sexual violence deserve compassion and emotional support from their mother to navigate pregnancy.

‘She [Claudine’s mother, in the vignette] shouldn’t take it that bad because one can’t say that that person lost her value because she is still a person. Her mother should help her to teach her how to behave while she is pregnant.’

‘She should have been comprehensive and understand what happened, to help her daughter benefit from all the programmes reserved for pregnant women.’

‘She should be closer to her child and comfort her so that she can be back to normal.’

This emphasis on ‘back to normal’ underlines a desire for reconciliation when sexual violence has occurred, especially those where family members are involved, and this may undermine the pursuit of justice for girls. While all participants agreed that sexual violence is a crime that should be reported and punished by law, in practice, families of victims and perpetrators of sexual violence sometimes reach an agreement instead of seeking justice from local authorities. Below is an exchange between two girls about what Claudine’s mother could have done, had she learned that her daughter was being sexually abused by her male cousin:

Participant 1: ‘She [Claudine’s mother in the vignette] couldn’t directly go to report because you feel mercy of each and everyone in the family. Instead, you go to talk to him but also if she kept quiet, she could also end up as an accomplice unless she tells him that what he did was wrong and that he should be prepared to be punished for his crime’.’

Participant 2: ‘Or they make agreements and she forgives him.’

Participant 1: ‘But that’s also supporting the crime.’

Participant 1: ‘You see, there’s the way you treat a person from your family, the time you report, they handle that in the family.’

Participant 1: ‘But that’s also committing a crime because the way he raped you, he will also do it to others.’

Girls argued that both Claudine and the cousin who raped her should report the incident to the police. This was in part about social responsibility:

‘She should ignore that terrorism of her cousin brother [and report the incident of sexual violence] because he will also do it to others.’

Girls also suggested that admitting and actively taking responsibility for committing a crime was in the perpetrator’s interest, as it would also help them to avoid a longer prison sentence:

‘He [the cousin brother] could have reached out to parents and ask for forgiveness and after asking for forgiveness, then he accepts to be punished by law because that is a crime that is punished by law. But they could have reduced the punishment if he accepted [having committed] the crime.’

However, it should be noted that not all girls shared this view; another girl indicated the importance she attributed to ensuring that other girls could avoid the experience that she, as the imagined victim, had been through:

‘I can seriously report him [if she was the girl from the vignette] because for me, for instance, I can’t face any other problem because he has accepted to help me but there are other girls whom we are the same age. Because most of the times he will rape them but if he were punished, he will always think that what he did was not right.’

Discussion

The use of a vignette about sexual violence, followed by open-ended questions in the context of a focus group discussion with adolescent girls, allowed for rich and detailed discussion about the various dimensions of sexual violence, often beyond that which was presented or even alluded to in the vignette. The recognition of the scenario as being true to life meant that participants felt capable of commenting on the situation. This underlines the importance of piloting and partnering with local researchers to create vignettes that are culturally relevant, contextually situated and age-appropriate. The vignette also acted as an entry point to further conversations about difficult subjects where girls face stigma and silencing, including sexual abuse within families. Indirect norms that sustain the shielding of perpetrators from accountability for sexual violence – such as the value of men’s reputations (and devaluing of girls’ experiences), and holding mothers responsible for their daughters’ ‘bad behaviour’ – were also able to be brought up and reflected upon through the exploratory nature of the vignette-based discussions. This echoes findings from other studies as to the value of a vignette-based approach for ‘diagnosing’ social norms (Bicchieri, 2015; Cislaghi & Heise, 2018; Mackie et al., 2015).

The data revealed tensions between girls’ own understanding of what causes sexual violence, and what their communities see as being the problem. Norms based on gender and age hierarchies blame older adolescent girls for sexual violence, with the implication that they should know better than to put themselves at risk. However, norms about gender and age also mean that younger girls are more vulnerable to these risks because of their lack of knowledge. Norms about gender also place responsibility for managing sexual violence and its consequences (such as unwanted pregnancy) squarely on girls. These norms reinforce stigma around sexual abuse and ultimately silence those who have experienced sexual violence. Participants in the vignette exercise demonstrated an understanding of the complex difficulties that these norms pose for individuals who have experienced sexual violence, and often held supportive attitudes towards them. This finding underlines the observations made by Cislaghi and Heise (2018) that social norms and personal attitudes, while often conflated, are distinct; attitudes are internally motivated judgements whereas social norms are beliefs about what others think.

Although participants recognised the need for those who have experienced sexual violence to navigate social norms and avoid retribution, blame and stigma, their understanding of the options available to those individuals was limited. Most girls felt that sexual violence – as a crime that is punishable by law – should be reported to local authorities by the person who was assaulted. This is despite girls’ recognition of the social norms that make reporting a sexual assault such a complex decision. There is scant evidence about the rate of reporting of sexual violence in Rwanda, although research has found that only 7% of incidents of intimate partner violence are formally reported in developing country contexts (Palermo et al., 2014). Moreover, those who pursue reporting mechanisms are generally not representative of the populations who are most likely to experience sexual violence (Cullen, 2020). Furthermore, in order for accountability systems for sexual violence to be accessible, myriad factors must be in place, including age-sensitive services which young people both know about and are able to get to (Bersamin et al., 2017); these are largely absent in Rwanda, particularly in rural areas.

Another theme that emerges in the data and has implications for girls’ pursuit of justice and accountability for sexual violence is forgiveness. This was mentioned by several participants as something perpetrators should seek – and the girls who have been assaulted might grant. The framing of the vignette as being an incident involving a cousin was realistic to participants, but also introduced a particular dynamic to the story that potentially corroborates findings by Gerver (2013), in that victims of sexual violence in Rwanda often do not report rape to the police because of existing relationships with perpetrators that are characterised by financial or familial connections, or both. The pregnancy that was alluded to in the vignette would exacerbate this dependency. As such, forgiveness (by survivors and their families) is seen by adolescent girls as an important means of addressing sexual violence (Gerver, 2013). Yet the discussions around how to deal with the specific case in the vignette (which involved sexual violence by a cousin) by both the perpetrator and the girl pursuing forgiveness underlines the complicity of extended family in making such cases of sexual violence ‘invisible’ to the broader legal system. These findings underscore that not only is forgiveness central to the maintenance of social bonds in many African societies, but community reconciliation through forgiveness – including as a way to address sexual violence – is central to the Rwandan judicial system (Rafferty 2018; Aihiokhai, 2020). ¹

Consciousness has long been the subject of work on sexual violence, but emphasis has largely been on change at the individual level with a focus on attitudes and behaviours. Yet in the context of Rwanda – as elsewhere in the literature that attends to sexual violence across sub-Saharan Africa – sexual violence is able to be perpetuated not only because of younger girls’ lack of knowledge but also by an enabling environment that includes social norms that allow perpetrators to avoid accountability. A strength of the capabilities-informed ‘3 Cs’ approach is the emphasis it places on the development of collective capabilities. ‘Conscientisation’ rather than ‘consciousness’ is an important stage of developing collective capabilities by marginalised groups (Ibrahim, 2017). The use of vignettes that reflect the sociocultural reality of girls’ lives in the context of focus group discussion where an experienced facilitator supports girls to openly discuss this complex topic is one way in which this ‘conscientisation’ can take place. This reflects Chatterji et al.’s (2020) research on the effectiveness of strategies for mobilising communities to address sexual violence in Rwanda, which finds that interpersonal reflection and collective action are central to transforming norms and practices.

Indeed, regardless of the extent to which girls’ accounts reflected the reality of how they would behave under particular conditions (see ‘Limitations’), the vignette stimulated a discussion that disrupted the widespread normalisation of sexual violence in this context. In part, this was because of its framing as something that girls might ‘do something’ about, rather than a taken-for-granted reality that they must live with. For example, the discussion between girls about how to manage intra-family abuse offered an opportunity for critical dialogue and reflection on the realities girls face and the options available to them. The opportunity to exchange thoughts on issues of sexual violence created opportunities for girls to learn from each other on issues related to its underreporting. This is significant given that adolescent girls, as a group, are generally excluded from dialogue about social change. Connecting girls to each other and fostering a space for solidarity in this way is the first step in fostering a ‘deepening awareness both of the sociocultural reality that shapes their lives and of their capacity to transform that reality’ (Freire, 1972).

Limitations

There are some limitations to the use of vignettes as a methodological tool for exploring social norms. Although the vignette did provide insights into what adolescent girls think is the best course of action in a case of sexual violence (what the character in the vignette should do), at times the answers given were less personal – which makes it harder to understand the extent to which those actions reflect the adolescent girls’ own potential actions, should they experience sexual violence. This echoes the observation by Mantell et al. (2006) that normative beliefs and attitudes about sexuality and gender roles expressed by young people are not necessarily consonant with their actual behaviour. This underlines the important role of the researcher and focus group discussion facilitator in using probing questions to identify and explore these matters.

This article has focused on social norms, but these may not be the only driver of girls’ limited recourse for incidents of sexual violence. As Cislaghi and Heise (2018) note, other factors such as provision and quality of support services also shape how individuals respond to harm. Because the probes used with the vignette prioritised abstract thinking rather than personal experiences of processes of reporting, it is not possible to know from this data whether services to support individuals who have experienced sexual violence are fit for purpose in this particular context, and the extent to which this influences girls’ responses.

Furthermore, despite the vignette enabling discussion of various dimensions of sexual violence, the religious dimensions of social norms about reporting and reconciliation were not explored during the group discussions. The researchers did not probe further on the topic of forgiveness, which was repeated by several girls as a strategy for overcoming the impact of sexual violence. However, the wider literature suggests that this is highly relevant to understanding not only norms about sexuality, but how justice for sexual violence is framed in this context (Clark, 2010; Coast et al., 2019; Williamson, 2014). Neither was the exchange that is sometimes reported to be at the heart of forgiveness processes – for example, forgiveness in return for payment of school fees or other financial compensation to parents (Gerver, 2013) – elucidated through probing, despite girls alluding to ‘handling (rape) within the family’.

This underlines that vignette-based tools in the context of focus group discussions should always be treated as starting points for skilled probing to generate richer, deeper insights (Gourlay et al., 2014). Whilst local researchers who are embedded within local social norms can be uniquely positioned to understand their implications, the research process must be structured in a way that supports reflexivity on such positionality may help to improve the quality of probing. Debriefing and reflecting on the focus group discussions with researchers at a halfway point during field research, for example, could create space for researchers to self-critically reflect on how their questioning might be strengthened in order to unpack and interrogate unquestioned norms, such as those around forgiveness which are otherwise taken for granted.

Conclusion

Vignettes are underutilised as a research tool within sub-Saharan Africa; where they have been used in the context of qualitative research with adolescents on issues relating to sexual violence, it has largely been as a tool for understanding participants’ beliefs and behaviours. Drawing on the literature on collective capabilities, this article has identified opportunities for vignette-based focus group discussions to move beyond an exploration of social norms and provide a space for adolescents to engage in critical discussion and conscientisation. This is enabled by contextual and culturally relevant vignettes – developed through partnerships with local researchers rather than externally designed and implemented – which formed the basis for detailed probing; though as we note, at times such probing could have gone further. The article has not explored the consequences of this for collective mobilisation around sexual violence against adolescent girls, and this will be key for future research. However, as observed in the growing literature on social norms, the opportunity that the research context presented for collective learning is an important first step. This research tool aligns with a key objective of the broader GAGE research programme: to understand and identify change strategies for expanding adolescent girls’ capabilities and transforming social norms.