The Politics of Credibility: Women and Violence in India

• In Event: Comparative Perspectives on Intimate Violence and Gendered Peace

Abstract

This paper comes from the need to complicate and reconceptualize women’s interface with institutions meant to address violence. It delves into the black box of when and why women choose to approach different local institutions. While existing empirical understandings from the scholarship focus on efficiency metrics, ideas of formal versus informal institutions, and descriptive representation to explain women’s choices, this paper theorizes that the reasons why women choose different forums for addressing violence in their homes and families varies based on credibility: first, the kinds of credibility that women expect to get in different institutions, and second, the kinds of credibility that women are seeking to get from these institutions. My theory draws on ethnography, in-depth interviews, and “case anatomies” of an archive of over 600 family dispute cases filed at an autonomous women’s organization in rural Gujarat over the last 20 years. Focusing on the politics of credibility predicts three key dimensions behind women’s strategic choices: perceived testimonial competence of their audience, family power relations and status, and desired outcome. I test my theory using a door-to-door conjoint experiment in surrounding areas. The experiment gives women respondents vignettes about violence being experienced by a hypothetical neighbor, varying details along the three key dimensions predicted by my theory. It then asks the respondents which local institutions the neighbor should approach, if any, and asks a series of questions about the underlying reasoning behind the advice they give.

Author

• Surili Sheth, University of California, Berkeley