A causal map against domestic violence

Today, November 25, we remember that women's right are human's right to fight against women's violence. Thus, I would like to share with you part of the study I have been developing in the field of social design, systemic thinking, and participatory methodologies since 2021. This map at Kumu https://wedisturb.kumu.io/domestic-violence-causal-map helps us visualize the issues surrounding violence against women, focusing on domestic violence, a type of violence that is spreading throughout the world with numbers as alarming as those of a pandemic. Unlike the pandemic, domestic violence is not seen as a public health issue, much less does it receive the social consideration it deserves.

What I want with this map is not just to create a visual tool to present a social issue, but contribute to stablish design as an approach to open paths for a serious and multidisciplinary debate on sociatal topics. The map is a starting point for a critical conversation within all the actors involved in this phenomenon, not a arriving point or a design material object.

You can start questionning: why doesn't this map portray the victims?

To which I answer with another question: Are the victims the problem in the issue of violence against women? Of course victims must have important place in this issue and it is a subject for multiple areas of investigation, including design. In most researches victims are portayted as ‘users’ in the service provided by the governmental facilities or thechnological tools. Choosing to decentralize the victims is a critical choice in this work that places the various actors in this issue at the center and shares collective responsibility that questioning our social norms and values, our institutional structures, social support mechanisms and society itself.

We need to collectivize about social problems and in this sense I have been strongly inspired by the work of Lesley Ann Noel, PhD David Peter Stroh Neda Aramipour Rute Fiadeiro Raquel Noronha, just a few to say.

Design increasingly needs to foster spaces that stimulate critical thinking about existing structures, embracing the frictions that may exist in the process and welcoming possibilities for collective change.

How to look to this causal map:

Remember this is a contextual perspective from a specific place. You can find similarities or even disagreements, try to see what resonates with your reality and adapt what can be included.

Each circle have particular information gather from interviews with specialists and literature, explore it.

It is importan to validate information. Select specialists and people form the field to look at the map togheter in rounds to understand, embrace and increase topics.

Start by looking by areas and them move to the connections. Just after understand the whole go deep to the loops of reinforcement. The loops are when two or more elements are connected reinforcing the existence of one another. The challenge could be break those loops of reinforcement.

After go deep to understand and embrace the complexity your team are ready to find leverage points according your capacity of action. Remember, a causal map alone doesn’t do miracles. It is important to add in this process a stakeholder map that valuate the system's capacity, that explicity actors roles and evidence their potenciality.

To approach leverage points – the possible areas of intervention that enable positive impact in the system – you must be aware of the system’s inner capacity or the lack of it to better prepare to intervene in the system.

When can I use the map:

#during classes with students

#exploring current or new policy strategies

#to start a debate with decision-makers

#to explore new areas of research

I will add further posts sharing information about the main phases of this process with the aim to help other people interested in the subjetcs of social system design, design for social change, system thinking, and so on. I hope this is helpfull to you.