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Using Social Media to Recruit Seldom-Heard Groups: Reaching Women and Girls with Experience of Violence in Iran

Author

Listed:
  • Ladan Hashemi

    (Violence and Society Centre, City University of London, London EC1V 0HB, UK)

  • Fateme Babakhani

    (Mehre Shams Afarid, Non-Governmental Domestic Violence Organisation for Women and Children, Urmia, Iran)

  • Nadia Aghtaie

    (Centre for Gender Violence and Research, School for Policy Studies, Bristol University, Bristol BS8 1TZ, UK)

  • Sally McManus

    (Violence and Society Centre, City University of London, London EC1V 0HB, UK)

Abstract

Social media recruitment and online surveys are valuable tools in social science research, but their effectiveness in reaching seldom-heard victims of gender violence in low-middle income (LMI) countries is under-explored. This empirical study aims to: (1) describe violence and abuse experiences and (2) assess the benefits and limitations of using social media to document violence against women and girls (VAWGs) in a LMI country to render visible the experiences of potentially isolated victims. A total of 453 Iranian women (aged 14–59, mean = 28.8, SD = 8.04) responded to an Instagram invitation for a study on women’s health and violence exposure from February 2020 to January 2022. The questionnaire covered general gendered abuse, domestic violence (DV), and forced unemployment. The analysis was performed using Stata 17. Nearly all participants reported abuse, including sexual (85.0%), psychological (83.4%), and technology-facilitated (57.4%) abuse, with 77.4% experiencing multiple forms. The street (62%) and home (52.8%) were common abuse locations. The perpetrators included known individuals (75.9%) and strangers (80.8%), with 56.7% reporting abuse by both. DV was reported by 72.6%, mainly involving psychological (73.1%), physical (53.4%), and/or sexual (17.2%) violence, with fathers (47.8%), husbands (42.7%), and brothers (40.2%) as frequent perpetrators. A quarter reported forced unemployment. Those experiencing DV and/or forced unemployment showed higher depression levels, suicidal ideation, and lower marital satisfaction. The study suggests using social media recruitment for VAWG research but cautions against overgeneralising from these data.

Suggested Citation

  • Ladan Hashemi & Fateme Babakhani & Nadia Aghtaie & Sally McManus, 2024. "Using Social Media to Recruit Seldom-Heard Groups: Reaching Women and Girls with Experience of Violence in Iran," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-16, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:13:y:2024:i:5:p:246-:d:1386275
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Ali asghar Pilehvar, 2021. "Spatial-geographical analysis of urbanization in Iran," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 8(1), pages 1-12, December.
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