Challenging violence against women: a Scottish critical health literacy initiative

Violence against women constitutes a significant public health problem affecting an estimated 35% of women worldwide (WHO, 2013); the scale of the problem and its ongoing intransigence indicate the need for critical and transformative approaches that confront the cultures that support gender violence and lead to change. The present paper analyses a program run in Scottish primary schools for 10-12 year olds called RESPECT that was successful in making pupils alert to and critical of gendering norms and practices. Analysis reveals that the teaching plans and activities of RESPECT are highly consistent with a critical pedagogical approach (Freire, 2005; Matthews, 2014), and indicates the value of combining the theoretical approaches of critical pedagogy, feminism and critical health literacy in public health campaign materials aimed at challenging the cultural bases of gender violence in ways that promote health in an educational setting.