Now what? Implications for researchers, policy makers and practitioners

This final chapter offers pragmatic and change-oriented recommendations for researchers, policymakers and practitioners. First, the authors call for engagement with religious resources and religious actors in violence against women and girls (VAWG) prevention and response. Second, the authors point to the importance of recognising the role and potential of religious experiences, as the religious experiences of women and survivors can contribute to or challenge VAWG. Third, the significance of the agency of religious women survivors is stressed and that it needs to be recognised by practitioners and policymakers in order to not undermine religious women’s efforts and priorities. Fourth, the authors recommend engaging with religion when working with perpetrators who are religious, as the potential impact of drawing on perpetrators’ religious ideas, practices, and experiences remains untapped. Fifth, the need to prioritise religious literacy to contextualise interventions adequately is highlighted as key to developing capacities for context and faith-sensitive engagements with religion. Sixth, the authors recommend using a hybrid and pragmatic understanding of religion to ensure that the lived experiences of religion in VAWG are understood and responded to adequately by research, policy and practice. Finally, bridging the divide between secular actors and religious actors is highlighted as critically important for the development of diverse, holistic partnerships that can ensure that Sustainable Development Goal 5 becomes a reality.