How community dialogues influence norm change around female genital mutilation: a mediation analysis from a high-burden Kenyan setting.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Female genital mutilation is sustained by shared expectations about marriageability, social status, and sanctions for non-compliance rather than solely by individual preferences. Community dialogues may shift these expectations by creating opportunities for collective reflection and visible dissent. The weaker associations for couples-only dialogues suggest that household-level approaches alone may be insufficient […]
Temporary acceleration or long-term change? Experimental evidence on female empowerment and intimate partner violence in urban Liberia
Key Social Norms Take-aways: The intervention produced a durable shift in how women perceived the normative environment surrounding intimate partner violence. Although women’s own attitudes eventually converged with the control group, treatment participants continued to perceive substantially less community acceptance of violence 3.5 years after the program. The authors interpret this as evidence that intensive […]
Drawing on diverse partnerships to identify, address, and measure context-specific gender norms: a case study from REAL Fathers Uganda
Key Social Norms Take-aways: The REAL Fathers case study demonstrates that gender norms should be identified and addressed as specific, locally grounded expectations rather than broad concepts of masculinity or gender inequality. Participatory research revealed meaningful regional differences in how norms are enforced, underscoring the importance of community involvement, local partnerships, and attention to reference […]
Evaluation of Girls Invest, an economic empowerment intervention to address social and economic risks associated with intimate partner violence among adolescent girls in Ibadan, Nigeria.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Girls Invest suggests that combining economic empowerment with gender-equity education can help adolescent girls critically question restrictive gender roles and strengthen their ability to respond to gender discrimination. Girls described recognizing norms that privilege male authority and restrict girls’ educational and economic opportunities, and shared intervention lessons with friends and family, […]
Effectiveness of a multimedia campaign in shifting community knowledge, attitudes, social norms, and practices of female genital mutilation and child marriage in Ethiopia.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Exposure to the multimedia campaign was associated with greater awareness and less supportive attitudes toward female genital mutilation and child marriage, but deeply rooted sociocultural and religious norms continued to sustain both practices. The discussion emphasizes that individual attitude change is insufficient; sustained abandonment requires collective norm change through community and […]
Increasing young people’s use of sexual and reproductive health services in government health facilities in rural Kenya.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Social norms and provider attitudes can create important psychosocial barriers to young people’s use of sexual and reproductive health services. Fear of judgment, shaming, parental disapproval, and loss of confidentiality may particularly discourage younger adolescents and girls. The findings suggest these barriers can be reduced by fostering more supportive provider attitudes […]
Promoting Adolescent Girls’ Well-Being in Pakistan: a Mixed-Methods Study of Change Over Time, Feasibility, and Acceptability, of the COMPASS Program
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Restrictive gender norms around girls’ mobility, safety, sexuality, and family honor limited adolescent girls’ access to resources and opportunities. While the COMPASS program improved psychosocial well-being, social support, and some gender-equitable attitudes, harmful norms surrounding violence, victim-blaming, and girls’ movement remained largely unchanged. The findings suggest that life skills programs should […]
“You are a child and this is not your business”: Decision-making on child marriage in Sindh, Pakistan
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Child marriage in rural Sindh is sustained by social norms that view girls as financial burdens, expect obedience to parents, restrict girls to domestic roles, and frame early marriage as protection against premarital relationships and threats to family honor. The study argues that lasting change requires engaging parents, empowering youth, and […]
Uneven progress: trends and social inequalities in women’s empowerment domains in Ghana from 2003-2022
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Ghana has made substantial progress in women’s rejection of norms that justify intimate partner violence, suggesting meaningful normative change, but this progress has not translated evenly into other dimensions of women’s empowerment. The discussion emphasizes that restrictive gender norms and household power relations continue to constrain decision-making, particularly among disadvantaged groups. […]
Menarche as a silent transition: Islamic modesty norms, mother-daughter communication, and menstrual readiness among rural Indonesian adolescents.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Islamic modesty norms shape menstrual readiness by influencing whether, how, and how openly menstruation is discussed. Silence around menstruation was not simply an information gap but a socially meaningful practice associated with religious identity, femininity, modesty, and moral conduct. Importantly, adolescents did not reject Islamic values; rather, they wanted emotionally supportive […]