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, […]
“I Stopped to Prove them Wrong:” Reasons for Discontinuing Daily Oral HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis Among Women at High Risk of HIV in Tanzania-A Convergent Mixed Methods Study.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Social norms and social pressure were important drivers of discontinuing daily oral pre-exposure prophylaxis among female sex workers. Women described a common community belief that people taking pills resembling antiretroviral treatment are living with HIV, leading to stigma, rumors, negative reactions, and pressure from partners, family, friends, peers, and clients to […]
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 […]
What drives adolescent girls and young women’s decisions to persist on PrEP? Results of a comparative qualitative study from a DREAMS program in western Kenya.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Social support and perceived norms strongly shaped whether adolescent girls and young women persisted with pre-exposure prophylaxis. The discussion emphasizes that pervasive community stigma—particularly the misconception that pre-exposure prophylaxis users have HIV—can undermine persistence, while support from family and friends can counteract stigma and even compensate for unsupportive romantic partners. Programs […]
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 […]
Attitude towards gender roles and violence against women and girls (VAWG): baseline findings from an RCT of 1752 youths in Pakistan.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study shows that patriarchal gender attitudes among Pakistani adolescents are shaped by social norms within peer groups, families, and schools. Peer violence, corporal punishment, child marriage expectations, and exposure to violence at home serve as indicators of gender norms that reinforce inequality. The authors argue that because peer norms are […]