The ‘Demand Side’ of Child Marriage: Expanding Gender Norms to Marriage Drivers Facing Boys and Men in South Sudan
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Child marriage persists due to dual gender norms—those controlling girls’ sexuality and those pressuring boys to marry to be seen as men. Addressing both is key to reducing the practice. Objectives: This study examines the underexplored ‘demand side’ of child marriage in South Sudan, focusing on how gender norms and economic […]
Socio-cultural context of adolescent sexuality and youth-friendly service intervention in West Gojjam Zone, Northwest Ethiopia: A qualitative study
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study highlights that adolescent SRH interventions must go beyond providing services — they need to address and engage with the broader cultural and religious norms that shape sexual behavior and service use. Without challenging the community’s moral and social expectations, YFS programs are unlikely to meaningfully change adolescent SRH outcomes. […]
Socio-cultural factors perceived to influence sexual behaviours of adolescents in Ethiopia
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study reveals that prevailing social and cultural norms in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia—especially those stigmatizing adolescent sexuality and condom use—contribute significantly to adolescents’ engagement in risky sexual behavior. Despite general cultural and religious discouragement of premarital sex, community-level norms perpetuate shame, fear, and judgment around seeking sexual and reproductive health (SRH) […]
Sociocultural factors perpetuating the practices of early marriage and childbirth in Sylhet District, Bangladesh
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study reveals that in Sylhet District, Bangladesh, deeply rooted social norms around fertility and gender roles strongly pressure newly married adolescents to have children immediately after marriage. The social expectation that childbearing affirms a woman’s value and ensures her acceptance into her husband’s family discourages contraceptive use and delays in […]
South African women’s conceptualisations of and responses to sexual coercion in relation to hegemonic masculinities.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study reveals how hegemonic masculinities—norms that valorize male dominance, control, and sexual entitlement—shape South African women’s perceptions of and responses to sexual coercion. These norms contribute to the normalization of coercion, especially in intimate relationships, and often lead women to internalize blame and guilt. However, women’s agency is shown to […]
‘Spoiled’ girls: Understanding social influences on adolescent contraceptive decision-making in Kenya
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Adolescent girls in Kenya must navigate overlapping and often contradictory social norms that stigmatize both contraceptive use and adolescent pregnancy. Contraceptive use—particularly hormonal methods—is associated with promiscuity and feared to cause infertility, while pregnancy outside of marriage threatens educational and social standing. These stigmas are compounded by gendered power imbalances and […]
Social norms and family planning decisions in South Sudan
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Social norms deeply influence reproductive behavior in the Fertit community of South Sudan, particularly through expectations around high fertility, male decision-making, and limited female agency. However, these norms are shifting. Emerging beliefs support spacing pregnancies and investing in children’s wellbeing, challenging long-standing norms that emphasize having many children. The post-conflict context […]
Social Norms and Security and Justice Services for Gender-based Violence in Nepal: Programmatic Implications from a Baseline Mixed-Methods Assessment
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study highlights that deeply rooted patriarchal social norms—centered around family honor, obedience to elders, and the sanctity of marriage—significantly deter help-seeking for gender-based violence (GBV) in Nepal. Despite increased awareness and formal justice mechanisms, women often face strong sanctions for reporting violence, including stigma, community ostracism, and familial rejection. These […]
Social norms and women’s risk of intimate partner violence in Nepal
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study demonstrates that social norms—particularly perceived and collective community expectations regarding gender roles, family honor, and the acceptability of violence—are significantly associated with women’s risk of intimate partner violence (IPV) in Nepal. Notably, women’s perceptions of community beliefs about male control, female submissiveness, and the legitimacy of violence to maintain […]
Social norms, agency, and marriage aspirations in Malawi
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Community norms around the youngest acceptable age of marriage influence adolescent boys’ marriage aspirations but have little to no impact on girls’ aspirations. Instead, adolescents’ own beliefs about acceptable marriage age are consistently associated with when they aspire to marry. These findings suggest that while social norms matter, their influence is […]