Adolescent Girls’ Agency Significantly Correlates With Favorable Social Norms in Ethiopia-Implications for Improving Sexual and Reproductive Health of Young Adolescents.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study finds that favorable social norms—especially descriptive and injunctive norms around early marriage—are significantly associated with greater agency among adolescent girls in Ethiopia. While norms supporting girls’ education and nutrition showed mixed associations, those related to early marriage had the strongest positive correlation with agency. However, agency domains related to […]
A Deviance Approach to Understanding Use of Maternal Health Care Services in Bangladesh
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study illustrates how social norms at the community level—and how individuals deviate from them—play a significant role in shaping maternal health care utilization in Bangladesh. The concept of “positive” and “negative” deviance is used to understand how individuals who differ from prevailing community norms experience different health outcomes. Women who […]
“Girls Have More Challenges; They Need to Be Locked Up”: A Qualitative Study of Gender Norms and the Sexuality of Young Adolescents in Uganda
Key Social Norms Take-aways: In Uganda, restrictive gender norms are instilled in children from an early age, deeply shaping adolescent girls’ experiences of sexuality and limiting their agency. Boys are encouraged to express and explore sexuality, while girls are expected to be passive, modest, and solely responsible for preventing sexual activity and its consequences. These […]
‘You have a child who will call you “mama”’: Understanding Adolescent Pregnancy in South Sudan
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Social norms in South Sudan deeply value motherhood as a marker of adulthood and worth, shaping girls’ choices and aspirations. Effective interventions must go beyond preventing adolescent pregnancy to challenge the underlying social and gender norms, create supportive environments, and offer alternative pathways for girls to achieve respect, security, and fulfillment […]
“Trading daughters for livestock”: An ethnographic study of facilitators of child marriage in Lira district, Northern Uganda
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study illustrates how child marriage in Northern Uganda is deeply driven by harmful gender norms that view girls as economic assets. Norms prioritizing boys’ education and associating girls’ worth with bride price and reproductive roles fuel early marriage. Girls are considered ready for marriage at puberty, and families commonly see […]
“Social institutions as mediating sites for changing gender norms: Nurturing girls’s resilience to child marriage in Uganda:
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Gender norms in the study communities positioned girls primarily as future wives and mothers, reinforcing early marriage. However, these same norms can be transformed. The study highlights the importance of working with female relatives, senior women teachers, and school-based programming to shift gender expectations, nurture girls’ aspirations, and reduce the social […]
“He is suitable for her, of course he is our relative”: a qualitative exploration of the drivers and implications of child marriage in Gezira State
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Child marriage in this context is upheld by deeply rooted beliefs about gender, honour, and religion. Real change will require engaging religious leaders, men, and entire communities to challenge the idea that girls’ futures are determined by others. Programs must prioritize girls’ voices and promote their right to make informed choices […]
Early Marriage, Social Networks, and the Transmission of Norms
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study finds that early marriage contributes to the transmission and reinforcement of traditional gender norms in Bangladesh, shaping women’s beliefs and weakening their social networks. Women who marry earlier are more likely to agree with gender-biased statements and report fewer progressive role models in their networks. Crucially, the study tested […]