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. […]
Gender-based violence and the inclusion of men in GBV prevention campaigns: perceptions of students in a university in South Africa
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Gender-based violence prevention should move beyond awareness-raising to actively address harmful gender norms, unequal power relations, and the social and institutional conditions that allow violence to persist. Participants viewed men as potentially important agents for transforming harmful masculinities and gender norms, but emphasized that male engagement must be carefully structured around […]
The interplay of economic shocks and cultural practices in child marriage: Comparative evidence from India and Zambia during the COVID-19 pandemic
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Child marriage is shaped by the interaction of restrictive gender norms, cultural marriage practices, and economic conditions rather than economic hardship alone. The discussion emphasizes that inequitable norms prioritizing girls’ roles as wives and household caretakers can limit investment in girls’ education and future opportunities, increasing vulnerability to marriage when crises […]
Perspectives on post-violence support-seeking and service provision among adolescent girls and young women: Insights from community conversations in Lusaka, Zambia.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Social and gender norms strongly shape whether adolescent girls and young women seek support after violence and how families, communities, and institutions respond. Norms emphasizing silence, secrecy, endurance of violence, preservation of marriage, and communal harmony can discourage disclosure and formal help-seeking, particularly for violence within marriage. However, participants also described […]
Examining Trajectories of Peer Violence Experiences and Their Association with Gender Norms and Agency Among Adolescents: Evidence from China, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Indonesia.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Unequal gender norms were associated with adolescents’ peer violence trajectories, but relationships varied substantially across settings. Sexual double standards showed the most consistent associations: more unequal perceptions predicted several higher-risk violence trajectories, suggesting that beliefs that permit different behaviors for boys and girls may contribute to violence. The discussion emphasizes that […]
Factors Influencing Attitudes Toward Intimate Partner Violence Among Married Women: A Multilevel Analysis Across 20 Low- and Middle-Income Countries.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Acceptance of intimate partner violence reflects patriarchal gender norms that can normalize violence against women. Women surveyed between 2019 and 2022 were substantially less likely to justify intimate partner violence than those in earlier surveys, which the authors suggest may reflect shifting social norms and greater awareness. Education and women’s decision-making […]
Empowering women can increase modern contraception use among women with no fertility intentions in South Asia
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Patriarchal gender norms and expectations in South Asia can restrict women’s independence, decision-making power, mobility, and reproductive agency. The discussion emphasizes that male supremacy and control over fertility decisions can constrain contraceptive use, including through husbands’ opposition to family planning and women’s fear of discussing fertility because of potential violence. Women’s […]
Contradictions in value systems, social norms, and the disconnect between expectations and reality of sexuality and contraceptive use among youth in Karamoja, Uganda.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Young people in Karamoja navigate contradictory, gendered social norms that simultaneously restrict premarital sexuality while encouraging early marriage and, in some circumstances, legitimizing sexual violence as a pathway to marriage. Social sanctions, stigma, and misconceptions also discourage modern contraceptive and condom use. However, the study identifies potentially protective norms around child […]
Social ecosystems of trafficked conflict-related sexual violence survivors and their children: navigating and coping with intersecting stigma and violence in Nigeria and Iraq.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Community-level social and gender norms are central drivers of stigma toward women and girls who survived trafficking and conflict-related sexual violence and their children born of war. Norms surrounding premarital sex and childbirth, virginity, purity, family honor, marriageability, paternity, and community identity interact with conflict-related fear and perceptions of affiliation with […]
Where shame meets vulnerability: unintended adolescent pregnancy within the cultural context of the rural district of Rwandan Eastern Province.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Social and cultural norms surrounding premarital adolescent sexuality, gender, and motherhood shape both the risk and consequences of unintended adolescent pregnancy in rural Rwanda. The discussion emphasizes that norms portraying adolescent sex as immoral and pregnancy as shameful can generate internalized and enacted stigma, silence girls’ sexual agency, reinforce gender and […]