You can’t burn the house down because of one bedbug: a qualitative study of changing gender norms in the prevention of violence against women and girls in an urban informal settlement in India.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: The study highlights that norm change is most promising where descriptive norms (what people actually do) are starting to shift ahead of injunctive norms (what people believe should be done). Programs should focus on creating spaces where women and men can connect with broader, more progressive reference groups, helping reinforce new, […]
Social normative origins of the taboo gap and implications for adolescent risk for HIV infection in Zambia.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study introduces the “taboo gap” to explain how discordance between community attitudes and behaviors around premarital sex can increase HIV risk for adolescents, particularly girls. Drawing on social norms theory, the authors argue that injunctive norms—rules about acceptable behavior—generate silence around adolescent sexuality. The taboo against openly acknowledging premarital sex […]
What Influences Girls’ Age at Marriage in Burkina Faso and Tanzania? Exploring the Contribution of Individual, Household, and Community Level Factors
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study underscores how social norms—particularly community expectations regarding girls’ age at marriage and parental fears of premarital sex—play a significant role in shaping the prevalence of child marriage, with notable variation by context. In Burkina Faso, social norms among fathers regarding later marriage were significantly associated with lower child marriage […]
Understanding the Sociality of Child Marriage
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study demonstrates that social norms—especially those surrounding gender roles, dowry, and the perceived value of girls—play a more influential role than economic factors in shaping attitudes and decisions around girls’ education and child marriage in India. Mothers, in particular, often internalize and reproduce norms prioritizing domestic roles and early marriage […]
Understanding how social norms influence access to and utilization of adolescent sexual and reproductive health services in Northern Nigeria
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Social norms in Northern Nigeria strongly enforce early marriage, high fertility expectations, and male authority over reproductive decisions, significantly limiting adolescents’ access to and utilization of modern contraceptive services. Norms around chastity, family honor, and fertility not only stigmatize unmarried adolescents who seek contraception but also render married adolescents—especially girls—powerless to […]
The role of gender inequities in women’s access to reproductive health services: A population-level study of Simiyu Region, Tanzania
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study underscores how entrenched gender norms in the Simiyu region of Tanzania severely restrict women’s and girls’ access to reproductive health services. Norms that prioritize male authority, devalue women’s autonomy, and equate female worth with childbirth reinforce systemic barriers to healthcare. Women face stigma and even violence for using family […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]