Exploring young women’s menstruation-related challenges in Uttar Pradesh, India, using the socio-ecological framework
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study highlights how entrenched social norms — including menstrual stigma, silence, and restrictive gender expectations — profoundly shape girls’ experiences and limit their access to support and services. Effective interventions must address these social norms directly by engaging not just girls but also families, communities, schools, and boys and men, […]
Exploring stigma and social norms in women’s abortion experiences and their expectations of care
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Abortion stigma is deeply intertwined with social norms around female sexuality, marriage, and motherhood. In both Kenya and India, community disapproval and cultural taboos contribute to secrecy, fear, and delayed care-seeking. Interventions must address these norms by promoting respectful, youth-friendly, and rights-based services. Ensuring privacy, providing accurate information, and challenging harmful […]
EXPLORING THE ROLE OF EVOLVING GENDER NORMS IN SHAPING ADOLESCENTS’ EXPERIENCES OF VIOLENCE IN PASTORALIST AFAR, ETHIOPIA
Key Social Norms Take-aways: In Afar, Ethiopia, entrenched gender and age-based social norms deeply shape adolescents’ experiences of violence. Despite modest generational shifts—especially near urban areas—norms around child marriage (particularly absuma or cousin marriage), FGM/C, and girls’ limited mobility and agency continue to normalize violence and restrict girls’ choices. Addressing these norms requires more than […]
Exploring resource scarcity and contextual influences on wellbeing among young refugees in Bidi Bidi refugee settlement, Uganda: findings from a qualitative study.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Inequitable gender norms—reinforced by dowry practices, expectations of sexual availability, and gendered labor roles—exacerbate the vulnerability of adolescent girls and young women in humanitarian settings. These norms interact with resource scarcity to intensify exposure to sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), particularly in contexts of poverty, idleness, and environmental degradation. The study […]
Effects of Gender Role Beliefs on Social Connectivity and Marital Safety: Findings From a Cross-Sectional Study Among Married Adolescent Girls in India.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Progressive gender role beliefs—supporting female marital choice, shared household decision-making, male involvement in childcare, and rejecting the acceptability of marital violence—are associated with improved social and digital connectivity, greater freedom of movement, and enhanced safety from marital violence among married adolescent girls. This underscores the importance of transforming restrictive gender norms […]
Drivers of child marriage in specific settings of Ethiopia, Indonesia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia – findings from the Yes I Do! baseline study.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Child marriage across six countries is not just a standalone practice but a reflection of deeper social norms, especially around girls’ sexuality, family honour, and gender roles. In many cases, marriage is seen as a necessary response to prevent or cover up premarital sex or pregnancy. These norms are reinforced by […]
Displacement-related factors influencing marital practices and associated intimate partner violence risk among Somali refugees in Dollo Ado, Ethiopia: a qualitative study
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Displacement has led to perceived changes in marital practices among Somali refugees, but underlying gender norms supporting male dominance and women’s obedience persist. While early and forced marriage and polygamy were reported to have declined due to increased education, NGO awareness efforts, and Ethiopian law, many participants still held attitudes that […]
Community Gender Norms and Gender Gaps in Adolescent Agency in Nepal
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study demonstrates that community-level gender norms significantly shape adolescent agency and gender gaps in Nepal. In communities with more gender-equitable norms, adolescent girls show greater gains in intrinsic and instrumental agency compared to boys, reversing or narrowing traditional gender gaps. However, these norms are not uniformly associated with all forms […]
Barriers to contraceptive use in humanitarian settings: Experiences of South Sudanese refugee women living in Adjumani district, Uganda; an exploratory qualitative study
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study reveals how deeply rooted patriarchal and cultural norms among South Sudanese refugee communities in Uganda severely restrict women’s and girls’ contraceptive autonomy. Social norms idealize large families, associate contraception with promiscuity, and reinforce male dominance in reproductive decision-making. Fear of community backlash, intimate partner violence, and the loss of […]
Bad girl and unmet family planning need among Sub-Saharan African adolescents: the role of sexual and reproductive health stigma
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Gendered social norms that shame adolescent girls for being sexually active are central to the stigma they face. These norms create major barriers to accessing family planning and must be directly challenged through stigma-reduction strategies. Objectives: This study examined how sexual and reproductive health (SRH) stigma affects adolescent girls’ ability to […]