If she gets married when she is young, she will give birth to many kids’: a qualitative study of child marriage practices amongst nomadic pastoralist communities in Kenya.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Norms around early marriage, female purity, and high fertility drive child marriage. These expectations are upheld by stigma and reinforced through broader social systems. Interventions must engage communities, including leaders, and address linked norms and economic pressures. Objectives: This study explored how social norms and contextual factors sustain child marriage among […]
How social norms contribute to physical violence among ever-partnered women in Uganda: A qualitative study.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study finds that deeply embedded social norms in Uganda contribute significantly to the persistence of physical intimate partner violence (IPV). Norms define IPV as a private, domestic matter, normalize its presence in women’s lives, and create informal boundaries that permit certain types of violence under specific conditions. These norms restrict […]
‘I Just Keep Quiet’: Addressing the Challenges of Married Rohingya Girls and Creating Opportunities for Change
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Deep-rooted gender norms normalize child marriage, restrict girls’ freedoms, and certain forms of GBV, including IPV, often go unreported. Programs should shift these norms through safe, inclusive opportunities for married girls and community-level engagement. Objectives: This study explored the experiences of married Rohingya adolescent girls living in refugee camps in Cox’s […]
Gender-norms, violence and adolescence: Exploring how gender norms are associated with experiences of childhood violence among young adolescents in Ethiopia
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study finds that community-level gender norms, measured through aggregated individual attitudes, are significantly associated with adolescents’ experiences of violence within the home in Ethiopia. A 12-point scale captured inequitable gender norms (IGNs), reflecting both descriptive and injunctive norms. These community norms were more predictive of violence than individual or household […]
Gender Norms and HIV Testing/Treatment Uptake: Evidence from a Large Population-Based Sample in South Africa.
Objectives: This study investigated how endorsement of inequitable gender norms influences HIV testing and treatment uptake among men and women in rural South Africa, addressing a gap in quantitative research on this topic. Methods: Data were drawn from a 2014 population-based survey of 2,057 individuals (1,053 women and 1,004 men), aged 18–49, in 27 villages […]
Gender Norms and Structural Barriers to Use of HIV Prevention in Unmarried and Married Young Women in Manicaland, Zimbabwe: An HIV Prevention Cascade Analysis
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study demonstrates that negative gender norms significantly constrain adolescent girls and young women’s (AGYW) motivation and capacity to use condoms for HIV prevention in Zimbabwe, particularly among married AGYW. While traditional norms around premarital sex and condom use are weakening for unmarried AGYW, married AGYW face deeply entrenched expectations that […]
Gender Norms, Violence in Childhood, and Men’s Coercive Control in Marriage: A Multilevel Analysis of Young Men in Bangladesh
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study uses the Gender-Equitable Men (GEM) scale to measure gender attitudes, with community-level aggregates from senior men (ages 35–49) serving as a proxy for social norms. Findings show that more equitable community gender norms are linked to less controlling behavior and more gender-equitable attitudes among junior men (ages 18–34). This […]
Forced Sex and Early Marriage: Understanding the Linkages and Norms in a Humanitarian Setting.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: The study highlights powerful injunctive norms in humanitarian settings that contribute to harmful practices linking rape and early marriage. In South Kivu, DRC, both adolescent girls and caregivers commonly view marriage as the appropriate response to rape—particularly when the perpetrator is known. These norms reflect and reinforce the belief that a […]
Gender inequality and the use of maternal healthcare services in rural sub-Saharan Africa
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study highlights that social norms—specifically community-level acceptance of intimate partner violence (IPV)—negatively influence women’s use of maternal healthcare services in rural sub-Saharan Africa. The findings demonstrate that these social norms operate independently of women’s individual attitudes or decision-making power, underlining the need for policy interventions that address gender norms at […]
Gender norms and health: insights from global survey data
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Gender norms—context-specific beliefs about appropriate behavior for different genders—shape health outcomes across the life course. This study highlights that non-conformity to gender norms often results in health harms, especially for girls and women. These norms intersect with religion, wealth, and geography, creating complex patterns of health inequity. Addressing gender norms is […]