Gender Norms, Violence and Adolescent girls’ Trajectories: Evidence from a Field Experiment in India
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study underscores the central role of social norms linked to gender roles, marriage, and family honor in shaping adolescent girls’ agency and decision-making in rural West Bengal. Norms that prioritize early marriage, family reputation, and male authority constrain girls’ autonomy, particularly around education, mobility, and sexuality. Shifting these norms requires […]
Marketing Gender Norms: A Social Media Experiment in India
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study shows that digital platforms like Facebook Messenger can be leveraged to shift social norms around gender and violence against women. Format matters: a fictional, humorous video series reduced regressive gender attitudes and acceptance of violence against women, while a documentary format was more effective in motivating public action. Subtle, […]
Using Social Media to Change Gender Norms: An Experiment within Facebook Messenger in India
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This evaluation affirms that social media can be powerful vehicles for shifting social norms around gender and violence against women in India. The format of media content critically shaped outcomes. A fictional, humorous series led to meaningful reductions in harmful gender norms and increased empathy toward survivors, while a documentary format […]
The media or the message? Experimental evidence on mass media and modern contraception uptake in Burkina Faso
Key Social Norms Take-aways: While the study does not frame its analysis using formal social norms theory or terminology, it implicitly engages with normative influences—particularly descriptive norms—through its mass media intervention. The radio program aimed to shift perceptions of contraceptive use by portraying it as common, accepted, and beneficial. Results suggest that exposure to the […]
A qualitative exploration of the salience of MTV-Shuga, an edutainment programme, and adolescents’ engagement with sexual and reproductive health information in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Key Social Norms Take-aways: MTV Shuga Down South demonstrates how mass media can catalyze shifts in social norms related to HIV, gender dynamics, and sexual health by sparking peer dialogue and promoting reflection among young people. The show’s impact hinged on its ability to normalize conversations about taboo topics and present relatable scenarios that challenged […]
Reducing GBV in Zambia: Midline Survey Findings
Key Social Norms Take-aways: The Natwampane program demonstrates that well-designed media interventions can positively influence deeply entrenched social norms that condone gender-based violence (GBV). Regular exposure to Natwampane radio content was associated with reduced acceptance of harmful gender norms, increased awareness of legal rights and SGBV services, and more willingness to intervene in or report […]
Association of Male Partners’ Gender-Equitable Attitudes and Behaviors with Young Mothers’ Postpartum Family Planning and Maternal Health Outcomes in Kinshasa, DRC
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Community and household norms around male involvement, decision-making, and caregiving shape reproductive and maternal health outcomes. Programs should challenge norms that restrict men’s roles to authority figures and promote shared caregiving and decision-making to support healthier, more equitable outcomes for young families. Objectives: This study explored how male partners’ gender-equitable attitudes […]
Determining the most significant changes on intergenerational communication and young people’s family planning and reproductive health outcomes: Qualitative evaluation of the Merci Mon Héros media campaign in Niger and Cote d’Ivoire
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study directly explored social norms by examining how community members perceived changes in what people believe should be done (injunctive norms) and what others are doing (descriptive norms) regarding adolescent reproductive health and intergenerational communication. It found early evidence of shifting norms: adults and youth described increased comfort and empathy […]
Using structural equation modeling to explore the pathways between a social norms-shifting intervention and couple communication for family planning in Kinshasa, DRC
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study rigorously assesses how a social norms-shifting intervention, Masculinité, Famille, et Foi (MFF), affects couple communication about family planning. While the intervention explicitly incorporated injunctive and descriptive norms, and the survey measured them as separate constructs, the analysis provides particular insight into the sequencing of social norms change. The study […]
A mixed-methods, exploratory, quasi-experimental evaluation of a radio drama intervention to prevent age-disparate transactional sex in Tanzania.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: The LINEA radio drama intervention demonstrates promising potential to shift gender-related attitudes, beliefs, and social norms around age-disparate transactional sex (ADTS) in Tanzania. The qualitative findings reveal early signs of social norms change, particularly in reducing victim-blaming attitudes and shifting responsibility from adolescent girls to adult men and communities. The drama […]