Can Media Campaigns Change Attitudes and Spark Actions to Reduce Early Child Marriage? Impact Evaluation of Breakthrough’s Early Marriage Campaign in Jharkhand and Bihar States of India. Grantee Final Report
Key Social Norms Take-aways: The study reveals that norms supporting early marriage and rigid gender roles can shift through media-driven and community-based engagement. Breakthrough’s mass media campaigns challenged the normalization of child marriage, while training and community mobilization helped reinforce critical reflection on gender norms. The intervention encouraged more equitable attitudes among adolescents and adults, […]
Community Gender Norms Change as a Part of a Multilevel Approach to Sexual Health Among Married Women in Mumbai, India
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study highlights that key to successful change was aligning gender-equity messages with respected religious doctrine and delivering them through credible sources. Men’s attitudes shifted more rapidly, suggesting the value of engaging male authority figures. In contrast, women’s slower adoption may reflect caution due to possible negative consequences in a patriarchal […]
The Role of Gender Norms on Intimate Partner Violence Among Newly Married Adolescent Girls and Young Women in India: A Longitudinal Multilevel Analysis
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study reveals a counterintuitive association between community-level gender norms and intimate partner violence (IPV) among newly married adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in India. Researchers used two proxy measures of social norms: (1) a community-level equitable gender attitudes index—based on AGYW’s agreement with five statements about gender roles (e.g., […]
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, […]
A qualitative study of adolescent girls’ experiences of menarche and menstruation in rural Tamil Nadu, India
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study reveals how adolescent girls’ experiences of menarche and menstruation in rural Tamil Nadu are deeply shaped by cultural codes and gender norms. While the study does not use formal social norms measurement tools, it explicitly explores how norms are constructed, maintained, and reproduced through social practices, especially those related […]
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 […]
The Role of Social Norm in Acceptability Attitude of Women Toward Intimate Partner Violence in Punjab, Pakistan
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study confirms that social norms play a powerful role in shaping women’s acceptance of intimate partner violence (IPV) in Punjab, Pakistan. Community-level acceptance of wife-beating is one of the strongest predictors of individual women’s attitudes, indicating a deeply entrenched cultural norm that views IPV as a justified response to perceived […]
The effect of a community based health promotion intervention to change gender norms among women in a rural community in Sri Lanka
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Social norms in this context position women as primary caregivers and homemakers, while framing male dominance, aggression, and decision-making as natural. These norms were widely accepted and normalized among women prior to the intervention. However, by linking gender norms to family health and well-being, and facilitating peer-led questioning of traditional roles, […]
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 […]