Engaging Coaches and Athletes in Fostering Gender Equity: Findings from the Parivartan Program in Mumbai, India

"Gradually, as part of this program...I started questioning my identity, my attitude, the way I behave and treat myself, my family, neighbors and especially girls and women in my locality and elsewhere." - Zaheer, age 21

This evaluation report describes Parivartan (in Hindi meaning "transformation"), which aspired to reduce gender-based violence by challenging boys' notions about manhood and women's roles in society through India's popular sport of cricket. The programme consisted of training school coaches and community mentors to lead interactive sessions with athletes using training cards and other resources. The intervention also entailed building the capacity of partner organisations to learn about gender concepts, communication, and facilitation skills to support the cricket coaches in the implementation of the programme.

ICRW researchers assessed programme effectiveness by measuring changes in perceptions, attitudes, and behaviours related to gender equity and violence against women and girls among the athletes exposed to the programme. It also explored similar changes among the coaches and mentors as well their experiences in implementing the programme. The sample consists of 168 athletes in the intervention schools and 141 in the comparison schools, and 168 athletes from the intervention community teams and 133 from the comparison community teams. The cricket athletes who participated in this study were between the ages of 10-16 years.

Key findings from the athletes:

• The school and community athletes participating in the programme demonstrated a greater positive shift in gender attitudes compared to non-participants.
• The community athletes became significantly less supportive of physical abuse of girls; however, there was not a corresponding level of change among the school athletes.
• There was a greater positive shift among school and community programme participants compared to comparison participants in their intentions to intervene in response to hypothetical scenarios of abuse against girls.
• Despite improvements in behavioural intentions to intervene, there were no significant changes in the Parivartan athletes' bystander intervention behaviours.
• Peer violence shows some decline but still remains high among both the school and community athletes.
• Among the community athletes, both programme and non-programme participants reported a decline in sexually abusive behaviours.

Key findings from the coaches:

• The school coaches and community mentors demonstrated increased support for more equitable gender roles and relationships.
• The school coaches and mentors became less likely to justify men's control over their wife's behaviour.
• The school coaches and community mentors decreased their support for wife beating.
• The female relatives of the coaches and mentors noted improvements in the men's gender-related attitudes and behaviours.

"Given the short duration of the program [3 years], it is not clear how sustainable these changes are, given the deeply rooted and inequitable patriarchal norms that exist to counteract any progress made. Thus in order to maintain these changes, it is important that the program be institutionalized within existing structures and the messages be reinforced through other channels of communication used by adolescent boys and their coaches and mentors. In addition, the next generation of the program should more actively engage with women and girls."

Editor's note: Click here to read a related piece by Dr. Madhumita Da in the Huffington Post.